rest the arm of defence, and leave the helpless victim at the mercy of the infuriate assailant! They stated, that those who had proclaimed their nation out of the king's peace, and suspended the laws, ought not to hope for the protection of the laws. They had chosen, they said, to resort to the state of nature, if ever such existed, where there were no laws, and it was at their own peril. Shall they, whose unmeasured extor tions, deprive the hungry of food, and the naked of covering, whose magnificence is only equalled by the wretchedness of those who pay for it? Shall they, said the author, who support such a system of plunder, by a system of universal proscription, be held as immortal gods? Shall their persons be inviplate, and the groans of the tor tured administer to their repose? Who is he, they said, who can recall the dead to life, and restore to the widow her lost husband, and to the orphan his parent? Where have they learned to sanctify robbery, and to halloo morder? Where have they learned that ten thousand innocent poor should die, that one guilty rich should live? Such were the outlines of this publication, of which, I believe, the author never was discovered. Some thought it was a stratagem of the government, in order to throw odium upon the opposite cause. Tɔ me the arguments seemed too strong and too terribly applicable, to warrant that supposition. I had, upon the subject of these papers, several conversations with Mr. Emmer. He was very zealous in his efforts to restrain them, and I believe successful. And what is more, there was found, among his papers, at his arrestation, one drawn up by him and me, and intended to have been subscribed by all whose names could be supposed most influential amongst the people, which the go. vernment, with its usual candor, took care entirely to suppress. The danger we had to avoid, was, that of being marked by the government as chiefs for Ireland has afforded instances enough of men being put to death upon that proof of guilt, that they had been able to save their persecutors lives; so strange and intricate are the ways of guilt, when to save or to destroy, are equally criminal and fatal Some of these instances are to be found in Mr. Plowden's his. tory of Ireland—a work which, allowing for the circumstances of the times, the prejudices, of which no man can suddenly divest hiniself; considering that he was an Englishman, writing under the sanction of the British government; considering the terror and delusion which has not yet subsided, does him extreme honour. SPEECH OF THEOBALD WOLFE TONE, TO THE COURT-MARTIAL, ASSEMBLED to PASS SENTENCE on his LIFE, SATURDAY, NOV. 10th, 1798. Mr. Tone was made prisoner on board the French ship of war the Hoche. A former Court Martial had been named, but was dissolved by the Lord Lieutenant, as there were several officers appointed, whose regiments were under sailing orders. On the day of the trial, the doors of the Dublin Barracks, where the court met, were at a very early hour beset by an immense crowd of all descriptions of persons, who, as soon as they were open, rushed in. TONE appeared in the uniform of a Chief of Brigade -The firm ess and serenity of his deportment, made even his bitterest enemies feel the greatness of mind. The The Judge-Advocate informed Content in honorable poverty, I the prisoner, that the Lord-Lieu, tenant had established this Court Martial, to try whether he had ac red traitorously and hostilely against his majesty to whom, as a nat ral born subject, he owed allegiance. And he was called upon to plead guilty or not guilty. TONE-I shall not give the Court any useless trouble: I admit the facts alleged, and only ask leave to read an address which I have prepared for this occasion. COLONEL DALY.-Warned the prisoner, that in admitting the facts, he necessarily admitted, to his own prejudice, his having acted treasonably against the King. TONE.-Stripping this charge of its technical forms, it means, I presume, that I have been taken in arms against the soldiers of the King in my native country. I admit the accusation in its utmost extent, and desire nothing further than to give my reasons. THE COURT.-Was willing to hear him, provided he confined himself within the limits of mode ration. TONE-Mr. President and Genrlemen of the Court Martial-I do not mean that you should waste your time in proving, according to Law, that I have borne arms against the King's government in Irelandadmit the fact. From my tenderest youth I have considered the nion of Ireland with Great Briain as the scourge of the Irish Nation. And that the people of this country can have neither happiness nor freedom whilst that connection endures. Every day's experience, and every fact that arose, convinced me of this truth; and I resolved, if I could, to separate the two countries. But, as I knew Ireand could not, of herself, throw ff the yoke, I sought for help wherever I could find it. have refused offers, which to one in my circumstance, might seem magnificent. I remained faithful to the cause of my country, and looked for