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THEOBALD WOLFE TONE 1763-1798

THEOBALD WOLFE TONE 1763-1798. Many Irishmen, both Protestant and Catholic, Were inspired by the ideas of the American and French Revolutions. These included Theobald Wolfe Tone. They wanted to achieve Irish Independence and create a new

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THEOBALD WOLFE TONE 1763-1798

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  1. THEOBALD WOLFE TONE 1763-1798 Many Irishmen, both Protestant and Catholic, Were inspired by the ideas of the American and French Revolutions. These included Theobald Wolfe Tone. They wanted to achieve Irish Independence and create a new Ireland whereby privilege would disappear and all men would be seen equal. Tone was born in Dublin to a middle-class Anglican family in 1763. He was trained as a lawyer in Trinity, but had a great interest in politics. He Believed that there could be no reform in Ireland unless Catholics had the right to vote. Tone worked to improve the laws for Catholics. Tone urged co-operation between the different religions in Ireland as the only means of obtaining a solution to Irish grievances. He was a supporter of Thomas Paine’swritings.

  2. On 18th October, 1791 Wolfe Tone and Henry Joy McCracken were invited • to attend a meeting in Belfast. At this meeting a new organisation called the • United Irishmenwas established. Their aim was to unite all Irishmen and • pursue the aim of a fairer and equal Ireland that would not discriminate people • Because of their religion. • The Society’s main aims were: • To unite all religions and reform the Irish Parliament • To reduce English power in Ireland • They did not favour a rebellion or a republic

  3. In 1793 Tone was part of a delegation that went to London to petition • Catholic grievances to the King of England. The delegates forced • Parliament to pass the Catholic Relief Act in 1793. They achieved this • Because relations between France and Britain were getting worse, • and the Government feared that France might help discontented groups • In Ireland, so they got rid of most of the remaining penal laws; • Except: • Allowing Catholics become Members of Parliament (MP’s) • Still barred Catholics from holding high positions of power.

  4. Some Catholic leaders were happy with this arrangement, but Tone was still disappointed. When it became obvious that their aims were unattainable by constitutional methods, the majority of the members adopted the more radical solution and conspired to establish an Irish Republic by armed rebellion. This is what Tone believed in from the start.

  5. From the beginning, Dublin Castle, the seat of government in Ireland, viewed the new organisation with the gravest suspicion, and with the outbreak of war between Britain and France in February 1793, suspicion hardened to hostility. They viewed the admiration of the United Irishmen for the French as treason. When they discovered negotiations between certain United Irishmen, notably Tone, and the French government, their suspicions were confirmed. The United Irishmen were suppressed in 1794 and subsequently continued as a secret oath bound revolutionary organisation. Tone was exiled to America, but went to France to seek help.

  6. By 1796, Tone convinced France to send an invasion force of 43 ships and 14,000 men, but due to adverse weather conditions the ships had to turn back. But Dublin Castle had now heard of this and infiltrated the United Irishmen’s ranks with spies and informers, and started to build up its forces in case the French returned to help Ireland overthrow British rule.

  7. Tone again brought an Irish invasion plan to Paris in October 1797, but the principal French military leader, Napoleon Bonaparte, took little interest. By the spring of 1798, it appeared that Dublin Castle had been successful in its determined efforts to destroy the Society's capacity for insurrection: many of its leaders were in prison, its organisation was in disarray, and there seemed no possibility of French assistance. The United Irishmen had been very successful in recruiting members, one of their strongholds was Ulster, where the Presbyterians were almost as disadvantaged as Catholics under the Anglo-Irish elite. Among their leading lights were Napper Tandy, Thomas Russell and members of the Emmet family. When the rising began in 1798, leaders had already been arrested, and it was not a general, co-ordinated effort.

  8. Despite these difficulties, on the night of the 23rd/24th May 1798, as planned, the mail coaches leaving Dublin were seized - as a signal to those United Irishmen outside the capital that the time of the uprising had arrived. In 1798, with only 3,000 men, Tone again attempted an invasion……. And we will cover the actual rebellion in the next class……………..

  9. Can you remember the main aims of the Society of United Irishmen? • To unite all religions and reform the Irish Parliament • To reduce English power in Ireland • They did not favour a rebellion or a republic

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