FEBRUARY 28, 1796: Went to Monroe’s about my passport, and had an hour’s conversation with him; I like him very much; he speaks like a sincere republican; he praises the Executive Directory to the skies, and Charles De la Croix; all for the better. Carnot, he tells me, is a military man, and one of the first engineers of Europe. (Vide my observation touching his organisation about Cork harbour.) Le Tourneur is also a military man, so that, with Barras, there are three soldiers in the Directoire. I am very glad of that.
FEBRUARY 29, 1796: Finished my second memorial, and delivered it to Madgett for translation. Madgett has the slowness of age, and at present of the gout about him. Judge! O ye Gods, how that suits with my impatience! Well, the Minister gave me directions to expedite him, so, please God, I will levee him at least once a day. We have not a minute to spare, for in a little time the channel fleet will probably be at sea, and the camps formed in Ireland, and of course the Government there will have the advantage of a force ready concentred and prepared to act instantly, and perhaps they may happen to take the wrong side, which would be very bad. (Mem. To insense Carnot on this head.) I must allow two or three days for translation, and two or three more for reflection on the subject of my memorials, before I go again to the Luxembourg. It is very singular! In cool blood, I can hardly frame a single sentence in French, and both with Carnot and De la Croix, I run on without the least difficulty. I screw my mind up, and I do not know how it is, but expressions flow upon me; I dare say I give them abundance of bad language, but no matter for that; they understand me, and that is the main point. I have now six days before me, and nothing to do; huzza! Dine every day at Beauvilliers for about half a crown, including a bottle of choice Burgundy, which I finish regularly. Beauvilliers has a dead bargain of me for water; I do not think I consume a spoonful in a week. A bottle of Burgundy is too much, and I resolve every morning regularly to drink but the half, and every evening regularly I break my resolution. I wish I had PP to drink the other half, and then perhaps I should live more soberly. Oh Lord! Oh Lord! Soberly. Yes, we should be a sober pair; patriots, as Matty says. Well, "It is the squire’s custom every afternoon, as soon as he is drunk," to begin thinking of his wife and family. I have to be sure sometimes most delightful reveries. If I succeed in my business here, and ever return to Ireland, and am not knocked on the head, there will not be on earth so happy a circle, as round my fireside. Well, huzza! "I hope to see a battle yet before I die." The French have an abominable custom of adulterating their Burgundy with water. (Mem. Mr Nisby’s opinion thereon.) I cannot but respect the generous indignation which PP would feel at such a vile deterioration of the noble liquor, and the glorious example he would hold up for their imitation. He would teach them how, and in what quantities generous Burgundy ought to be drank; I would gladly pay his reckoning today en numeraire, which would be no small sum, for the pleasure of his company. Well, "tis but in vain." I think it right for my credit, to mention that all these wise reflections are written before dinner. So now I will go to Beauvilliers. (Sings, "When generous wine, &c.")
MARCH 6, 1796: I have not had spirits since the news of poor Sweetman's death, to go on with my memorandums. As it happens, I have no serious business, and I am glad of it, for my mind has been a good deal engaged on that subject. It seems the quarrel arose about treading on a lady's gown, in coming out of the opera; a worthy cause for two brave men to fight about! They fought at four yards distance, which was Sweetman's choice; they were both desperately wounded, but Captain Watson, (an Irishman also,) is likely to recover; my poor friend is gone. When he received the shot, which went through his body, he cried out to Watson, "Are you wounded?" Yes, replied the other, "I believe mortally"; "And so am I," replied Sweetman; he fell instantly. I certainly did not think I could have been so much affected on his account, as I have been. Independently of my personal regard for him, I reckoned much upon his assistance, in case of the French Government affording any aid. His courage, his eloquence, his popular talents, his sincere affection for his country, would have made him eminently serviceable; all that is now lost; we must supply his place as we can. I will write no more about him, but shall ever remember him with the most sincere regret.