an ally in the French Republic, to free three millions of my countrymen from... Here he was interupted by the President and Judge Advocate, who observed that this discourse tended not to justify himself so much, as to inflame the minds of certain men (United Irihmen) of whom, doubtless, numbers were present. TONE. Unconnected with every party in the republic, without prorector, money, or intrigue, the frankness and integrity of my views soon raised me to a distinguished rank in the French army. I enjoy ed the confidence of the government, the approbation of my General; and I dare assert it, the esteem of my brave comrades. Re.. flecting upon these circumstances, I feel a confidence, of which no reverse of fortune, nor the sentence which you are so shortly to pronounce, can rob me. If I enrolled myself under the banners of France, it was with the hope of contribu ting to the salvation of my native land. From that same and single motive, I encountered the dangers of war in a country not my own, and on seas which I knew to be covered with the triumphant fleets of a government whom it was my glory to resist. 1 have courted poverty-I have left without protector, a beloved wife; and without a father, chil dren whom I adored. To such and to so many sacrifices, in a cause which my conscience still tells me was a just one, I have lit tle difficulty now to add that of my life. I hear it said that this country. has been a prey to horrors. lament mediately give their opinions, the result of which would be forthwith laid before the Lord-Lieutenant. If the prisoner therefore had any further observations to make, it was now the moment. lament if it is so, But I have been four years absent, and can. not be responsible for individual sufferings. It was by a frank and open war that I proposed to separate the countries. It is unfortunate, that private vengeance on TONE. I have a few words to one side or on the other, should say relative to the mode of puhave considered itself authorised to nishment. In France, the emimingle its fury in the contest. I grants who stand in the same situgrieve for it as much as much as ation as I do now before you, are any other, but I am innocent of condemned to be shot. I ask, then, all these calamities; and to all that the court should adjudge me those who know any thing of my to die the death of a soldier, and sentiments or character, justifica- that I may be shot by a platoon of tion on that head would be very grenadiers. I ask this, more in useless. But in vulgar eyes, the right of my situation as Chief of merit of the cause is judged by Brigade in the French army, than its success. --WASHINGTON for my own sake. It is a respect CONQUERED-KOSKIUSKO due to the coat I wear. And I shall FAILED! After a combat nobly sustained, which would have inspired a sentiment of interest in a generous enemy, to the eternal shame of those who gave the order, I have been dragged hither in chains. I speak not for myself in this. I know my fate right well. But the tone of supplication is beneath me. repeat it again. I admit all that is alleged against me, touching the separation of Ireland from GreatBritain. Words, writings, actions, I vow them all. I have spoken, and I have acted with reflection and on principle; and now with a firm heart I await the consequen. ces. The members who compose this court, will doubtless do their duty, and I shall take care not to be wanting to mine. This discourse was pronounced with an accent so dignified, as deeply affected every hearer ; the members of the tribunal not excepted. A silent pause ensued, which Tone first interrupted, by asking if it was usual to assign an interval be. tween the sentence and the execution; The Judge Advocate answered, that the members would im therefore, beg of the court to read my commission and letters of service, by which it will appear that I do not avail myself of any deception or subterfuge, but that I have been long and bona fide a French officer. THE JUDGE ADVOCATE.-You must feel, Sir, that the papers you allude to, are undeniable proofs against you. TONE-Oh I know it well, and I admit the facts, and I admit the papers as proofs of full conviction! [The papers were then read. They were. a brevet of Chief of Brigade from the Directory, and signed by the Minister of War--a letter of service, giving to Tone the rank of Adjutant-Gene ral-and a passport.] GENERAL LOFTUS.-By these papers you are designated as serving in the army of England (l'Arince d'Angleterre.) TONE.-I did serve in that army, when it was commanded by Bonaparte, by Dessaix, and by Kilmaine, who is, as I am, an Irishman-but I have also served ebewhere. GENERAL LOFTUS. The court will not fail to submit to the Lord Lieutenant Lieutenant the address which has been read by the prisoner, and al so the object of his last demands. -His lordship, however, took care to efface a great part of it, namely, that which Tone was prevented from reading. The sequel is well known. Mr. Tone, finding that he was to be executed in the same savage manner as his brother had been a few days before, found means to disappoint his enemies, and chose the manner of his death. [And thus ferisbed Theobald Wolfe Tone, a man of unquestioned personal honor, of beroical courage, of the most amiable character, and of talents, which, for the same reason that they drew upon him the sentence of a traitor in Ireland, would, in any other country, have raised him to the highest distinction.]