of a force of 20,000 men in Ireland, with a supply of arms for the peasantry, would ensure the separation of Ireland from England.  Not satisfied with the slow progress he was thus achieving, he went on the 24th of February direct to the Luxemburg Palace, and sought and obtained an interview with the War Minister, the celebrated Carnot, the “organizer of victory.”  The Minister received him well, listened attentively to his statements, discussed his project with him, and appeared much impressed with the prospects it presented.  The result was that on the 16th of December in the same year, a splendid expedition sailed from Brest for Ireland.  It consisted of seventeen sail of the line, thirteen frigates and fifteen transports, with some smaller craft, and had on board 15,000 troops, with a large supply of arms for the Irish patriots.  Tone himself, who had received the rank of Adjutant-General in the French service, was on board one of the vessels.  Had this force been disembarked on the shores of Ireland, it is hardly possible to doubt that the separation of this country from England would have been effected.  But the expedition was unfortunate from the outset.  It was scattered on the voyage during a gale of wind, and the Admiral’s vessel, with Hoche, the Commander, on board, was separated from the others.  A portion of the expedition entered the magnificent Bay of Bantry and waited there several days in expectation of being rejoined by the vessel containing the Admiral and Commander; but they waited in vain.  Tone vehemently urged that a landing should be effected with the forces then at hand—­some 6,500 men—­but the officers procrastinated, time was lost, the wind which had been blowing from the east (that is out the harbour) rose to a perfect hurricane, and on the 27th and 28th of the month the vessels cut their cables and made the best of their way for France.

This was a terrible blow to the hopes of the Irish organizer.  Rage and sadness filled his heart by turns as the fierce storm blew his vessel out of the bay and across the sea to the land which he had left under such favourable auspices.  But yet he did not resign himself to despair.  As the patient spider renews her web again and again after it has been torn asunder, so did this indefatigable patriot set to work to repair the misfortune that had occurred, and to build up another project of assistance for his unfortunate country.  His perseverance was not unproductive of results.  The Batavian or Dutch Republic, then in alliance with France, took up the project that had failed in the Bay of Bantry.  In the month of July, 1797, they had assembled in the Texel an expedition for the invasion of Ireland, nearly, if not quite, as formidable in men and ships as that which had left Brest in the previous year.  Tone was on board the flag ship, even more joyous and hopeful than he had been on the preceding occasion.  But again, as if by some extraordinary fatality, the weather interposed an obstacle to the realization of the design.