United Irishmen

By law more penal than the sword,

Till vengeance with a tiger start

Sprang from the covert of the heart.

Resistance took a blacker name,

The scaffold's penalty and shame;

There was the wretched rebel led,

Uplifted there the traitor's head.

"British Rule in Ireland"
By Dr. Drennan (Madden, p.45).

This poem does a good job at summing up why the United Irishmen came to be. Literature (poems) and songs were a way the United Irishmen expressed their feelings of oppression and rebellion. Thuente points out that Irish literary nationalism originated with the United Irishmen-not with Thomas Moore or the Young Ireland poets as many believe (p.3). And after 1795, the logic of popular revolution introduced an unmistakable note of egalitarianism into Irish literature (Smyth, p. 162). In this essay, I will discuss the political thinking of one United Irishman, the main influences upon United Irish thought, and the political legacies of the United Irishmen.

Theobald Wolfe Tone seems the most likely United Irishman to analyze. He is described by his daughter-in-law as 'a slight, effeminate-looking man, with a hatchet face, long aquiline nose, rather handsome and genteel looking, with lank, straight hair' (Elliott, p.958). He was involved in the college historical society at Trinity College where he mixed with many who were to become statesmen and public leaders. He also attended parliamentary debates, which is where he met lifelong friend Thomas Russell. Russell asked Tone to compile a list of resolutions for a political club to be established in Belfast on the anniversary of the fall of Bastille (Elliott, p.959). These resolutions were to become the founding constitution for the Society of the United Irishmen.

'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 dissentions, and to substitute the common name of Irishman, in the place of the denominations of Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter-these were my means' (Theobald Wolfe Tone, 1796). The most quoted words in Irish history explain the basis of the United Irishmen's principles. They set about to do this in a "peaceful" way. Elliott states that 'Tone and his friends... were uncomfortable with the concept of popular revolution' (p. 959). The United Irishmen were politically radical but socially conservative (P.164 Smyth). The Declaration and Resolutions of the Society of United Irishmen of Belfast had 3 objectives: 1.) a union among all people of Ireland to counter huge amount of English influence; 2.) a radical reform of parliamentary representation as 'the sole constitutional mode' by which influence can be countered; and 3.) the inclusion of Irishmen of 'every religious persuasion' (Smyth, p. 164). These resolutions basically meant that no reform would be reached without addressing Catholic grievances.

However as it seemed that the people of Ireland did not want to revolt against their British rulers, Tone wrote, on behalf of the United Irishmen, 'We have no right to force men to be free' 'If a nation wills a bad government, it ought to have that government' (Elliott, p.960). A letter on the state of parties and on the subject of reform addressed to the people of Belfast in 1796 tried to convince them that, "It cannot be denied by any man who reasons fairly on the subject, that a government thus reformed would at least have more supporters and fewer enemies, consequently that it would stand on a much firmer foundation, and have more powerful means to defend the country that it could otherwise possess," (Killen, p. 70). The United Irishmen would never give up their struggle and the key members: Tone, Russell, Henry Joy McCracken, Samual Neilson and Robert Simms on the summit of Cave Hill made 'a most solemn obligation ... never to desist in our efforts, until we had subverted the authority of England over our country, and asserted her independence' (Elliott, p. 961). It was here that many believe modern Irish republicanism was born. Before Tone took his own life in a prison he said 'I have attempted to establish the independence of my country; I have failed in the attempt; my life is in consequence forfeited' (Elliott, p. 964). And "today there is no sizeable town in the Irish Republic without a street named after him," (Elliott, p. 965).

The United Irishmen were influenced by a great many events and ideas. Jacob states that "These leaders of the Northern Democrats had for long supported the cause of Parliamentary reform with all their heart, and were, of course, warm admirers of the French Revolution," (p. 54-55). Many intellectuals felt that the United Irishmen should enter into 'communication with similar societies abroad, as the Jacobin Club in Paris, the Revolution Society in England,
The American Revolution also greatly influenced the United Irishmen with Thomas Payne's Rights of Man having been read by nearly all of Ireland. The city of Belfast was their success story in the 'age of revolutions'. There were profound hopes of revolutionary change. The idea of separation of church and state was American and also influenced the United Irishmen thought. In Payne's pamphlet, he cites the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of Citizens, which was published by the National Assembly of France. Three rights stated in this are fundamental to the shaping of the political philosophy of the United Irishmen: 1. Men are born and always continue free, and equal in respect of their rights. 2. The end of all political associations is the preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man; and these rights are -liberty, property, security and resistance to oppression. 3. The nation is essentially the source of all sovereignty (Killen, p.2). These 3 rights applied as much to the American colonies as to the Irish ruled by the British. The issue of equality in regards to rights was especially essential in their work towards parliamentary reform for Catholics. The right of property was important in the tenant/landlord situation where the landlord was almost always a British colonist. And the last right being to the nation to possess all power to rule was very important to the Irish who had been oppressed for many years and just wanted to govern themselves instead of being a "colony" under Britain.

The situation in Scotland was rather different in the spring of 1794; the country was also facing no parliamentary reform. The Scottish democrats could either wait patiently with seemingly no hope; or revolt like their Irish neighbors (Dickson, p. 162). "The Scottish authorities quickly came to regard the united Scotsmen as little more than an overseas branch of the United Irishmen... There was clear evidence of Irish involvement in the United Scotsmen..." (Dickson, p.164). Scottish enlightenment thinker Francis Hutchison was another influence.