Madgett has not yet finished the translation; Hell! Hell! However, he tells me he has written to the Minister on the subject of Bournonville's being appointed to the command, in case the expedition takes place. I have been reading the report of Camus, and it has satisfied me that I could not have wished for a General fitter for the station; I hope we may get him. One thing I see; Madgett must appear to do everything himself; he pleases himself with the idea that it was he who though of Bournonville. A la heure. I am sure at present, I care little who has the credit of proposing any measure, provided the business be done; but the truth and fact is, that it was I who mentioned him. Madgett has lost two or three days in hunting for maps of Ireland; certainly maps are indispensable, but not in this stage of the business. He had been much better employed in translating; his slowness provokes me excessively, but I keep it all to myself; this day, however, he promises me he will have finished, and given in my last memorial to the Minister; if he does, I will see De la Croix the day after tomorrow, and Carnot, if possible, the day after that. In the meantime, I am idle. I have been at the Museum, where there is, I suppose, the best collection of paintings in the world; all France and Flanders have been ransacked to furnish it. It is school where the artists are permitted to go and copy the best works of the best masters. The day I called, it was not open to the public, but when the porter perceived I was a foreigner, he admitted me directly; it would no be so in England. I like the works of Guido best; there are some portraits incomparably executed by Van Dyke, Rubens, Rembrandt, and Raphael; but the Magdalen of Le Brun is, in my mind, worth the whole collection. I never saw anything in the way of painting that came near to it; I am no artist, but it requires no previous instruction to be struck with the numberless beauties of this most enchanting picture. It is a production of consummate genius. I have been likewise at the Hotel des Invalides, where I had the pleasure of seeing the veterans at their dinner; they are very well accommodated, and it was a spectacle which interested me very much. It put me in mind of the Royal Hospital and my old friend Captain Russell, and that brought a thousand other ideas to my mind. Well, I hope I shall get back to Ireland yet. Utinam.
MARCH 7, 1796: Spent this day with Dupetit Thouars, an ex-lieutenant of the marine, who came over with me in the Jersey, and Roussillon, an ex-lieutenant also; they are both of the ci-devant noblesse. Dupetit Thouars is a great original; he has a good deal of talent and still more humour, and is the most complete practical philosopher I ever saw; nothing can ruffle him; but it is his temperament. Roussillon is a young man of very elegant manners, and adversity, I am sure, has improved him. It is a pity they should be aristocracy; yet I can hardly be angry with them. Aristocracy has been most terribly humbled in France, and this reverse of fortune is too much for them. It is not only their own downfall, but the exaltation of others, whom they were accustomed to despise, which mortifies them. But when I come to analyse their complaint, there is so much fanciful grievance mixed with severe actual suffering, that it abates a good deal of the compassion I should otherwise feel for them; and I must add, that much of what they regret, they are deprived of most meritoriously, and many of the pleasures they have lost, were the pleasures of the most depraved luxury: splendid, indeed, but most abominably vicious. It is not fair, however, to judge too hard of them, now they are down; but I confess I should most sincerely sorry to be a witness of their resurrection: there is, however, no great danger of that, and they seem to be sufficiently sensible of it. They had quit the service some time back, I dare say in great disdain, and are now suing unsuccessfully to be re-admitted. I cannot blame the Republic for being doubtful of the ancient marine, since the affair at Toulon. Apropos! Roussillon tells me that Trogoff, the Admiral who betrayed the French fleet, and delivered it into the hands of Lord Hood, died in a hospital at Leghorn, where the English generously paid one shilling a day for his maintenance. The scoundrel! It was just one shilling too much. And Dumourier, an exile on the face of the earth, ordered to quit England in six hours after his arrival, expelled from Brabant by the Emperor, whom he had served, or endeavoured to serve, by his treachery. If men had common sense, not to say common honesty, they would not be traitors to their country, with such examples before their eyes. But, I am preaching about aristocracy, and God knows what! To return: I pity, sincerely, my two ci-devant lieutenants, for "Cot knows I have had afflictions and trouples enough upon my own pack, and as for a gentleman in distress, I lofe him as I lofe my own powels." We spent the day in seeing sights, viz. the Pantheon, which will be most superb when it is finished, but far inferior to t Paul's either in size or magnificence. We descended into the catacombs where were the cenotaphs of Voltaire, Rousseau, and, what interested me much more, of Dampierre, who was killed at Famars. Certainly nothing can be imagined more likely to create a great spirit in a nation than a depository of the kind, sacred to everything that is sublime, illustrious, and patriotic. The French have, however, a little overshot the mark; for they have had occasion already to displace two at least of their mighty dead; I mean Marat, whom I believe to have been a sincere enthusiast, incapable of feeling or remorse, and Mirabeau, whom I look upon to have been a most consummate scoundrel. If we have a Republic in Ireland, we must build a Pantheon, but we must not, like the French, be in too great a hurry to people it. We have already a few to begin with: Roger O'Moore, Molyneux, Swift, and Dr Lucas, all good Irishmen. Mounted to the top of the Pantheon, from whence we could see all Paris, as in a ground plan, together with the country for several leagues round. It was the most singular spectacle I had ever seen. Went from thence to the Botanic Garden, where there was not much vegetation to be seen, there being a foot deep of snow upon the ground: walked, however, through the green houses, where there is a vast collection of curious exotics. I felt my ancient propensities begin to revive, for I love botany, though I do not understand it. It reminded me of my walks round Chateauboue, (1) with my dearest love and our little babies, though I do not understand my vetches. Well, I hope I shall be there yet before I die. Crossed the Seine, and saw the Place Royale, formerly the principal square of Paris, and built by Richelieu; his hotel is on one side of the quadrangle: it is now a park of artillery for the Republic, and filled with cannon. Saw the spot where the Bastille once stood and where there is now a statue of liberty. Traversed that great lyceum of French politics, the Faubourg St Antoine; arrived at the Temple, where Louis the XVIth was imprisoned, from whence Marie Antoinette was led to execution, and where Louis the XVIIth, if I may so call him, died. Nothing can be imagined more gloomy than the appearance of this prison. It made me melancholy to look at it..
