Editing Wolfe Tone (section)

==Legacy==

=== Nineteenth century ===
Praising his courage and his "keen" and "lucid" judgement, the otherwise unsympathetic Whig historian [[William Edward Hartpole Lecky|William Lecky]] set Tone "far above the dreary level of commonplace which Irish conspiracy in general presents".<ref>Lecky, W.E. H. (1892)''. History of Ireland in the Eighteenth Century, cabinet ed.,'' vol 5, London: Longmans, Greens and Co ), p. 79</ref> But set upon a constitutional path by [[Daniel O'Connell]], nationalist opinion in Ireland was slow to embrace his memory. Despite the efforts of his wife [[Matilda Tone|Mathilda]] and their son William who had collected his papers in a two-volume ''Life of Theobald Wolfe Tone'' (Washington in 1826),<ref name=":2" /> in the decades after his death, Tone's name languished in relative obscurity.<ref name=":7" />

In 1843, [[Thomas Davis (Young Irelander)|Thomas Davis]] published in [[The Nation (Irish newspaper)|''The Nation'']] his elegiac poem ''[[Tone's Grave]]'', and with Mathilda's blessing, organised the first [[Bodenstown Graveyard|Bodenstown]] memorial.<ref name=":11">{{Cite book |last=Woods |first=C. J. |title=Bodenstown Revisited: the grave of Theobald Wolfe Tone, its monuments and pilgrimages |publisher=Four Courts Press |year=2018 |isbn=9781846827389 |location=Dublin}}</ref>''{{rp|18–19}}'' With his fellow [[Young Ireland]]er (and Protestant) [[John Mitchel]], Davis found in Tone an "alternative national hero" to O'Connell, "the Liberator", with whose solicitation of Whig government favour and Catholic [[clericalism]] they were increasingly disillusioned.<ref name=":3" />''{{rp|113–114}}'' In his ''History of Ireland'' (1864),<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mitchel |first=John |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V-NRAQAAMAAJ |title=The History of Ireland, from the Treaty of Limerick to the Present Time: Being a Continuation of the History of the Abbé Macgeoghegan |date=1869 |publisher=R. & T. Washbourne |language=en}}</ref> Mitchel drew uncritically from the ''Life'', beginning what historian James Quinn suggests is a "long tradition in nationalist historiography of treating Tone's writing as sacred scripture".<ref name=":3" />''{{rp|114}}''

Mitchel's portrayal of Tone as an uncompromising martyr in the cause of independence was adopted, in turn, by a succeeding generation of "physical-force" republicans, the [[Irish Republican Brotherhood]] (IRB), the "[[Fenian|Fenians".]]<ref name=":8">{{Citation |last=Ollivier |first=Sophie |title=Presence and absence of Wolfe Tone during the centenary commemoration of the 1798 rebellion |date=2001 |url=http://www.tara.tcd.ie/handle/2262/93197 |work=Rebellion and Remembrance in Modern Ireland, Society for the Study of Nineteenth Century Ireland |pages=175–184 |editor-last=Geary |editor-first=Laurence |access-date=2023-12-31 |place=Dublin |publisher=Four Courts Press |hdl=2262/93197 |language=en |isbn=978-1-85182-586-8}}</ref>''{{rp|178}}'' In 1873, their supporters began the practice of annual pilgrimages to Bodenstown.<ref name=":11" />''{{rp|28–29}}'' They saw it as fully in the spirit of Tone to dismiss, as a distraction from the struggle for independence, the [[Irish National Land League|Land League]] and other agrarian agitation.<ref name=":11" />''{{rp|35}}''

