CHAPTER XXXI

THE UNITED IRISHMEN
The Society of the United Irishmen was formed in Belfast on the 14th October, 1791. The originator of the idea was Theobald Wolfe Tone, a Protestant barrister, and it was first mooted in a pamphlet written by him and signed “A Northern Whig,” though he actually was a Dublin man. Samuel Neilson, a Belfast linen merchant, of liberal ideas, who had been a National Volunteer in the year 1782, discussed this pamphlet with his friends who held similar opinions, and they decided to invite Tone down to Belfast for a conference. The result was the formation of the first Club of United Irishmen.
Tone, in his autobiography, describes the event thus:
“It is a kind of injustice to name individuals, yet I cannot refuse myself the pleasure of observing how peculiarly fortunate I esteem myself in having formed connections with Samuel Neilson, Robert Simms, William Simms, William Sinclair, Thomas M’Cabe. I may as well stop here, for in enumerating my most particular friends I find I am, in fact, making out a list of the men of Belfast most distinguished for their virtue, talent and patriotism. . . . We formed our Club, of which I wrote the Declaration.”
Tone goes on to tell how on his return to Dublin three weeks later he formed a second Club in the capital with the Honourable Simon Butler as Chairman and James Napper Tandy as Secretary. The Dublin Club adopted the Declaration of its Belfast predecessor and entered into correspondence with it.
To begin with the Association was not a secret society, and aimed at winning adherents by public meetings and
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THE UNITED IRISHMEN 22Q
open propaganda. It was not republican in its principles at this time, though it became so later. Its avowed objects were:
1 . The reform of the existing parliamentary system based
on restricted franchise, rotten boroughs, patronage, and so forth.
2. Catholic emancipation.
3. The disestablishment of the Church of Ireland.
4. The abolition of pensions granted on the Irish Estab¬
lishment.
It is hardly necessary to remark that all these reforms have been achieved since then.
One of the rules of the society was that each member should take a test to show the sincerity of his principles. It ran as follows:
“I, A.B., in the presence of God, do pledge myself to my Country that I will use all my abilities and influence in the attainment of an impartial and adequate represen¬ tation of the Irish Nation in Parliament; and as a means of absolute and immediate necessity in the establishment of this chief good of Ireland, I will endeavour as much as lies in my ability to forward a brotherhood of affection, an identity of interests, a communion of rights, and a union of power among Irishmen of all religious persuasions, without which every reform in Parliament must be partial, not National, inadequate to the wants, delusive to the wishes, and insufficient for the freedom and happiness of this Country.”
The objects for which the Society was formed alarmed the Government of the day who proceeded to suppress it. Since it could no longer continue its labours in the open, on the 10th May, 1794, it was reconstituted as a secret society. The Belfast leaders were mainly Presbyterians and Republicans, and there is little doubt that in its new form the society expressed more completely the aspirations of such men as Samuel Neilson.
Later events made it patent that the aims of the new Society went much further politically than those avowed e
23O FAMOUS SECRET SOCIETIES
by the original body, for it soon set itself to work to bring about an alliance with France, a revolution in Ireland, and the establishment of an Irish Republic.
In May, 1795, Tone was back in Belfast on his way to exile in America. He had become implicated in a question¬ able transaction with an agent from the French Republic, and had himself suggested to the authorities a voluntary expatriation in preference to being put on trial for sedition, and they had accepted this proposal. He has left this account of his final visit to Belfast :
“I remember particularly two days that we passed on the Cave Hill. On the first Russell, Simms, Neilson, McCracken and one or two more of us, on the summit of M’Art’s Fort took a solemn obligation, which I think I may say I have, on my part, endeavoured to fulfil — never to desist in our efforts, until we have subverted the authority of England over our country, and asserted her independence.”
As a matter of fact a very grave and important decision was come to during this stay of his in Belfast. The Ulster Directory of the United Irishmen had given him ambas¬ sadorial powers to approach the French Revolutionary Government and beseech its armed intervention in the affairs of Ireland. Tone had accepted the commission, and was in due course to acquire in performing it the rank of a national hero and the death of a Roman.
The Ulster Directory of the United Irishmen had been formed in the very month of Tone’s visit. It contemplated a programme for remodelling the State much more revolu¬ tionary than the original plan, for of course the designs as well as the Constitutions of the second and secret society differed in many important respects from that of the first and open one. An extract from Madden will make these differences clear.
