Attempted Landings in Ireland.

Manawatu Times, Volume XL, Issue 13388, 29 April 1916, Page 7

Attempted Landings in Ireland.

A PEEP AT THE PAST.

An attempted German lauding - in Ireland has ended in failure like the similar expedition organised by Napoleon in 1798, to which it bears a curious resemblance. On that occasion, Sir Eoger Casement had his counterpart in Theobald Wolfe Tone, an Irish patriot, the son of a coachmaker, who was born in "Dublin in 1763. Called to the Bar at the age of 26, he soon plunged into political intrigues,, acted some time as secretary of the Catholic Committee, and had a large share in the organisation of the United Irish Society (United Irishmen). His purpose was to unite Presbyterian and Catholic Ireland in an armed league against England. His active mind was impatient of constitutional methods, and from an early period of his career he dreamt of foreign invasion as a remedy for the evils, real or supposed, under which his country was suffering. Owing to his intrigues he was compelled eventually to seek safety, first in America and afterwards in France, seeking the co-operation of his country's enemies, much in the same way as Sir Eoger Casement has done. He laboured incessantly to induce the French Eepublican Government to take up the scheme for the invasion of Ireland. He held a command in the unlucky expedition under Hoche which set sail in 1796 for the conquest of Ireland, but the ships were soon scattered by a storm, and the expedition, like the Armada, was doomed to failure before a man could be landed on the enemy's soil. Again in 1798 another French expedition was organised, but the small French squadron, after a fierce light, was captured, Tone being among the prisoners. His fate, it will be noted, bears a- striking resemblance to that of Sir Eoger Casement, who also was taken prisoner as the result of his abortive expedition. Tone was taken to Dublin, tried, and condemned to be hanged as a traitor, which fate he escaped by cutting his throat in prison on November 19, 1798. His ambition, which was phenomenal, was only equalled by his unscrupulousness. Meanwhile sporadic risings had broken out in other parts of Ireland, which were marked by atrocities in Wexford and Wieklow. The United Irish directors were nearly all made prisoners, but they were allowed to leave Ireland.

Another famtfus member of the "United Irishmen" Association was Robert Emmet, who was a fellowstudent with Moore :it Trinity College. Dublin, but an academic career of exceptional promise was soon cut short by his political intrigues. _He travelled on the Continent, interviewed Napoleon and his Minister Tallyrand in 1.502 on behalf of the Irish cause, and returned the next year to devote his own fortune of £3OOO to buying muskets and manufacturing pikes. With a few confederates he laid a plot to seize Dublin Castle and secure the person of the Viceroy, but the rising proved a complete failure, and Emmet, who had arrayed himself for the occasion in a green coat, white breeches, and cocked hat, had the morti(ica«tion to see nothing result from his enterprise but a few murders and outrages. He escaped to the Wicklow mountains, but was afterwards captured, tried for treason, condemned and hanged. He was an eloquent orator and an able man, whose energies, if directed in a more befitting channel, might have benefited Ins

country. For nearly half a century tkero was comparative quiet in Ireland, though agrarian disturbances wen; still Vife The abortive "rebellion as it was called, of 1848, was put down with scarcely the shedding of a drop of blood. It was followed by the Fenian agitation. In 1866 a Fenian raid of Canada was organised, but the attempt was aji utter failare and it was followed in 1867 by an equaly abortive attempt at insmrcctifHi at home, beginning with the seizure of the castle and military stores at Chester. The attempt (foredoomed to failure, in any ease) was defeat-d by the treachery ot one oi tho conspirators. A partial insurrection, however, took place in the countv of Kerry, and a few weeks later a more extensive movement was attempted in the counties ot Dublin, Louth, Tipperary, Limerick. and Cork. But most, of the part.es we.e dispersed or were made pn»oaeni after a single night's campaign. In. loaders were tried, and some convicted hat none executed. The subsequent attacks made by individua Fenians or small bodies of them wore mor e criminal attempts, comparabh only to the bombing outrages ot anarchists, with the exception of a second attempted Fenian raid on Canada in 1871, which was frustrated by the apprehension of its leader, and the getzure of its arms.