substitute the common name of Irishman in place of the denominations of protestants, catholics, and dissenters—these were my means.' He had little hope that the protestants of the established church could be induced to surrender their privileges in the interest of the nation at large; but that the protestant dissenters could be persuaded to unite with the Roman catholics seemed to him not only feasible, but, in the light of the Belfast resolutions, not very difficult to effect. To promote this object he in September published a well-written pamphlet, under the signature of a 'Northern Whig,' entitled 'An Argument on behalf of the Catholics of Ireland.' It was addressed to the dissenters, and its main object was to prove that no serious danger would attend the enfranchisement of the catholics. It is said that ten thousand copies were sold. Besides bringing him into personal contact with the leaders of the catholic party, it obtained for him the honour—an honour he shared with Henry Flood [q. v.] alone—of being elected an honorary member of the first or green company of Belfast volunteers.
Tone, at the suggestion of Russell, paid a visit to Belfast early in October to assist at the formation of 'a union of Irishmen of every religious persuasion in order to obtain a complete reform of the legislature, founded on the principles of civil, political, and religious liberty.' This was accomplished during a stay of three weeks, 'perhaps the pleasantest in my life,' in Belfast. He returned to Dublin 'with instructions to cultivate the leaders in the popular interest, being protestants, and, if possible, to form in the capital a club of United Irishmen.' He met with an ardent ally in James Napper Tandy [q. v.], who, like himself, had strong leanings towards republicanism, but was content for the present to limit his object to a reform of parliament. With Tandy's assistance a club was started in Dublin; but Tone was surprised, and not a little mortified, to find that he speedily lost all influence in its proceedings. After a little time he drifted out of contact with it. Nevertheless, the rapid growth of the society gratified him, and his firmness, in conjunction with Archibald Hamilton Rowan [q. v.], in supporting Tandy in his quarrel with the House of Commons, during which time he acted as pro-secretary of the society, strengthened its position.
But an intimacy with John Keogh [q. v.], the actual leader at the time of the catholic party and himself a prominent United Irishman, had given a new turn to his thoughts, I and, in consequence of the mismanagement of the catholic affairs by Richard Burke, he was early in 1792 offered the post of assistant secretary to the general committee at an annual salary of 200l. The offer was accepted, and his discreet behaviour won him the general respect of the whole body. After the concession of Langrishe's relief bill (February 1792), and the rejection of their petition praying for 'some share of the elective franchise,' the catholics set about reorganising their committee with a view to making it more thoroughly representative. A circular letter was prepared inviting the catholics in every county to choose delegates to the general committee sitting in Dublin, who were, however, only to be summoned on extraordinary occasions, leaving the common routine of business to the original members. The publication of this plan alarmed the government, and at the ensuing assizes the grand juries were prompted to pass strong resolutions condemning it as illegal. Tone, at the request of the committee, drew up a statement of the case for the catholics, and submitted it to two eminent lawyers, who pronounced in its favour. Defeated on this point, the government, as Grattan said, 'took the lead in fomenting a religious war… in the mongrel capacity of country gentlemen and ministers.' The catholics themselves were not united on the propriety of the step they were taking. In itself, indeed, the secession of the aristocracy, headed by Lord Kenmare, had strengthened rather than weakened the body. But the seceders had found sympathisers among the higher clergy, and of the episcopate there were several exercising considerable influence in the west of Ireland who regarded the present plan with disapproval. Tone paid several visits to the west of Ireland and to Ulster with a view to restoring harmony to the divergent parties that were concerned in the agitation. During the autumn of 1792 he was busily preparing for the great catholic convention which assembled in Tailors' Hall in Back Lane on 3 Dec. Of the proceedings of this convention he left a very valuable account, and as secretary he accompanied the delegation appointed to present the catholic petition to the king in London. Hitherto he had managed to work in harmony with Keogh. But in 1793 Keogh (who had 'a sneaking kindness for catholic bishops') allowed himself to be outmanœuvred by secretary Hobart [see Hobart, Robert, fourth Earl of Buckinghamshire], and, instead of insisting on 'complete restitution,' acquiesced in a bill giving the catholics merely the elective franchise, and consented to a suspension of the agitation. Before terminating its existence, the catholic convention voted Tone 1,500l. and a gold medal in recog-
