James Napper Tandy

James Napper Tandy on a caricature (late 18th century)

James Napper Tandy (* 1740 in Dublin , † August 24, 1803 in Bordeaux ) was an Irish politician and revolutionary known as Napper Tandy .

Life

Early patriotism and founding the Society of United Irishman

The son of an ironmonger initially worked as a merchant in his father's small business, but soon became involved as a politician in the representation of Dublin. He gained a great reputation for criticizing the corruption in the city and for proposing a boycott on English goods in Ireland in order to repay the restrictions imposed by the English government on the Irish economy. In April 1780 he was expelled from the Dublin Volunteers for proposing the expulsion of the Duke of Leinster, whose moderate stance was criticized by the extremists .

Napper Tandy was one of the most conspicuous personalities from the group of merchants in the small revolutionary party and in June 1784 he founded a standing committee to agitate the reform policy he represented. In October 1784 he called a meeting of delegates from all parts of Ireland and convinced the Dublin officials in 1785 to condemn the economic arrangements introduced by Prime Minister William Pitt . After being initially a member of the of Henry Grattan founded Whig was clubs, he was in October 1791 in addition to Theobald Wolfe Tone , Thomas Russell (1767-1803) and Archibald Hamilton Rowan the founders of the Society of United Irishmen was and its first secretary.

The violence of his views, strongly shaped by the ideas of the French Revolution , soon led to his being under surveillance by the English government. During this time, sympathy for the French Revolution grew rapidly within Ireland, so that in July 1791 a meeting of six thousand people in Belfast sent a congratulatory address to the French nation . After the then Attorney General for Ireland John Toler, 1st Earl of Norbury insulted him in February 1792 in a debate because of his unfavorable appearance, Tandy sent him a challenge to a duel . However, this was rejected by the House of Commons as a breach of the privilege, whereupon the Speaker of the House of Commons requested an arrest warrant against him. However, he managed to go into hiding until the warrant expired. Tandy then applied to the Lieutenant Governor (Lord Lieutenant) for a procedure for his arrest and although this failed, the action increased his popularity, with the Society of United Irishmen paying the costs.

In 1792 he took a leading role in building a new military association in Ireland on the model of the French Garde Nationale . This took an oath on republican principles and wore a uniform with a cap with the Celtic harp . Tandy, who also hoped to unite various groups such as the United Irishman, took the oath of the Defenders, another of a Roman Catholic society whose agricultural and political violence had increased several years earlier.

Exile in the USA and return to Ireland

He was charged with taking this step and defamation , after which he fled to the United States and lived there until early 1798. In February 1798 Napper Tandy went to Paris , where a large number of Irish refugees were living at the time , as was Wolfe Tone. On the one hand, these groups met to start a revolution with the help of a French invasion of Ireland. On the other hand, the different groups got into arguments again and again, with the extremely vain and usually drunk Tandy being particularly contentious and particularly offended in his vanity by the fact that Wolfe Tone enjoyed greater influence within the rebel groups. At a meeting with Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, the latter described him as “a respectable old man whose patriotism has been known for thirty years” ('a respectable old man whose patriotism has been known for thirty years').

Tandy, who made believe the French, that he was a wealthy man, had access in Ireland 30,000 men to arms its influence, accepted the provision of the Corvette Anacreon with some men, and a significant number of weapons and ammunition from Dunkirk to Aran Islands where he landed on September 16, 1798. The islanders showed no reason to greet Napper Tandy's troop. Tandy, who was largely drunk during the crossing, took the village of Rutland, hoisted the flag of Ireland there and made an extensive proclamation. However, he found that there was no rebellion in Connacht , but remained calm. After this failure he suffered a alcohol poisoning and was on Anacreon in a roundabout way to avoid an encounter with the Royal Navy along the coast of northern Scotland by mountains brought. From there he reached Hamburg with some of his men , where he was handed over to the British at the request of the British and despite the risk of French retribution.

Tandy remained in custody until April 1801, pleaded guilty in the subsequent trial and was sentenced to death . However, he was pardoned and allowed to go into exile in France. In France, his release was seen as a diplomatic success of the Treaty of Amiens concluded by Napoleon Bonaparte , and he was received as a distinguished figure. After his death, his burial took place with military ceremonies and a large number of civilians.

Napper Tandy is well known in Ireland as an early representative of the rebels, which can be seen, for example, in the ballad The Wearing of the Green . There it says:

"I met wid Napper Tandy and he took me by the hand,

And he said, 'How's dear ould Ireland, and how does she stand?'

She's the most distressful country that ever yet was seen,

For they're hangin 'men an' women there for the wearin 'o' the green ".

Shane MacGowan used a modification of these lines for the song Boat Train on the Pogues album Peace and Love .

Web links

• James Napper Tandy in the nndb (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ The Wearing of the Green (Wikisource)