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IRISH EXAMINER | April 5th, 2017Fenian
Dead
James Napper Tandy Irish parliamentarian, Henry ness of Ireland, and these Irishman, 180 Frenchman, a an armed British merchant
(1740-1803) Grattan, in 1985, before ship off the coast of the
becoming involved with men have the whole power large supply of arms and Orkneys of Scotland, Tandy
Theobold Wolfe Tone, the sat on deck drinking brandy
By Jack McGrath guiding force behind the and patronage of the coun- artillery, and cavalry saddles with eight-pound cannon
Society of United Irishman balls in his pockets, ready to
Afuture United in 1791, in which he served try as means to subdue the and bridles aboard (for Irish jump overboard and drown
as first secretary. himself rather than submit
Irishman by the honesty and spirit of her cavalry). to capture by the British.
Out of all the founding
name of James members of the United representatives in the legis- They had thought that The Anacreon made it
Irishman, whose object was safely back to Hamburg,
Napper Tandy, son of a to bring about an Irish lature.†the uprising, with French Germany, but the British
Republic, through violent government immediately
Dublin Protestant iron- means, if necessary, all, In purely American assistance, led by General began an effort to have
except one (William Tandy extradited, and,
monger, was born in MacNeven, a Catholic) were terms, these were “fightin’ Humbert, who had landed despite diplomatic protests,
Protestants. he was eventually returned
Dublin in 1740. wordsâ€, and the British duly his force at Killala in to Lifford, County Donegal,
Wolfe Tone, John and Ireland, where he was tried
He attended a Quaker Henry Sheares, Thomas took note of this big man Country Mayo, had already for treason, pled guilty, and
Emmet, Samuel Nielson, was sentenced to death.
boarding school in Ballitore, Arthur O’Connor, Oliver who might well be the cata- taken place and was success-
Bond, Thomas Russell, John In 1801 he was reprieved,
County Kildare, alongside Lawless and Beauchamp lyst in bringing about even ful, and that their own small no doubt due to the inter-
Bagenal Harvey were the cession of the famous British
Edmund Burke, who would main players in the conspir- bigger problems in their old- force was merely a rear general, Lord Lieutenant
acy. Cornwallis, who stressed
be one of Ireland’s greatest est colony. guard and resupply action. “the incapacity of this old
The first overt meeting of man to do further mischiefâ€
political writers and orators. the United Irishman took Further increasing the Landing at the Isle of and none other than
place in Belfast on October Napoleon himself, who was
Tandy took another road, 18, 1791. Their agreed reso- government’s anxiety, Arranmore, off the coast of said to have made Tandy’s
lutions were unanimously release a condition of sign-
and he would be remem- accepted: a union of dedicat- Tandy signed and circulated Donegal, in the village of ing the Treaty of Amiens.
ed Irishman of all religious
bered, by name, forever, in persuasions was required to a letter at the end of 1791, Rutland, on September Tandy was returned to
act as a counter-weight to France in 1802, where his
the opening verse of one of the English influence that declaring that “The object 16th, they were already too release was considered a
ran the country and help to great French diplomatic vic-
Ireland’s oldest rebel songs, create an independent Irish of this institution (The late. tory. He died at Bordeaux
Parliament. on August 24, 1803, remem-
“Wearing of the Greenâ€. United Irishman) is to make Tandy was one of the first bered forever in the Irish
Tandy liked what he ballad, The Wearing of the
Tandy started his work- heard and held a meeting of a United Society of the Irish ashore and began handing Green:
his own in Dublin, heading a
ing life as a small business- United Irish group calling Nation; to make all Irishman out printed proclamations I met with Napper Tandy
itself the “Dublin Societyâ€, and he took me by the hand,
man, and then as a land and wrote: “In the present Citizens, all Citizens that “The Soldiers of the Saying, how is old Ireland?
great era of reform when And how does she stand?
agent and rent collector unjust governments are Irishman ... “ Great Nation have landed
falling in every quarter of She’s the most distressful
eventually getting into local Europe ... we think it our In 1792, in Dublin, on your coast ... James country that ever yet was seen;
duty as Irishman to come They are hanging men and
politics and then, as a mem- forward and state what we Tandy, with Wolfe Tone, Napper Tandy is at their women for the wearing of the
feel to be our heavy griev- green! O the wearing of the
ber of Dublin Corporation, ance, and what we believe began forming a new corps head, He has sworn to lead green, O the wearing of the
to be its effectual remedy. green,
as politicians usually do, We have no National of Volunteers, devoted to them on to victory, or die ...
Government. We are ruled My native land, I cannot stand,
denounced corruption in the by Englishman and the ser- the principles of the United “ They had come to “break for wearing of the green. C
vants of Englishman whose
government, especially object is the interest of Irishman. your fetters, and restore you Sources: A Dictionary of Irish
another country, whose Biography-Henry Moylan; The
those policies that effected instrument is corruption, Their uniform buttons to the blessings of liberty ... Green Flag-Robert Kee; The Year
whose strength is the weak- of Liberty-The History of the
the small shopkeeper class, would display a harp with- the trumpet calls. “ Great Irish Rebellion of 1798-
Thomas Pakenham; Internet.
even proposing to boycott out a crown above it for the But the local Irish that
English goods in Ireland first time, similar to the could actually read the
entirely, in retaliation for National Guard of Paris, on proclamation, which was
restrictions placed on Irish which it was modeled. written in English, not Irish,
commerce. In 1793, at were few, and not, at least
Tandy was reportedly Castlebellingham, in in that remote region of the
seven foot tall with a promi- County Louth, in a demon- island, inclined to take up
nent nose so large that one stration of solidarity, Tandy arms against anyone.
of his political adversary’s took the oath of the Realizing this, disappoint-
once said it should stand for Defenders, a Roman ed, Tandy hoisted an Irish
election in its own right. Catholic society with the flag anyway. His disappoint-
Physically, he was not a man same goal of Irish independ- ment led to despair when he
to be ignored. ence as the United Irishman, received word of General
He joined the original and, threatened with prose- Humbert’s defeat at
Irish Volunteers of the day cution by the government Ballinamuck, County
and commanded the based on the evidence of an Longford on September 8th.
approaches to the Houses of informer, he fled to The Cause, he now real-
the Irish Parliament when America, where he ized, at least for the time
their independence was remained until 1798, when being, was lost.
announced on May 27, 1782. he went to Paris to meet It was said that Tandy,
At the head of a growing Tone, who was planning an who was fond of drink, had
revolutionary merchant invasion of Ireland with had more than his share in
party, he agitated for French assistance. Rutland, and had to be car-
reform, calling a convention On September 4 1798, ried back on board the
of delegates from all over Tandy, set sail for Ireland Anacreon, which quickly
Ireland in October 1784. from Dunkirk on one of made to sea before the
He briefly joined the France’s fastest corvettes, British army arrived.
Whig club led by the famous Anacreon, with a few United During an encounter with