“When the new organization of the Society was carried into effect, in the month of May, 1794, after the former Society had been suppressed, a complexion totally different from that of its first declaration was given to its proceedings ;
THE UNITED IRISHMEN 23 1
a new constitution was drawn up. The test differed materially from the original one, which made it obligatory on the member to seek ‘an adequate representation of the Irish nation in Parliament.’ The new test made it binding on the candidate for admission, to seek ‘an adequate representation of all the people of Ireland,’ without any reference to Parliament, the word being omitted altogether in the test. It also bound its members to secrecy, and the constitution of committees provided for the representation of the whole people, in the baronial, provincial, and national committees, and subordinate assemblies of the society.”1
The test of the second Society was as follows:
“/« the awful presence of God
“I, A.B., do voluntarily declare, that I will persevere in endeavouring to form a brotherhood of affection among Irishmen of every religious persuasion, and that I will also persevere in my endeavours to obtain an equal, full and adequate representation of all the people of Ireland.
‘‘I do further declare that neither hopes, fears, rewards nor punishments, shall ever induce me, directly or indirectly, to inform on or give evidence against any member or members of this or similar societies, for any act or expression of theirs done or made, collectively or individ¬ ually, in or out of this society, in pursuance of the spirit of this obligation.”
The rule governing the taking of this test was:
‘‘Every person elected a member of this society, whether ordinary or honorary, shall, previous to his admission, take the following Test in a separate apartment, in presence of the persons who proposed and seconded him, and one member appointed by the chairman ; or in case of absence of one of the two persons, the chairman shall appoint another member to act for the absentee, after which the new member shall be brought into the body of the society, and there take the test in the usual form.”
The form the society assumed was comparable to that of a triangle. The base was formed of an immense number of
1 R. R. Madden, Op. cit.
232 FAMOUS SECRET SOCIETIES
small local societies, narrowing upwards through baronial, county, and provincial committees to the apex of a national executive directory.
The local societies consisted of twelve members, one of whom was elected secretary. The secretaries of five such societies formed a lower-baronial committee; and delegates from ten such committees constituted an upper-baronial committee. Delegates from these latter bodies composed the county committees, each of which returned delegates to the provincial committee. From these last bodies five members were selected by ballot to form the National Directorate, which had the supreme command of the whole Society. This election was so arranged that only the secretaries of the provincial committees knew those who had been chosen. Orders were transmitted downwards with the utmost mystery and secrecy. The society thus presented a union of opposed ideas, a democratic organization directed by an autocratic oligarchy.
An oath of secrecy and fidelity superseded the original simple declaration of political principle.
The only symbols in use among the United Irish¬ men were the Irish harp, the shamrock, and crossed hands.
The wearing of a green neck-cloth and the cutting short of the hair were shibboleths adopted to show their politics that soon became known to friends and foes alike, and consequently sometimes proved fatal to the displayers of these insignia. Traditions of the rebellious United Men’s favourite colour are still preserved in a famous song, while their chosen style of hairdressing is commemorated in the use of the word “Croppie” as a term of reproach still current in Ireland among certain loyalists of the more militant sort, and one of the party tunes beloved of the Orange Order is entitled “Croppies, lie down!”
In an appendix to his great work on this revolutionary movement Madden gives an account of the secret ceremonies of the second society of United Irishmen, and we may assume these to be correct, for he had gone to great pains to collect all the information available from survivors of
THE UNITED IRISHMEN 233
the society, many of whom were still living at the time when his book was written.
His account of it all runs thus.
“The candidate for admission into the society, after it became a secret one in 1 794, was sworn either by individuals or in the presence of several members, in a separate room from that in which the meeting was held. A paper con¬ sisting of eight pages of printed matter, called the con¬ stitution, was placed in his right hand, and the nature of it was explained to him: that part of it called the ‘Test’ was read to him, and repeated by him. The oath was administered either on the Scriptures or a prayer-book; and while it was administering to him, he held the con¬ stitution together with the book on his right breast. The constitution contained the declaration, resolutions, rules, test, regulations for the various committees, and form of certificate of admission into the Society.
“The mode of recognition was the following: — A member desiring to ascertain if a person was initiated, or to make himself known to another party — on meeting with a person not previously known as a United Irishman — repeated the first letter of the word ‘United’ in this manner — ‘I know U’; the person accosted, if initiated, answered — ‘I know N’ — and so on, each alternately repeating the remaining letters of the word. Where further proofs of initiation were required, there was a form of examination in a series of questions, to which the following answers were required, in common use among the lower orders.
“Are you straight? I am.
“How straight? As straight as a rush.
“Go on then? In truth, in trust, in unity and liberty.
“What have you got in your hand? A green bough.
“Where did it first grow? In America.
“Where did it bud? In France.