MARCH 8, 1796: Went to Madgett, in consequence of a report which I saw in the papers relative to a general peace. He assures me there is nothing in it: a peace would ruin all. He tells me also that he has finished and delivered yesterday my second memorial to the Minister, who had read the first with great attention, and was extremely edified thereby, as may well be imagined. Madgett assures me that De la Croix assures him that the Executive Directory are determined on the measure; that is to say, on the principle of it. All that is very good, but, please God, I will have it from the Minister’s own mouth; after which I will indulge myself with a short interview with Carnot. I have not seen him since February 24th, a fortnight ago, but that has not been my fault, and the time has been employed in writing, copying, and translating my memorials. The day after tomorrow I will go to the Minister, and the day after that to the Luxembourg. Madgett tells me Bournonville is appointed to the command of the army in Holland. That is bad; nevertheless, from the idea I have formed of his character, I should hope, that, if he was properly insensed on the subject of Irish affairs, he would prefer that command, supposing the expedition to be once undertaken. There would be glory, and, if we succeeded, which I cannot for a moment doubt, the Irish are a generous people, even to a fault, and would reward his services most liberally. Desired Madgett, if he had an opportunity, and could do it with security as to secrecy, to explain all this to Bournonville. Dined at the Restaurateur, with Roussillon, whom I like very much. In the evening, the Theatre Italien -- saw Lodoiska, &c.
MARCH 9, 10, 1796: Strolling about: the Museum again, and the inimitable Magdalen of Lebrun; spent nearly an hour looking at it.
MARCH 11, 1796:
Went to the Minister, De la Croix, and had a long conversation. He began by saying, that he had read my two memorials carefully, and that I seemed to insist on a considerable force, as necessary to the success of the measure; that, as to that, there were considerable difficulties to be surmounted, arising from the superiority of the English fleet. That, as to 20,000 men, they could not possibly be transported, unless the French were masters of the channel, in which case they could as easily send 40,000, or 60,000, and march at once to London. (NB. In this De la Croix is much mistaken. It would be, in my mind, just as impossible for France to conquer England, as for England to conquer France. He does not know what it is to carry on war in a country where every man’s hand is against you, and yet his own country might have given him a lesson; however, it was not my business to contest the point with him, so I let him go on.) As to 20,000 men, it was thus out of the question. As to 5,000, there would be great difficulties; they would require, for example, 20 ships to convey them; it would not be easy to equip 20 sail in a French port, without the English having some notice, and, in that case, they would instantly block up the port with a force double of any that could be sent against them. To this I answered, that I was but too sensible of the difficulty he mentioned; that, however, all great enterprises were attended with great difficulties, and I besought him to consider the magnitude of the object. That, as to 5,000, when I mentioned that number, it was not that I thought it necessary for the people at large, but for those men of some property, whose assistance was so essential in framing a government in Ireland, without loss of time, and who might be deterred from coming forward at first, if they saw but an inconsiderable force to support them; that I begged leave to refer to my second memorial, where he would find my reasons on this subject detailed at length; that I had written those memorials under a strong sense of duty, not with a view to flatter or mislead him, but to give them such information as I thought essential for them to know; that, as to the truth of the facts contained in them, I was willing to stake my head on their accuracy – He answered, he had no doubt as to that; that he saw as well as I, the convenience of an immediate government, but was it not feasible on a smaller scale than I had mentioned. For example, if they gave us a General of established reputation, an Etat Major, 30 pieces of artillery, with cannoniers, and 20,000 stand of arms, would not the people join them, and, if so, might we not call the clubs that I had mentioned in my memorials, (meaning the Catholic Committee and the United Irishmen of Belfast) and frame of them a provisory government, until the national convention could be organised – I answered, that, as to the people joining them, I never had the least doubt; that my only fear was lest the men who composed the clubs of which he spoke, might be at first backward, from a doubt of the sufficiency of the force; that I hoped they would act with spirit, and as became them, but that I could not venture to commit my credit with him, on any fact of whose certainty I was not positively ascertained. "Well, then, replied he, supposing your patriots should not act at first with spirit; you say you are sure of the people. In that case, you must only choose delegates from the army, and let them act provisorily, until you have acquired such a consistency as will give courage to the men of whom you make mention." I answered, that, by that means, we might undoubtedly act with success; that a sort of military government was not, however, what I should prefer to commence with, if I saw any other, but that the necessity of the case must justify us, in adopting so strong a measure in the first instance. (NB. In this I lied a little, for my wishes are in favour of a very strong, or, in other words, a military