FRIENDSHIP WITH EMMET AND RUSSELL. 77

It was at this period that his life was most happy. To great talents, Tone united a flow of spirits, a gayety of heart truly Irish. He was restored to a wife to whom he never ceased to be a lover. He had formed an acquaintance with Thomas Addis Emmet, and with Russell, whom he ever after regarded as his dearest friends. They agreed in their tastes and in their political opinions. The friendship of these young patriots bordered on romance. They were ready to die for each other, or for their country, which they loved as a mother. As we are admitted to their councils, we are transported back to the league of the three Swiss confederates on the field of Grutli. Tone had rented a cottage by the sea-shore, where he passed the summer of 1790, and here Russell, who was a bachelor, almost daily dined and deliberated with him.

"Russell and I were inseparable-I recall with transport the happy days we spent together during that period; the delicious dinners, in the preparation of which my wife, Russell, and myself, were all engaged; the afternoon walks, the discussions we had, as we lay stretched on the grass. It was delightful! Sometimes Russell's venerable father, a veteran of near seventy, with the courage of a hero, the serenity of a philosopher, and the piety of a saint, used to visit our little mansion, and that day was a fête. My wife doated on the old man, and he loved her like one of his children. Russell's brother, John, too, used to visit us; a man of a most warm and affectionate heart, and incontestably of the most companionable talents I ever met. His humor, which was pure and natural, flowed in an inexhaustible stream. He had not the strength of

character of my friend Tom, but for the charms of conversation, he excelled him, and all the world. Sometimes, too, my brother William used to join us for a week. When the two Russells, my brother and I, were assembled, it is impossible to conceive of a happier society. I know not whether our wit was classical or not, nor does it signify. If it was not sterling, at least it passed current among ourselves. If I may judge, we were none of us destitute of the humor indigenous in the soil of Ireland. Those were delicious days. The rich and great, who sit down every day to the monotony of a splendid entertainment, can form no idea of the happiness of our frugal meal, nor of the infinite pleasure we found in taking each his part in the preparation and attendance. My wife was the center and the soul of all. I scarcely know which of us loved her best; her courteous manners, her goodness of heart, her incomparable humor, her never-failing cheerfulness, her affection for me and for our children, rendered her the object of our common admiration and delight. She loved Russell as well as I did. In short, a more interesting society of individuals, connected by purer motives, and animated by a more ardent attachment and friendship for each other, can not be imagined."

CHAPTER VII.

TONE ENTERS INTO POLITICS.-DIVISION OF PARTIES IN IRELAND.-HE EXDEAVORS TO UNITE THE DISSENTERS AND CATHOLICS.-FOUNDS THE SOCIETY OF UNITED IRISHMEN.-IS APPOINTED SECRETARY TO THE CATHOLIC COMMITTEE. HIS EFFORTS IN THEIR CAUSE.

POLITICAL excitement was now agitating the whole island. It was hardly ten years since the American Revolution, the morning gun of liberty, had reverberated through Europe, like a heavy explosion rumbling among the Alps, jarring the mountains and shaking down the avalanche. Now the French Revolution was in full

progress,

“With fear of change perplexing monarchs.”

The sentiments of the English people were much divided as to the probable result. Burke had published his powerful invective against the French Revolution, lamenting “that the age of chivalry was gone, and that the glory of Europe was extinguished forever." Paine had replied with the Rights of Man. The controversy divided the nation. Political clubs sprang into existence in all parts of the kingdom. Societies looking toward revolu. tion, and holding correspondence with France, were estab

lished in England and Scotland, as well as in Ireland. But in the latter country, especially, the Revolution was hailed with enthusiastic joy. The people of Belfast celebrated the taking of the Bastille with a grand military parade, and voted an address of congratulation to the French people. As might be expccted, these rejoicings at the liberation of another people were not unaccompanied with reflections on their own degraded condition, and the address of congratulation to the French was followed by a demand for Irish liberty. These manifestations of popular sympathy were sometimes marked by significant tokens of the way men's thoughts were tending. Thus, at a public dinner at Belfast were displayed around the hall four flags, America, France, Poland, Ireland, but no England.

Tone plunged boldly into the popular movement. His first step was to write a political pamphlet, in which he thus urged the people of Ireland to the work of reform,— แ "You have no foreign enemies to encounter, look then at home. Now is your time for reformation; if it elapse unprofitably, which of us can promise himself that he will survive till the next era ?"

This pamphlet gained him some reputation, and the whigs wished to attach him to their interests, and proposed to make him a member of Parliament. But his views

were rapidly outrunning those of any party. Even thus early he had misgivings as to the possibility of accomplishing any thing for his country, so long as the influence of England remained so powerful in the Irish government. "My mind had now got a turn for politics. I thought I had at last found my element, and I plunged into it with

DIVISION OF PARTIES.

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eagerness." He studied more attentively the political state of his country. "I made speedily what was to me a great discovery, though I might have found it in Swift and Molyneux, that the influence of England was the radical vice of our government; and, consequently, that Ireland would never be either free, prosperous, or happy, until she was independent, and that independence was unattainable while the connection with England existed. I now began to look on the little politics of the Whig Club with great contempt; their peddling about petty grievances, instead of going to the root of the evil."

Tone did not scruple to avow his new opinions in a pamphlet which he published soon after on the question, "How far Ireland was bound to support England in the approaching contest with Spain." In this he took ground that Ireland was not bound by a declaration of war; that she had in it no interest whatever; and that she might and ought, as an independent nation, to stipulate for a neutrality. In this he spoke without reserve of the possi bility of entire separation.

Still, though such were his private views, he did not break with those political associates who sought only a reform of the government. He joined cordially in their efforts, resolved to leave no means of peaceable redress untried before resorting to the experiment, at all times so fearful, of revolution.

He therefore began to look about him, to see what chance there was of a thorough reform in the government of his country. He reviewed carefully the strength of the different parties into which Ireland was divided.

D*