James Napper Tandy
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James Napper Tandy (1740 – August 24, 1803), was an Irish rebel leader.
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[edit] Political activism
The son of a Dublin ironmonger, Tandy started life as a small tradesman. Turning to politics, he became a member of the corporation of Dublin, and was popular for his denunciation of municipal corruption and his proposal of a boycott of English goods in Ireland, in retaliation for the restrictions imposed by the government on Irish commerce.
In April 1780, Tandy was expelled from the Dublin Volunteers (see Henry Flood) for proposing the expulsion of the Duke of Leinster, whose moderation had offended the extremists. He was one of the most conspicuous of the small revolutionary party, chiefly of the shopkeeper class, who formed a permanent committee in June 1784 to agitate for reform, and called a convention of delegates from all parts of Ireland, which met in October 1784.
Tandy persuaded the corporation of Dublin to condemn by resolution Pitt's amended commercial resolutions in 1785. He became a member of the Whig club founded by Henry Grattan; and he actively co-operated with Theobald Wolfe Tone in founding the Society of the United Irishmen in 1791, of which he became the first secretary.
The violence of his opinions, strongly influenced by French revolutionary ideas, now brought Tandy to the notice of the government. In February 1792, an allusion in debate by Toler, the attorney-general, to Tandy's personal ugliness, provoked him into sending a challenge. This was treated by the House of Commons as a breach of privilege, and a Speaker's warrant was issued for his arrest, which he managed to elude till its validity expired on the prorogation of parliament. Tandy then took proceedings against the lord lieutenant for issuing a proclamation for his arrest; although the action failed, it increased Tandy's popularity, and his expenses were paid by the Society of the United Irishmen.
[edit] Planning a revolution in exile
Sympathy with the French Revolution was rapidly spreading in Ireland. A meeting of some 6000 people in Belfast voted a congratulatory address to the French nation in July 1791. In the following year, Napper Tandy took a leading part in organizing a new military association in Ireland modelled after the French National Guards; they professed republican principles, and on their uniform the cap of liberty instead of the crown surmounted the Irish harp. Tandy also, with the purpose of bringing about a fusion between the Defenders and the United Irishmen, took the oath of the Defenders, a Roman Catholic society whose agrarian and political violence had been increasing for several years; but being threatened with prosecution for this step, and also for libel, he fled to the United States, where he remained till 1798. In February 1798 he went to Paris, where at this time a number of Irish refugees, the most prominent of whom was Wolfe Tone, were assembled, planning rebellion in Ireland to be supported by a French invasion, and quarrelling among themselves. None of these was more quarrelsome than Napper Tandy, who was conceited and habitually drunk.
Wolfe Tone, who a few months before had patronizingly described Tandy to Talleyrand as "a respectable old man whose patriotism has been known for thirty years," was disgusted by the way Tandy persuaded the French authorities that he was a person of great wealth and influence in Ireland, at whose appearance 30,000 men would rise in arms.
[edit] Return to Ireland
Tandy accepted the offer of a corvette, the Anacreon, from the French government and sailed from Dunkirk accompanied by a few United Irishmen, a small force of men and a considerable quantity of arms and ammunition for distribution in Ireland. He arrived at the isle of Arranmore, off the coast of County Donegal, on September 16, 1798.
The locality however, was sparsely populated and showed little enthusiasm in joining with the expedition. Tandy took possession of the village of Rutland, where he hoisted an Irish flag and issued a proclamation; but learning the defeat of Humbert's expedition, and that Connaught was now subdued, the futility of the enterprise was soon apparent. Having allegedly to be carried back on board the Anacreon due to his state of intoxication, Tandy sailed his vessel round the north of Scotland to avoid the English fleet. He reached Bergen in safety having brought with him an English ship captured along the way. Tandy then made his way with three or four companions to the free port of Hamburg but a peremptory demand from the English government to detain the fugitives was acceded to despite a counter-threat from the French Directory.
[edit] Exile and death in France
Tandy remained in prison till April 1801, when he was tried, pleaded guilty, and was sentenced to death; he was reprieved and allowed to go to France. This leniency may have been partly due to doubts as to the legality of the demand for his surrender by the Hamburg authorities; but the government was probably more influenced by Cornwallis's opinion that Tandy was "a fellow of so very contemptible a character that no person in this country (Ireland) seems to care the smallest degree about him." Moreover, Napoleon vigorously intervened on his behalf, and is even said to have made Tandy's release a condition of signing the Treaty of Amiens. Notwithstanding his vices and his lack of all solid capacity, there is no reason to suppose that Napper Tandy was dishonest or insincere; and the manner in which his name was introduced in the well-known ballad, "The Wearing of the Green", proves that he succeeded in impressing the popular imagination of the rebel party in Ireland. In France, where his release was regarded as a French diplomatic victory, he was received, in March 1802, as a person of distinction; and when he died his funeral was attended by the military and an immense number of the civil population.
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