— ALMANAC-MAKING, &c. &c. Question 19th, in the Belfast Almanac of this year, proposed by S. M. Ballycastle. “Find the moon's southing or how many hours she souths after noon. Take half the number of hours, and reckon so many months, forward from the time given; find the hour of sunset for the time you reckon to, this will be the moon's semidiurnal arch or half the time of her shining; then add the semidiurnal arch to the southing, it gives the setting, or subtract it, and it gives the rising; for when the noon souths 12 hours after the sun, she is got six signs from him, and then is where the sun would be six months after, and whatever her southing be, she is advanced so far as the sun would be after half that number of months and when she is there, her semidiurnal arch is equal to the sun's, or equal to the hour of sunset, and this is the arch the moon has to describe after her southing. Find the moon's place in the zodiac and the sun's seinidiurnal arch when he is there, which will also be the moon's; then to of the moon's age add the semidiurnal arch for the setting or subtract it for the rising. For of her age, is the time of her southing; and her semidiurnal arch is the same as in the first rule; hence the time of the moon's shining is twice the semidiurnal arch found above. From hence it is easy to know how long the moon shines after sunset, or before sunrise; thus, To the southing add the semidiurnal arch, and subtract the time of sunset, for the hours of shining after sun-set, and to the time of sunrise add the semidiurnal arch, and subtract the southing after 12 is abated, and you have the hour of shining before sun-rise, For the moon's setting--the sun's setting hours of shining after sunset and sunrise-moon rise = hours of shining before sunrise. These rules will sometimes vary an hour or more, which is occasioned by the moon's latitude and irregular motion for computing these things for ordinary use, and are casily wrought. See Emerson's Chronology, II. METHOD II. METHOD More accurate, tho' only an Approximation. From change till full it is called her setting, which to find, with the moon's declination, found in the Nautical Almanac, enter the table of the sun's rising and setting, and to the time of sunset, add that of her southing, and so many times two minutes, and one twelfth as are the hours of the moon's southing after noon, and the sum will equal the time of the moon's setting." From full till new, is called the moon's rising, for finding which, it is to be observed, that the moon's southing will be always 12 hours or more after the sun's, which when subtracted from 24, leaves her southing time before the succeeding day's sun. Next as before for sunset with the declination of that point of the ecliptic, in which the moon is found at her southing, find what time the sun would rise therewith, from which after adding 12 hours if requisite, subtract the time of the moon's southing before the sun with so many times 22 minutes as the hours of this are this last difference and it will give the true time required. The difference of the true times of the moon's rising and settings doubled with so many times minutes as are the hours of said dif, ference, gives the time of her continuance above the horizon. PATRICK LYNCH. Or Thus from my portable Chro. noscope, printed in Carrickonsuir, 1792. To find the Moon's southing. The moon's true age, when multiplied by four, With five divided, quotes ber southing hour, more, What rests among the morning hours explore. To find her rising and setting &c. &c. From suurise take her southing on the wane, And then her hour of rising will remain, Her southing from her setting hour abate, What then remains, her setting hour will Add the hour denoted by the compass point On which high water for the place proposed, Is at the time of full and new disclosed, The sum, subtracting twelve if more will shew The hour whereon high tide shall always flow. For the other rules of Chronology, composed in memorative verse for the use of farmers and mariners, see Lynch's Portable Chronoscope as above. But it is here to be remarked that. no method hitherto invented, short of actual calculations, long, laborious and intricate, will do for ascertaining the true time of the moon's rising and setting to any degree of accuracy, even with the great assistance afforded the practical astronomer, by having her declination and southing hour in the nautical almanac: for by reason of the moon's, swift motion, her semidiurnal arch. is always changing, which causes a difference between the time of her. rising and setting, from the time. found by her oblique ascension or oblique descension. These tables. T of |