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Many years after, the journals of Tone were published in full by his son, and constitute an autobiography of romantic interest. "To this book," says Moore, "I must refer the reader for particulars, adding only my opinion, that there are few books, whether for the matter or the manner, more interesting; the character of the writer himself presenting the most truly Irish mixture of daring in design and light-heartedness in execution; while the sense of awe with which it is impossible not to contemplate a mission pregnant with such consequences, is forever relieved by those alternate flashes of humor and sentiment with which only a temperament so national could have enlivened or softened such details."*

Tone now drew up full memorials on the state of Ireland, in which he stated the population and resources of that country, their political discontent, and the organizations which had been formed for revolution. He then went on to state the troops necessary for a successful invasion, and the places on the coast at which they should land. All these points he detailed more minutely and repeatedly in conversation. He said that with 20,000 men there would be no possibility of resistance for an hour, and they should begin with the capital. They would then have all the offices of government instantly in their hands. With 5,000 men he would have no doubt of success, but they must expect some hard fighting, and should begin near Belfast, as the province of Ulster was the most populous and warlike in the kingdom, and it was there the United Irishmen were the strongest. He pointed out on a map * Life of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, vol. i. p. 198

of Ireland the position of Belfast. In case of landing here with but five thousand men, they should push immediately for the mountains of Mourne and the Fews, by means of which and of Lough Erne, they would cover the entire province of Ulster, and maintain themselves until they had collected their friends in sufficient force to penetrate to Dublin. He suggested at the same time that if possible, a second landing should be made in the bay of Galway, which army should cover itself as soon as possible by the Shannon, breaking down most of the bridges and fortifying the remainder. They would thus begin with one half the nation, and that the most discontented part. As the Irish had been little accustomed to the use of artillery, they would need a large body of cannoniers. As, however, they had no strongly fortified towns, they need only be provided with light field-pieces, with a few sixteenpounders. The minister seemed somewhat staggered at the demand of 20,000 men. He said that they could not possibly be transported, unless the French were masters of the channel, in which case they could as well send 40,000, or 60,000, and march at once to London. The Directory therefore proposed a small expedition--not more than 2,000. Tone declared flatly that with that number he thought the business utterly desperate, for that let them land where they would, they would be utterly defeated before any one could join them. Five thousand men he thought the very lowest number that would afford any chance of success, and he had the satisfaction to see that, as he stood firm in his demands, the views of the government steadily rose. He insisted further, that if France

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could not send more than five or six thousand, they should be the very best troops-not merely disciplined soldiers, but men accustomed to stand fire, some of the old battalions from Holland or the Rhine.

"As to the place of embarkation," he said, "it might be worth consideration whether it could not be best effected from Holland; that their harbors were less closely watched than the French; and that at any rate England has no port for ship of war to the northward of Portsmouth; so that even if she had a fleet off the coasts of Holland, it must return occasionally to refit, and during one of these intervals, the expedition might take place.”

He dwelt much on the fact that two thirds of the seamen in the British navy were Irishmen. "Since the commencement of the present war Ireland had furnished England 200,000 men, of whom 80,000 were for the navy." He detailed the preparations which had been made in Ireland for immediately organizing a new government. "The Catholic committee is already a complete representation of that body; and the Dissenters are so prepared that they can immediately choose delegates. Those two bodies when joined, will represent numerically nine tenths of the people, and of course, under existing circumstances, are the best government that we can form at the moment.” wishes were in favor of a very strong, or even military government at the outset, to give stability to the new order of things.

His

The Directory began to see the immense importance of invading Ireland. But they wished first to send a person to that country to obtain the latest intelligence in regard to

its political condition. The matter was proposed to Tone. He answered that he was too well known to be there fourand-twenty hours without being seized; that consequently he was the most unfit person in the world. Besides they would find in the English papers, and much more in the Irish, sufficient evidence of the state of the country to support every word he had advanced.

The project of sending such an emissary he thought dangerous, not only to the individual, but the cause. Whoever went, he cautioned him not to carry any papers, not to write a syllable, nor to take a scrape of a pen with him, nor to speak to above four or five persons, whom he would point out, for fear of hazarding a discovery which might blast all. In fact, from want of proper caution, an emissary who was sent, was seized just as he was about to embark at Margate for France, and tried and executed.

In all his communications with the directory, Tone had insisted much on the importance of an able general at the head of the expedition. He had wished for Pichegru as the one whose name was most known in Ireland, and next to him Jourdan. The command fell upon one younger and less known abroad, but a greater military genius than either. Early in July Tone was informed that General Hoche was coming up with all privacy to Paris, to confer with the Directory on the expedition. This youthful soldier had begun his career as a sergeant in the French guards, and by the force of his intellect had risen to the rank of a general in a single campaign. His rise was as sudden as that of Napoleon. He discovered the same precocious genius in the art of war. He received the com

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mand of the army of the Moselle. He defeated Wurmser and drove the Austrians out of Alsace. Jealous of his growing popularity and power, the Committee of Public Safety had seized and imprisoned him. He was saved from the guillotine by the fall of Robespierre. Released from prison, he began a new career of victory. He was appointed to the command of the army in La Vendée. That province had long stood out against the armies of the Republic. To Hoche was reserved the glory of being, not only its conqueror, but its pacificator. In the management of this civil war he had shown, not only the impetuosity of a soldier in battle, but the humanity, and the conciliating policy of an old and wise statesman. He was as humane as he was brave. He afterward said to Tone, that great mischief had been done to the principles of liberty, and additional difficulties thrown in the way of the French Revolution by the quantity of blood spilled. "For," he added, "when you guillotine a man, you get rid of an individual, it is true, but then you make all his friends and connections enemies forever to the government."

The account which Tone gives of his first interview with Hoche will show the spirit with which his journal was kept :

"July 12.-As I was sitting in my cabinet, studying tactics, a person knocked at the door, who, on opening it, proved to be a dragoon of the third regiment. He brought me a note from Clarke,* informing me that the

* Clarke, afterward Duke of Feltre, and Minister of War under Napoleon, was the son of an Irishman, and had himself been in that country. He figures much in these negotiations.

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