About Me
"That the influence of England was the radical vice of our Government, and that Ireland would never be either free, prosperous, or happy, until she was independent, and that independence was unattainable whilst the connection with England existed." - Theobald Wolfe Tone
Tone, Theobald Wolfe, 1763-98, Irish revolutionary. Tone became a lawyer in 1789, but soon turned his attention to politics. As an educated man he watched closely the events taking place in the American and French revolutions and although he was a man of some status, did not like the conditions that his fellow Irishmen lived under.Inspired by the example of the French Revolution, he helped found (1791) the United Irish Society (United Irishmen), which worked to unite Roman Catholics and Protestants in a common cause against English oppression of Ireland. He played a leading role in the Catholic convention of 1792 that pressed the British government to pass the Catholic Relief Act (1793).
"I have now seen the Parliament of Ireland, the Parliament of England, the Congress of the United States of America, the Corps Legislatif of France and the Convention Batave; I have likewise seen our shabby Volunteer Convention in 1783, and the General Committee of the Catholics in 1793; so that I have seen, in the way of deliberative bodies as many I believe as most men; and of all those I have mentioned, beyond all comparison the shamefully profligate and abandoned all sense of virtue, principle, or even common decency, was the legislature of my own unfortunate country. The scoundrels! I lose my temper every time I think of them!" - Theobald Wolfe Tone on the Irish Parliament
In 1794 he was implicated in the intrigues for a French invasion of Ireland, but was allowed to leave the country for the United States. He negotiated (1795) with the French minister concerning French aid in an Irish rebellion and in 1796 went to Paris. He organized several ill-fated expeditions to Ireland, finally joining one intended to aid the 1798 rebellion in Ireland.In Paris, Tone managed to get some support for his ideas, and managed to get some troops and supplies to assist the Irish in their efforts at freedom. But the organization in Ireland was full of British spies and efforts at revolution were squashed in 1796. Undaunted by this failure, Tone continued to try and gain support for the revolution in Ireland. But the combination of the British spy network and less than ample support from the French combined to thwart all his efforts. A further revolutionary attempt was made in 1798, with disastrous results for both Tone and the Irish participants.The 1798 Uprising was a military catastrophe: the French and Irish forces were severely outgunned in the field and in one battle 2,000 revolutionaries faced 30,000 English regulars. The captured French were shipped home, but the Irish were all executed after their surrender. It is estimated that 30,000 Irishmen were killed in fighting that terrible summer: many of the victims were peasants who faced cannon with pitchforks, and a great number of these were women.A further attempt to send French reinforcements was itself intercepted on October 11th, 1798 and among the captured was Theobald Wolfe Tone himself. He was quickly placed on trial, and pleading in virtue of his status as a French officer to die by the musket instead of the rope, he made this statement;
"From my earliest youth I have regarded the connection between Ireland and Great Britain as the curse of the Irish nation, and felt convinced, that while it lasted, this country would never be free or happy. In consequence, I determined to apply all the powers which my individual efforts could move, in order to separate the two countries. That Ireland was not able, of herself, to throw off the yoke, I knew. I therefore sought for aid wherever it was to be found Under the flag of the French Republic I originally engaged with a view to save and liberate my own country. For that purpose I have encountered the chances of war amongst strangers: for that purpose I have repeatedly braved the terrors of the ocean, covered as I knew it to be with the triumphant fleets of that Power which it was my glory and my duty to oppose. I have sacrificed all my views in life; I have courted poverty; I have left a beloved wife unprotected, and children which I adored, fatherless. After such sacrifices, in a cause which I have always considered as the cause of justice and freedom - it is no great effort at this day to add the sacrifice of my life."
He was, however, sentenced to be hanged on November 12, 1798, but he cut his throat with a penknife to cheat the noose, and died of the wound several days later on November 19th, 1798 at the age of 35 in Provost's Prison, Dublin, not far from where he was born.
He was the author of a number of political pamphlets. These, with his autobiography and journals, were edited (1826) by his son, William Theobald Wolfe Tone (1791 - 1828), who was educated by the French government and served with some distinction in the armies of Napoleon, emigrating after Waterloo to America, where he died, in New York City, on October 10, 1828 at the age of 37.