In 1898, the centenary commemorations of the rebellion bore "the stamp" of O'Connell's [[Irish Home Rule movement|home-rule]] successors.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Paseta |first=Senia |date=1998 |title=1798 in 1898: The Politics of Commemoration |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/29735888 |journal=The Irish Review (1986-) |issue=22 |pages=(46–53) 48–49 |doi=10.2307/29735888 |issn=0790-7850 |jstor=29735888}}</ref> Attempts by [[W. B. Yeats|William Butler Yeats]], president in Dublin of the Wolfe Tone Memorial Association<ref name=":3" />''{{rp|114}}'' and, in Belfast, by [[Alice Milligan]], author of her own six-penny version of Tone's ''Life,''<ref name="McNulty">{{cite journal |last1=McNulty |first1=Eugene |date=2008 |title=The Place of Memory: Alice Milligan, Ardrigh, and the 1898 Centenary |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/40344295 |journal=Irish University Review |volume=38 |issue=2 |pages=203–2321 |jstor=40344295 |access-date=24 January 2021}}</ref> to celebrate his secular republicanism, were overwhelmed by accounts of 1798 confined to the risings in the south. In these, Tone and other Protestant leaders were effectively sidelined. The focus was on [[County Wexford|Wexford]] where, at [[Battle of Oulart Hill|Oulart Hill]], rebels had been led to their first victory by a Catholic priest, [[John Murphy (priest)|John Murphy]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Turpin |first=John |date=1998 |title=1798, 1898 & the Political Implications of Sheppard's Monument |url=https://www.historyireland.com/18th-19th-century-history/1798-1898-the-political-implications-of-sheppards-monument/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190803233241/https://www.historyireland.com/18th-19th-century-history/1798-1898-the-political-implications-of-sheppards-monument/ |archive-date=3 August 2019 |access-date=3 August 2019 |website=History Ireland}}</ref><ref name=":72">{{Cite journal |last=Johnson |first=Nuala C. |date=1994 |title=Sculpting Heroic Histories: Celebrating the Centenary of the 1798 Rebellion in Ireland |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/622447 |journal=Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=78–93 |bibcode=1994TrIBG..19...78J |doi=10.2307/622447 |issn=0020-2754 |jstor=622447}}</ref>  Meanwhile, at Tone's graveside, Connolly claimed that his [[Irish Socialist Republican Party]] "alone" was "in line with the thought of this revolutionary apostle of the United Irishmen".<ref name=":8" />''{{rp|180}}''

=== Twentieth century ===
In 1912, the IRB veteran [[Tom Clarke (Irish republican)|Tom Clarke]] revived the lapsed commemorations at Bodenstown.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Rogers |first=Peter |date=2022 |title=The importance of Bodenstown |url=https://republican-news.org/current/news/2022/07/the_importance_of_bodenstown.html |access-date=2023-12-30 |website=republican-news.org}}</ref> Speaking at the graveside in 1913, [[Patrick Pearse]] described the site as the "holiest place in Ireland", for "though many had testified in death to the truth of Ireland’s claim to nationhood; Wolfe Tone was the greatest of all that had made that testimony; he was the greatest of Ireland’s dead".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Murphy |first=Eamon |date=2014 |title=Patrick Pearse and Na Fianna Eireann Scouts at the Wolfe Tone pilgrimage to Bodenstown in June 1913 |url=https://fiannaeireannhistory.wordpress.com/2014/05/26/patrick-pearse-and-na-fianna-eireann-scouts-at-the-wolfe-tone-pilgrimage-to-bodenstown-in-june-1913/ |access-date=2023-12-30 |website=The History of Na Fianna Éireann |language=en}}</ref> But while Tone many have been an "apostle" for those who rallied to [[Proclamation of the Irish Republic|the republic proclaimed]] by Pearse, Clarke and Connolly in 1916, writers with influence in the [[Irish Free State|new Irish state]] after 1922 dismissed him as not being Irish enough.<ref name=":3" />''{{rp|115}}'' The "[[Irish-Ireland|Irish Irelander]]" [[D. P. Moran]], described Tone as "a Frenchman born in Ireland of English parents", while in a work entitled ''Wolfe Tone and the United Irishmen—for or against Christ?'' (1937),<ref>McCabe, Leo (1937). ''Wolfe Tone and the United Irishmen for or against Christ? (1791-1798)''. London: Heath Cranton, 1937.</ref> Leo McCabe (the [[Jesuits|Jesuit]], Br Denis Peter Fennell)<ref>{{Cite web |title=Book by Leo McCabe (Br Denis Peter Fennell SJ) entitled 'Wolfe Tone and the United Irishmen For or Against Christ (1791 - 1798)' - Irish Jesuit Archives |url=https://www.jesuitarchives.ie/book-by-leo-mccabe-br-denis-peter-fennell-sj-entitled-wolfe-tone-and-the-united-irishmen-for-or-against-christ-1791-1798 |access-date=2023-12-30 |website=www.jesuitarchives.ie}}</ref> associated the veneration of Tone with nothing less than a Judeo-Masonic-Communist conspiracy to destroy Christianity.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Farrlly |first=R. |date=1998 |title=Wolfe Tone and Leo McCabe |url=https://www.historyireland.com/wolfe-tone-and-leo-mccabe/ |access-date=2023-12-30 |website=History Ireland}}</ref> Conversely there were those who, stressing his work as an agent of the Catholic Committee, sought to adapt Tone to the state's Catholic-inflected nationalism. [[Aodh de Blácam]], a close [[Fianna Fáil]] partisan of [[Éamon de Valera]], insisted that Tone's "attachment to his mother's Catholic people was with him to the end".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Blácam |first=Aodh De |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tsWCAAAAIAAJ |title=The Life Story of Wolfe Tone: Set in a Picture of His Times |date=1935 |publisher=Talbot Press |location=Dublin |pages=165 |language=en}}</ref>