“Where are you going to plant it? In the Crown of Great Britain.”
According to the account given by the leaders of the United Irishmen later, actual negotiations between the society and France began in May, 1796. Tone was already in that country, and for some time was unable to get any-
234 FAMOUS SECRET SOCIETIES
thing done; but an introduction to Carnot finally brought about an understanding and a promise of armed invasion by the French Directory.
This alliance with a foreign power was not welcomed unanimously by the society. Many far-sighted leaders, such as Thomas Addis Emmet, were always of opinion that dependence upon France was a mistake.
However, the die was cast, and in 1796 a delegate, in the person of Lord Edward FitzGerald, son of the Duke of Leinster, was dispatched to treat with the French Directory. Lord Edward had entered the British army at the age of 17, and served with distinction in the American War; but had sent in his papers in 1790 on being told he had barred his way to further promotion by having voted against the Government of the day in the House of Commons, where he sat as member for Kildare. To carry out his com¬ mission from the United Irishmen he made his way to Switzerland, accompanied by Arthur O’Connor, a wealthy landed proprietor; and near the frontier they had an interview with General Hoche, who had been appointed to command the expedition to Ireland. The outcome of the interview was that a French army of invasion set sail for Ireland.
That expedition miscarried, a storm driving the ships into Bantry Bay in a part of the country that was not organized for a rising; and the fleet of 43 ships with 15,000 trained soldiers returned to Brest without having effected a landing in force.
The society had made preparations for welcoming it else¬ where. In October, 1796, the organization underwent a re¬ modelling, if only in name, because it was already well adapted for assembling large bodies of men at short notice. The local secretaries became sergeants; the lower-baronial delegates, captains; the upper-baronial delegates, colonels. For each county an adjutant-general was selected by the Directorate from names submitted by the colonels. The generals were appointed by the Directorate.
The strength of the movement lay in Ulster, where 100,000 men had been enrolled; but Munster, where Hoche
THE UNITED IRISHMEN 235
made his landfall, was hardly organized, and Connaught not at all.
The complete failure of the Hoche expedition depressed the United Irishmen, and if the Government early in 1797 had seen fit to grant parliamentary reform and Catholic emancipation, it is more than probable that the society would have been quietly dissolved. A policy of repression had been adopted instead; and repression begat reprisals.
All through 1797 the condition of Ireland was terrible. Mutual intimidation and armed outrage were rife; but despite all assertions to the contrary, no evidence has ever been forthcoming to show that a system of terrorization and assassination had been approved by the responsible leaders of the United Irishmen.
The coffers of Dublin Castle were overflowing with secret-service money and attracted a swarm of spies, the blow-flies of the commonwealth who thrive on corruption. As a consequence, most of the leaders of ability had been cast into a gaol or a grave long before the conspiracy culminated in the abortive rebellion of 1798.
Of that rebellion and the subsequent fates of the leaders of it there is no need to give any account in a book which merely aims at tracing the motive forces that caused certain historical events and not at recording them in detail.
One particular phase of the United Irishmen movement has yet to be mentioned, because it has a bearing on the general subject of secret societies.
Since the Masonic system was widely spread through Ulster, where every small village at that time possessed its lodge of Freemasons, it was but natural that great numbers of the United Irishmen should belong to that fraternity, and also to be expected that some of them would make an effort to utilize Freemasonry for their own political purposes. Such attempts were actually made; but were ultimately sterilized, partly by the wise, tactful and firm action of the Grand Lodge in Dublin, partly by the good sense of the Ulster Freemasons them¬ selves. This consummation was not achieved before the columns of the northern newspapers had published many
236 FAMOUS SECRET SOCIETIES
political resolutions passed by various Masonic Lodges for and against constitutional reform, etc. These sentiments varied, of course, according to the politics of the membership of the particular lodge; those who favoured the United Irishmen made themselves, on the whole, more vocal than the other side. This, perhaps, was the reason why in the year 1797 the northern Masonic Lodges were popularly supposed to be disloyal. There was undoubtedly this ingredient of truth in the belief : many of the leaders of the United Irishmen were Freemasons. The Government spy, John Henry Smith, alias Bird, reporting from Belfast in 1796 to his employers wrote:
“There’s scarcely a United Irishman who is not a Mason, nor a Mason who is not both.”
The same authority adds that the phrase “Up and Up” meant that a man was both a Defender and a United Irishman. The technical term “Up,” implying member¬ ship of an illegal association, is worth noting, because it will be met with again in treating of the “Ribbonmen.”1
1 My friend the late F. J. Biggar, of Belfast, had a true copy of Smith’s letters, from which the above statements are taken.