The Irish standard., 1898-07-16
JAMES NAPIER TANDY
ONE OF THE LEADING MEMBERS OF
THE UNITED IRISHMEN.
HIS NAME IMMoR1ALIzED IN A BALLAD
A PATRIOTIC PROTESTANT MAKING
VERY MANY SACRIFICES,
WAS A VERY ACTIVE REvoLu1IoNIs1
HE WAS SENTENCED TO DE HANGED.
DRAWN AND CHARTERED.

DRAWN AND QCARTERED.
| Happily for the fame of Napier Tan
dy stirring national ballad commem-
crates his name, and that ballad is one
that Ireland will not willingly let die,
writes J. F. Taylor in the Dublin Week.
/ ly Freeman. In the time of translation
from slavery into struggle the Irish
Catholics had few staunch champions,
chiefly among the resolute and sturdy
trading classes. John Keogh Murphy,
OF Smithfield, and Tandy himself were
the most prominent of those brave men;
/! men WHO never canted or boasted or de-
| clared themselves ready to offer sac
riflces, but who faced the dangers and
made the sacrifices without word. In
many respects Tandy was the most re-
markable of all these. For he was not
merely a strong and stubborn agitator
and possible rebel, as Keogh and Muir
ply We're, but he had been the most ac-
tive leader of the volunteers and had
been one Of the chief instruments in
Grattan's hands against the vacllation
and cowardice of reactionaries. He
was essentially the leader of the Dublin
volunteers, and the special love with
which his name is introduced into the
"Wearin' of the Green arose in that
time of trying and testing mems charac-
ters.
Owing to Tandy's intense patriotism
the castle minions secretly determined
to put him on trial for high treason.
This came to Tandy's ears, and, not
being in custody, he fled, and fixed his
homo at Wilmington, where he re-
mained for five years. 1t was during
these five years (1793-S) that Ireland
passed rapidly into revolutionary paths.
We see then with what meaning the
verse of the famous ballad applies:
I I met with Napper Tandy
And he took me by the hand,
And said he, "How's poor old Ireland
And how does she stand?"
She's the most distressful country
That ever yet was seen;
For they're hanging men and women
For the wearin' Of the green"
OF course to lis this verse comes with
a very unreal, partly jocose, altogether
theatrical sound; but to the people who
saw the devilry of 1897 how terribly
real and overpowering It must have
been. But gentle souls that bleed for
Cuba and Armenia think these lines
amusing and droll. Your Englishman
is always SO funny when ne talks of the
"distressful country" it is such a good
joke, you know. 10 be joined to Eng.
land and not feel yourself in paradise
absurd! But the lines have rung in
many an Irish ear. and will ring EN-
pires will rise and fall and still they
will ring and remind men of what their
forefathers had to go through for Ire
lands sake and freedoms.
The special charge which Tandy fled
from was that he had taken what may
call the ribbon oath; the oath, 1 mean,
of the defenders. In the delirium and
madness of the last century religious
hatred was specially inflamed. Good
Christian English governors dreaded
nothing so much as the coming together
of Protestants and Catholics in amity
and peace. Accordingly they did all
they could to embitter feeling between
the two great religious divisions into
hn
Acting in the noble spirit Of our rulers
the gentle loyalists of Ulster formgs
themselves into a raiding organization
called the "Peep-o-Day," Hearts OF
Oak and other poetic names. They
were mere brigands and banditti. But
they were sound loyalists.- true to The
church and throne. Therefore. while
judges were Obliged to express resre,
at such boyish freaks as burning houses
over sleeping old people, shooting a,
Papists generally and making the place
too hot for such rabble, you may bt
sure the judicial tongue was in thu
Judicial cheek when the admonition was
given against "outstepping the limit.
laid down by the law" These limits
God knows, ought to have been wide
enough; but then it was such good fur
to chase Papists that you could not
blame wild young fellows for getting III
little diversion that way The law
looked On-and winked. Then, in mer,
self-protection, the hunted vic
: tins made up their mind to stand
They rightly called themselves defend
ers. Between both contending hand,
all sorts Of conflicts took place, so tina
the condition of Ireland was no longe
such as to cause the very least anxiet,
to loyalists' minds. When wicked mel
like Wolfe Tone and Tandy tried to brine
the people together these bands Of war
ring night warriors were great obsta-
Gle. Tandy, as Protestant wished II
know what the defenders were at; wha
was 1t that they were fighting shout
what was the chance of winning then
lover to nationality Is opposed to rib
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