[[Anglo-Irish Treaty|Anti-Treaty republicans]] were able to gather at the graveside only after the official, state-organised, demonstration involving martial displays by the [[National Army (Ireland)|National Army]].<ref name=":11" />''{{rp|103}}'' Once De Valera's [[Fianna Fáil]] gained office in 1932, pro-Treaty [[Fine Gael]] abandoned Tone's graveside for an annual ceremony at [[Béal na Bláth]], in [[County Cork]], where [[Michael Collins (Irish leader)|Michael Collins]] met his death in an ambush in August 1922.<ref name=":11" />''{{rp|141}}''

Tensions surrounding Tone's legacy were evident in the 1934 Bodenstown commemorations. A [[Republican Congress]] "James Connolly" contingent from the Protestant [[Shankill Road]] in Belfast (accompanied by [[Jack White (Irish socialist)|Jack White]] and by [[Winifred Carney]]) was blocked on their approach to the graveside and their "red" banner''—"''Break the Connection with Capitalism"''—''torn by [[Irish Republican Army (1922–1969)|IRA]] stewards. Each side accused the other of dishonouring, and misappropriating, Tone's memory.<ref name=":8" />''{{rp|130}}''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Byrne |first=Patrick |url=https://www.leftarchive.ie/workspace/documents/22057-ir-rep-cong-94.pdf |title=The Republican Congress Revisited |publisher=Connolly Association Pamphlet |year=1994 |isbn=0-9522317-0-0 |location=Dublin |pages=23–24}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Hanley |first=Brian |date=1999 |title=The Storming of Connolly House |url=https://www.historyireland.com/the-storming-of-connolly-house/ |access-date=2022-10-17 |website=History Ireland}}</ref>

Arising out of the bi-centenary celebrations of Tone's birth in 1963, left-leaning elements of the IRA formed the [[Wolfe Tone Societies]].<ref name="NAI">[http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/nai/1965/nai_TSCH-98-6-101_1965-nd.pdf National Archives Ireland] – Tuairisc: The news-letter of the Wolfe Tone Society, Number One</ref><ref name="CAIN">[https://books.google.com/books?id=D07FBjetYM0C&dq=Muintir+Wolfe+Tone&pg=PA179 CAIN] – Century of Endeavour</ref> The WTS opposed the [[Republic of Ireland]]'s entry into the [[European Economic Community]] and protested the [[Vietnam War]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Treacy |first1=Matt |title=The IRA 1956–69: Rethinking the Republic |date=2013 |publisher=Manchester University Press}}</ref> A key figure in the WTS was [[Roy Johnston]], of [[Protestant]] background, who (In the tradition of the Republican Congress) looked to recruit Protestants in [[Northern Ireland]] to the cause of national unity in a workers' republic.<ref>[[Richard English|English, Richard]] (2003). ''Armed Struggle;– A History of the IRA'', MacMillan, London 2003,  pp. 85-86. ISBN 1-4050-0108-9</ref><ref>[http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/events/crights/nicra/nicra781.htm CAIN] – "We Shall Overcome" .... The History of the Struggle for Civil Rights in Northern Ireland 1968 – 1978 by NICRA (1978)</ref>

Following his bi-centenary, a memorial to Tone was commissioned for [[St Stephen's Green]] in Dublin.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Kennedy |first=Roisin |date=2015 |title=Modern Ireland in 100 Artworks: 1964 – Wolfe Tone, by Edward Delaney |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/modern-ireland-in-100-artworks-1964-wolfe-tone-by-edward-delaney-1.2393337 |access-date=2023-12-30 |newspaper=The Irish Times |language=en}}</ref> The work by [[Edward Delaney]] was unveiled in 1967 by Éamon de Valera. Having, in the name of Tone, opposed the [[dominion]]-status [[Irish Free State]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=CAIN: Issues: Politics: Speech by Bertie Ahern at the Wolfe Tone Commemoration, Bodenstown, 16 October 2005 |url=https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/issues/politics/docs/dott/ba161005.htm |access-date=2024-01-03 |website=cain.ulster.ac.uk}}</ref> De Valera took the occasion to declare that, while still to achieve national unity, the [[Republic of Ireland]] of which he was now president was that for which Tone had "longed for and worked for”''.''<ref>{{Cite web |title=Wolfe Tone Statue Unveiled |url=https://www.rte.ie/archives/2022/1114/1335982-wolfe-tone-statue-unveiled/ |access-date=2023-12-31 |website=RTÉ Archives |language=en}}</ref>

