Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1883-10-22
THE WOLFE TONE RIFLES.

| THE WOLFE TONE RIFLES.
Il Feav Military Company Organized isa
! Ejameai u s-Dastis,ctiyeIy irish, and
! EadepenGe It "a. ats UhGracter-EiogrGpE -
zeal SJ;etc Of Vote Tone, The irish Rer-
! o atfioaisi.
The readers OF tho GLOBE have been cog
infant of The feet that an Igish military
company, lied THE VOLTS Tone Rifles"
was organized in this city e short time
! ago; but further than that nothing else re-
lating to the company has been ma, e pub
lie until now.
THIS con oauY shall be composed excIu-
sively Of men Of Irish birth or extraction,
and it's Object shall be the acquisition of
| thorough acquaintance with military tao
| tics in order to defend tho liberties of the
republic should they ever be endangered
| by either domestic or foreign foes. A Sec
ondary object is TO al Ireland, by every
| legitimate means cont ormabie to the laws
of the state and Of thu United States, in
obtaining self-government and complete
separation from Britain to which she was
| united by force, fraud snd perfdy.
! The company has already an enrolment
| of thirty members who meet every Friday
evening for drill, their instructor being j.
| B. Nally, late first sero cart of ''K" COM
pany OF the Seventh Uuited States infan-
try. He IS the same gentleman who
| drilled the Emmet Guards of st. Paul and
who is considered first-class disciplin-
arian. The captain is William McArdle
| who served as first duty sergeant of bat
| terry 'B" fourth United States artillery for
three years. The organization shall be
| an independent one and entirely COM
posed of respectable Len who permanent
| ~ reside III the city. Sergeant Nally is
| confideL5 OF making every member we'll
drilled soldier but he expects. every mem
Der to DO hi7 dnty ~ being obedient to
orders and prompt and regular at drill.
| Without Cooperation on the part OF the
| ''pupiis' The efficiency Of the instructor
can avali nothing.
WOLFE TONE.
The writer frequently hears the question,
| ''Who WAS ole Tone?" and few there ara
who answet Il. Ever one has heard of
Emmett. His death speech is familiar to
every youth in the land. The poet Moore
has sung Of him and Washington Irving
! has patheticaIly written of him in the
| ''Skeich Book" His fame is world wide.
But how many outside the student of Irish
| history knows anything of Theobald
Wolfe Tone, who was as pura and disinter-
ested patriot as ever drew q sword for
native land. Wolfe Tone was an Irish
| barrlster of the last century who founded
the Society OF United Irishmen st Belfast
| in 1!3I.
: Iae object of that society was to secure
the rights and liberties of all classes Of
Irishmen, irrespective of religion.
| In its ranks we're men of exalted
characters like Lord Edward Fitzgerald,
Napier Tahdy, Hamilton Rowan, Mathew
| Tone, Thos. Adds, Emmett and other
| kindred spirits, some OF whom suffered
| martyrdom and others punishment like
the last mentioned.
| They were Protestauts who loved their
| fellow copntrynen aud whose ambition it
was to break their chains. They bound
themselves to forward fraternity of affec-
| ton, an identity of interests and union
| of power among Irishmen of every religious
persuasion. There we're troublous times
| ic Ireland then. Martial law was in force;
soldiers lived at free quarters among the
people; the pitch cap and the whipping
| post were brought into requisition; half
hanging, burning off the haic and similar
bar6arities were perpetrated upon the peo-
( pie with tie sanction of the authorities;
and no man was sure OF his life and no
woman of her virtue. Men were arrested
without warrant and hanged without
trial on the public streets and
market places At Dunlavin
in the county of Wicklow, thirty-four men
were shot without trial By judge or jury;
at another place tgentyeight. Men were
murdered in cold blood by an infamous
militia when the victims were guilty of no
crime. Such cruelties fired the hearts OF
Tone and his com patriots and they de-
termined to put an end to them. Among
the resolutions passed by the United Irish
men was the following: "We swear that
We will never sheath the sword till every
being in tbs country IS restored to those
equal rights which the God of nature has
given to all men," They drew up a mani
festo addressed to the Irish people which
ended in these words: vengeance, Irish
mon! Vengeance OF your prosecutors!
Remember that thousands of your
friends have persisted by their
merciless orders! Remember their
their rackirgs, their torturings, their mill
tary massscres and their legal murders.
Remember Orr" Tone went to France
and Holland with the expectation of pro-
curing aid from those countries. He en-
tered the French army, held high COM
mission, and ultimately succeeded in Or
ganizing al expedition which set sail for
the Irish coast. Owing to adverse winds,
the expedition failed 10 reach its destina-
ton. Had they he'd steam vessels in those
days, instead of sailing ships, which were
at the mercy Of the elements, General
Hoehe's fotiIla would have reached the
Irish shores in safety and landed French
soldiers to aid the Irish in their struggle for
liberty. Before another expedition gosready
the govsrl ment had goaded Tie populace
into a premature Insurrection; the leading
revolutionists were arrested and dispersed
and when the French expedition arrived
the government was flushed with victory
and the rebels utterly discounted.
The French fotillR was zoo weak to cope
with the British ships and after desper-
ste fight, during which Tone fought most
gallantly, the French surrendered. Some
of the French ships escaped and the
French officers supplicated Tone to en-
bark, saying. "our contest is hopeless; we
will be prisoners of war, but what will be-
come of yo1?,' Tone answered, "Shall it