John Finlay for the county of Dublin. His enthusiasm for the principles of the French revolution was unbounded, and as leader of the advanced protestant party in the city his co-operation was of great assistance to Theobald Wolfe Tone [q. v.] and Thomas Russell (1767–1803) [q. v.] in founding a branch of the United Irish Society in Dublin towards the close of 1791. He was elected first secretary of the society, and was indefatigable in his efforts to promote a reform of parliament by cultivating a better understanding between the catholics and protestants. His activity in this direction did not escape notice, and on 20 Feb. 1792, during a debate on the catholic petition, the attorney-general, John Toler (afterwards Earl Norbury) [q. v.], remarked with congenial vulgarity, ‘We are not this day to be taught by political quacks, who tell us that radical reformations are necessary in parliament. I have seen papers signed Tobias m'Kena, with Simon Butler in the chair and Napper Tandy lending his countenance. It was rather odd they could not contrive to set a better face on the matter; but, sir, to use the language of an honourable member behind me on a recent occasion, “such fellows are too despicable for notice,” and therefore I shall not drag them from their obscurity.’ This pointed allusion to his personal ugliness so enraged Tandy that he sent forthwith to Toler for an explanation. No explanation being given, it is said that a meeting was arranged and that Tandy failed to keep the appointment; but the accuracy of the statement is open to question. The following night the Hon. James Cuffe (afterwards Lord Tyrawley) brought the subject before the house, and, in consequence of his complaint, the house voted Tandy to have been guilty of a breach of privilege in challenging the attorney-general, and ordered the sergeant-at-arms to take him into custody. Accordingly, on 22 Feb., he was arrested at his own house in Bride Street on the speaker's warrant; but he managed to elude the vigilance of his captor, and a proclamation offering a reward for his apprehension was published by the lord-lieutenant, the Earl of Westmorland, at the suit of the House of Commons, in the ‘Dublin Gazette.’ On 18 April, being the last day of the session, Tandy surrendered and was brought before the bar of the house. At the instigation of Richard Sheridan, M.P. for Charlemont borough, he refused to answer any question put to him, and was in consequence committed for contempt to Newgate; but, parliament being prorogued an hour or two afterwards, he was immediately set at liberty.
The right of the commons to shelter Toler was, however, sharply criticised, and Tandy, having in the meantime been acquitted by a volunteer court-martial of any unsoldierlike or dishonourable behaviour in the matter, pursued his advantage by instituting proceedings against the Earl of Westmorland for publishing the proclamation for his apprehension. The grounds of the action were, first, that no subject could be taken into custody on a charge of a breach of privilege without having been first brought before the bar of the house; and, secondly, that no such functionary as a viceroy, legally appointed, existed in Ireland, the Earl of Westmorland, like his predecessors, owing his appointment to letters patent under the great seal of England, which was not recognised in the Irish courts of law. The case was argued before Chief-justice Scott in the court of common pleas on 21 June, and resulted in a verdict for the lord-lieutenant. The prosecution, conducted by Butler, Emmet, and MacNally, no doubt touched a weak point in the constitution; but the verdict was the only one which in common-sense could be given. Tandy of course found many sympathisers. At a United banquet at Belfast on 19 April ‘Napper Tandy and the Rights of the Subject’ was drunk with enthusiasm, and his expenses defrayed out of the funds of the society. The rejection of the catholic petition stimulated agitation, and during the summer and autumn great preparations were made for holding a catholic convention in Dublin. The occasion seemed to Tandy a favourable one for reviving the volunteer movement on a wider basis, and, with the assistance of Archibald Hamilton Rowan [q. v.], he actually raised in Dublin two battalions of ‘a national guard,’ each a thousand strong, with green uniforms, harp buttons, and in the place of the crown a cap of liberty. Government, however, taught by experience, issued a proclamation against unauthorised bodies assembling in arms, and before the eventful day arrived Tandy, Rowan, and a printer named Carey found themselves standing alone on the parade-ground. An attempt to bring about a coalition between the Defenders and the United Irishmen proved even less successful. For an action having been begun against him for publishing a pamphlet called ‘Common Sense,’ containing some very severe reflections on the Beresford family, and the trial fixed for the Dundalk assizes on 16 Feb. 1793, Tandy was on his way thither when information reached him that his secret had leaked out and that a charge was to be preferred against him of having taken the