In October 1969, the [[Ulster loyalism|Ulster loyalist]] [[Ulster Volunteer Force|UVF]] claimed responsibility for bombing and damaging the Bodenstown memorial to "the traitor Wolfe Tone".<ref name=":12">{{Cite news |date=11 July 2013 |title=Unveiling at Tone's Grave |url=https://kildare.ie/ehistory/index.php/unveiling-at-tones-grave/ |work=The Leinster Leader}}</ref><ref name= BN>{{Cite news |date=27 Dec 1969 |title=Security Checks After Dublin Incidents. Big Border Hunt Follows Blast |work=[[Belfast Newsletter]] |pages=1}}</ref> In June 1975, the UVF sought to derail a train near Sallins carrying 250 [[Official Irish Republican Army|Official IRA]] supporters to the annual commemoration, and murdered a witness to their attempt.<ref>{{cite web |last=Sutton |first=Malcolm |title=CAIN: Sutton Index of Deaths |url=http://cain.ulst.ac.uk/cgi-bin/dyndeaths.pl?querytype=date&day=22&month=06&year=1975 |website=cain.ulst.ac.uk}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Sunday World on the 1975 murder of Christy Phelan at Sallins, County Kildare |url=http://www.michael.donegan.care4free.net/sunday_world150204.htm |access-date=2024-04-01 |website=www.michael.donegan.care4free.net}}</ref>

In 1998, the rebellion's bicentenary, [[Sinn Féin]] president [[Gerry Adams]] and [[Taoiseach]], [[Bertie Ahern]] made separate appearances at Bodenstown to claim Tone's sanction for their endorsement of the [[Good Friday Agreement|"Good Friday" Belfast Agreement]]. Acknowledging "with pride" the roots of its republicanism in "the mainly Presbyterian United Irish movement,” Adams declared Sinn Féin equal to the task Tone had set for those truly committed to a sovereign Ireland: to "cast off the manacles of religious sectarianism and 'abolish the memory of past dissensions'".<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bodenstown Speech by Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams 1998 |url=https://www.sinnfein.ie/contents/15185 |access-date=2024-01-03 |website=www.sinnfein.ie}}</ref> Ahern offered that in that Article 1, the Agreement conceded the "central tenet" of Tone's vision and that of all those who in succeeding generations "worked for reconciliation and peace between the different traditions on this island".<ref>{{Cite web |title=CAIN: Issues: Politics: Speech by Bertie Ahern at the Wolfe Tone Commemoration, Bodenstown, 16 October 2005 |url=https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/issues/politics/docs/dott/ba161005.htm |access-date=2024-01-03 |website=cain.ulster.ac.uk}}</ref> It states: "that it is for the people of Ireland alone, by peaceful agreement, between the two parts but without external impediment, to exercise the right of self-determination on the basis of consent, freely and concurrently given, North and South".<ref>{{Cite web |date=1998 |title=Good Friday Agreement: Agreement reached in the multi-party negotiations |url=https://www.dfa.ie/media/dfa/alldfawebsitemedia/ourrolesandpolicies/northernireland/good-friday-agreement.pdf |access-date=5 January 2024 |website=Department of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Ireland}}</ref>

Two years later, Ahern used the same occasion to threaten extraordinary measures against those he described as capable of uniting Catholic, Protestant and Dissenter "only in death".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2000-10-15 |title=Ahern pledges to tackle republican dissidents |url=https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/ahern-pledges-to-tackle-republican-dissidents/26106777.html |access-date=2024-01-06 |website=Independent.ie |language=en}}</ref> [[Dissident republican]]s, who saw rather a cementing of [[Partition of Ireland|partition]], had been holding their own Bodenstown rallies.<ref name=":10">{{Cite web |date=2013-08-04 |title=Wolfe Tone / Bodenstown |url=https://republicansinnfein.org/bodenstown/ |access-date=2024-01-03 |website=Republican SINN FÉIN Poblachtach |language=ga}}</ref> From Tone, they claimed a "continuing legacy” of struggle against “British occupation“.<ref>{{Cite web |title=CAIN: Issues: Politics: Republican Network for Unity, Bodenstown Address, (20 June 2007) |url=https://cain.ulster.ac.uk/issues/politics/docs/rnu/2007-06-20_rnu.htm |access-date=2024-01-03 |website=cain.ulster.ac.uk}}</ref>