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Show THEOBALD WOLF TONE. ! Amid the gloom of a chill autumnal ! ?veii!ng, in "fatal but glorious '38," one hundred and one years ago last Sunday, calmly and peacefully gasping- away-his life, there lay on a Dublin prison cot orr of the grandest, most heroic men whom that stirring epoch produced Theobald Wolfe Tone. Born in 1753, he was a mere schoolboy when the American revolution lxgan, but young as he was. the inspiration of the event flashed in upon his soul, and its electric principles were there inscribed in-scribed in letters of ineffaceable flame. He studied law and was called to the bar, but tlx dull routine of the profession pro-fession was too tame and prosaic for such a s:irit as his. He was a born, revolutionist, and unfortunately the condition of his native land afforded full scope for his best endeavors, in that line. Wolfe Tone was a Protestant, but as he grew to manhood all4his sympathies sym-pathies went but toward his plundered and degraded Catholic countrymen. He j set himself the task of uniting: together Irishmen of every creed, and to further his project he accepted the position of secretary of the Catholic committee. When reverses began to overtake the French arms, England's conciliatory measures ceased and steps were taken toward undoing the work of '82. The volunteers were disbanded, their arms withdrawn and hired mercenaries poured in. Out of this state of affairs grew the United. Irishmen ardent, tolerant, tol-erant, patriotic, republican, mistaken and impracticable. The. parent club was founded by Tone, its professed object ob-ject being civil disabilities of the Irish Catholics. The association grew apace, but its leading" sprits sron perceived the futility of peaceful methods. The foreign government was . slowly but surely crushing them as well as the Papists, so, with the instincts of freemen, free-men, they changed base and beg?.n to preach . insurrection. Tone saw that the issue, must be total separation or subjugation. The plot was discovered and Tone sought temporary refuge in exile, settling down, on a New Jersey farm, where urgent letters soon reached him, stating, that Ireland was ripe for revolt, but lacked military: training j V i and munitions of war. A disciplined nucleus was required, around which to rally and consolidate the rude strength of the nation.' I In this emergency all hopes were j centered on the French Republic, which had sworn everlasting enmity to Brit- ish aggression. In January, 1796, I leaving wife and babies. Wolfe Tone j sailed for France to procure such aid, if possible, from the Directory, as was extended twenty years before to the struggling compatriots of Washington. Though forced to struggle against grave difficulties. Tone succeeded in six or eight months in gaining from the Directory a formidable expedition, under un-der Hoche, but his efforts were baffled by the elements, which scattered the j fleet when nearinsr Ireland a fate which befel another armament that Tone had succeeded in persuading the Dutch Republic to fit out for the invasion in-vasion of Ireland. With indomitable energy, Tone betook himself once more to France and appealed to the young Republic so successfully that another fleet was prepared, but at the moment of sailing for Ireland its destination was changed and it was sent to Egypt. The English government, finding the coast clear, now determined to goad the Irish into a revolt, for which they were unprepared, and thus effectually cursh them. Accordingly, the Hessian hirelings were let loose, and to them and to the infuriated Orange yeomanry were given "fre? quarters" upon the people, in order that their lust and ruffianism ruf-fianism might provoke partial rising. The troops were authorized to administer admin-ister justice without the intervention of any civil - process, and to such lengths did the- licentious soldiery go that the commander. Sir Ralph Aber-crombie, Aber-crombie, resigned in disgust and horror hor-ror at their unchecked atrocities. Meantime, Tone in Paris seemed to take neither food nor rest, in his eagerness eager-ness to procure some aid. Finally, a j small squviron was fitted out, only to be surrounded on the Irish coast by a British fleet,' which cut It to pieces. Tone was urged to escape, and might have done so, but would not desert his friends, though he 'knew he could expect ex-pect no mercy, while they would "be treated as prisoners of war. - He was 'i captured, hurried to Dublin in chains, and tried by drumhead court-martial. Despite a brilliant impassioneB plea, in the course of which he vindicated the policy of his' life, he was condemned . to be hanged within forty-eight hours. Rather than give them the gratification of disgracing his uniform and gloating over his ignominious end, he, unfortunately unfor-tunately for his reputation as a Christian Chris-tian and a man of fortitude, opened a vein in his neck with the blade of a penknife. He lingered for a week, and the government was in favor of taking tak-ing him out and strangling him, half dead and wounded though he was, and j would have done so, only they dreaded ! the effect upon the nation. On the 19th of November he died, adding an honored hon-ored name to the long roll of Ireland's j i ill-starred patriots. |