government in the outset, and if I had any share of influence in such government, I think I would not abuse it, but I see the handle it might give to demagogues, if we had such among us. It is unnecessary here to write an essay on the subject, but the result of my meditations is, that the advantages, all circumstances considered, outweigh the inconveniences and hazard, and I, for one, am ready to take my share of the danger and the responsibility; I was, consequently, glad when De la Croix proposed the measure.) I added, that the means which he then mentioned, undoubtedly weakened my argument, as to the necessity of numbers, considerably. He then said, that from Madgett’s representations, he had been induced to think that men were not at all wanting. I answered, that was very compatible with my theory, for, that certainly if there were nay idea of national resistance, 5,000 might be said to be no force at all for a conquest. I then shifted the discourse by saying, that, as to the embarkation, on whatever scale it was made, it might be worth consideration whether it could not be best effected from Holland; that their harbours were, I believed, less closely watched than the French, and that, at any rate, England had no ports for ships of war to the northward of Portsmouth; so, that even if she had a fleet off the coast of Holland, it must return occasionally to refit, and, during one of these intervals, the expedition might take place. He asked me, "Was I sure England had no port to the northward of Portsmouth?" I said, "certainly".
"Not in Scotland?"
I referred him to the map. (I was a little surprised that he did not know this.) This brought on the old subject of debauching the Irish seamen in the British navy, which seems a favourite scheme of De la Croix, and is, in my mind, flat nonsense. He questioned me as before, whether, by preparing a few of them, and suffering them to escape, they might not rouse the patriotism of the Irish seamen, and cause a powerful revulsion in the navy of England. I answered, as I had done already, that the measure was undoubtedly good, if properly followed up, at the same time, that there was great hazard of alarming the British Government; that he would find my plan on the subject in my second memorial, where he would see that an Irish government was, in my mind, an indispensable requisite; that I did not build on the patriotism of the Irish seamen, but on their passions and interests; that we could offer them the whole English commerce as a bribe, whilst England has nothing to oppose in return but the mere force of discipline; and I pressed this as strongly on the Minister as my execrable French would permit. He then mentioned that it would be necessary to send proper persons to Ireland to give notice to the people there of what was intended. I answered, one person was sufficient. He asked me, "Did I know one Ducket?" (the fellow who pulled out the English newspaper to decoy me.) I answered, I knew nothing at all about him. He asked me, "Did I know one Simon, a priest?" I answered, I had some recollection of one Fitzsimon, a priest, in Ireland, but that I was not personally acquainted with him. I also added that I had a strong objection to letting priests into the business at all; that most of them were enemies to the French Revolution, and, if there were possible to find a military man, he would be the properest person; the more so, as it would encourage those to whom he might address himself, by showing that the French Government were serious in their intentions. He then said he would look out for such a person. I took this occasion to observe, that there not an hour to lose, that the season was approaching fast when the British channel fleet would be at sea, and the various encampments formed in Ireland, which generally took place about the middle of may or beginning of June. He said, the necessary preparations, on the smallest scale, could not be ready sooner than one month. I replied, that one month would be time enough, but added again, that there was not a minute to lose. I then took my leave, having been closeted nearly one hour and a half – On the whole, I do not much glory in this day’s conversation. If I have not lost confidence, I certainly have not gained any. I see the Minister is rooted in his narrow scheme, and I am sorry for it. Perhaps imperious circumstances will not permit him to be otherwise; but, if the French Government have the power effectually to assist us, and do not, they are miserable politicians. It is now one hundred and three years since Lewis XIV, neglected a similar opportunity of separating Ireland from England, and France has had reason to lament it ever since. He, too, went upon the short-sighted policy of merely embarrassing England, and leaving Ireland to shift as she might. I hope the Republic will act on nobler motives, and with more extended views. At all events, I have done my duty in submitting the truth to them, and I shall continue so to do, and to press it upon them in all possible modes that I can compass. If they will give us 5,000 men, so. If not,
"Let the sheriff enter, if I become not the gallows as well as another, a plague o’ my bringing up."
Seriously. I would attempt it with
100
men. My life is of little consequence, and I should hope not to lose it neither.
"Please God, the dogs shall not have my poor blood to lick."
In that case, as I have pleasantly said already, if our lever be short we must apply the greater power. Requisition! Requisition! Our independence must be had at all hazards. If the men of property will not support us, they must fall; we can support ourselves by the aid of that numerous and respectable class of the community,
the men of no property.
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Contents of Life of Wolfe Tone