Another influence on United Irishmen was the Orange lodges which started out as free masonry lodges. These lodges were meant to house brotherhood and many of their "club" terms were taken from the fraternity to describe radical thinkers' societies. All masons were equal and brothers. The United Irishmen believed that all Catholics and Protestants were equal and therein lays the hope for Ireland. "Citizenship, with all its rights and all its responsibilities, was what the United Irishmen were after in political terms. In social, religious, and economic terms, they sought the rights of individuals. Their ideology was, above all, inclusive and universal," (Curtin, p.283-284).

Classical republicanism and civic humanism were influencing ideals in United Irishmen thought with roots in Greek and Roman authors. They held a sense of virtue, not apparent in the British rulers. The idea was that those who are ruled have a right to engage in a change of ruler if they decide. Rulers are also frequently elected to rule out tyranny. One can see how such philosophies would be appealing to the United Irishmen.

United Irishmen legacies include the publishing of Wolfe Tone's paper by his wife, Matilda, and son, William, titled Life of Theobald Wolfe Tone in 1826. The Young Irelanders were also influenced by the United Irishmen. Interested in a more inclusive nationalism, they were disillusioned with O'Connell's constitutionalism and sectarianism. They found inspiration in Wolfe Tone's rallying call for the unity of the sects, his readiness to use arms to achieve his country's independence and his willingness to give up his own life in that struggle (Elliott, p.964). Thomas Davis of the Young Irelanders revered Tone and identified strongly with his ambition to unite Irishmen of all sects.

John Mitchell's, History of Ireland, drew uncritically on Life, beginning a long tradition in nationalist historiography of treating Tone's writings as sacred scripture. Mitchell's adoption of the more extreme elements in Tone's thinking proved popular with the Fenians, contributing to their brand of militant Anglophobia, and it was the repeated pilgrimages of the Fenians to Bodenstown (memorial on Tone's grave) that made it a nationalist shrine. By 1898 Wolfe Tone was the leading figure in the 100 year celebrations of the 1798 rebellion, and a Wolf Tone Memorial Association was founded that year, presided over by William Butler Yeats---- included Life in list of forty 'Best Irish Books' (Elliott, p. 965). Patrick Pearse credited Wolfe Tone with giving Irish nationalists 'a clear and precise and worthy concept of Nationality', and for this reason he was 'the greatest of Irishmen'. 'It is not republican separatism that Tone considered his most important contribution to the history of Ireland, but his effort to heal its religious divisions' (Marianne Elliott, Wolfe Tone, p.111)

The birth of republican separatist opinion in modern Ireland was, therefore, contemporary with the birth of the Society of United Irishmen, and it may confidently be said that all the convinced republicans were United Irishmen, though not all the United Irishmen were republicans (Jacob, p. 54). Revolutionary policy was another legacy produced by the United Irishmen and within them the tension to unite Northern Ireland at the same time trying to separate the Northern Irish. It was a late 18^th century phenomena to make sense of the United Irishmen!

Produced by the great help of Theobald Wolfe Tone, influenced by the Scots, Americans, Brits, and French, and legacies that lead anywhere one wishes to go, the United Irishmen were a group that many could identify with. "The United Irish politics of inclusion reached across class barriers, inviting participation by the artisan, the farmer, and the labourer in the direction of the country," (Curtin, p. 7). Curtin describes their interaction with the ruling parties as such: "[the] would constitute a threat to the established order; the government would respond. The United Irishmen would then regroup, reconsider their strategy, and adapt to a more repressive political climate, an adaptation which generally led to a more extreme position and a new campaign of provocation. And so the government would react yet again in its counter-campaign. One side was struggling to assert the rights of individuals and citizens; the other to preserve the social order. Both sides were self-interested and idealistic; both were excessive in their zeal" (p.3). It is no wonder their leader is the most quoted political thinker in Ireland. The United Irishmen were not just another rebel group fighting the crown. They were here to fight for the rights of all Irishmen, regardless of religion. They were here to stay.

Bibliography

Curtin, Nancy J. The United Irishmen: Popular Politics in Ulster and Dublin 1791-1798. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1998. Pp. 3, 7, 283-284.

Dickson, David et al. (editors). The United Irishmen: Republicanism, Radicalism and Rebellion. The Lilliput Press, Dublin, 1993. Pp. 151, 162, 164.

Jacob, Rosamond. The Rise of the United Irishmen 1791-94. George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd., London, 1937. Pp. 54-55, 70.

Killen, John (editor). The Decade of the United Irishmen: Contemporary Accounts 1791-1801. The Blackstaff Press Limited, Belfast, 1998. Pp. 2, 70.

Madden, R.R. (collector and editor). Literary Remains of The United Irishmen of 1798. James Duffy and Sons, Dublin, 1887. Pp. 45.

Matthew, H. C. G. (editor). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Volume 54: Taylour-Tonneys. Tone, (Theobald) Wolfe by Marianne Elliot. Oxford University Press, London, 2004. Pp. 958-961, 964-965.

O'Donnell, Ruan. 1798 Diary. Irish Times Books, Dublin, 1998. Pp. iii.

Quinn, James. "Review article: Theobald Wolfe Tone and the historians." Irish Historical Studies. Volume 32: Issue 125. 2000. Pp. 114.

Smyth, Jim. The Men of No Property: Irish Radicals and Popular Politics in the Late Eighteenth Century. Gill and Macmillan Ltd., Dublin, 1992. Pp. 162, 164.

Thuente, Mary Helen. The Harp Re-strung: The United Irishmen and the Rise of Irish Literary Nationalism. Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, New York, 1994. Pp. 3.