Editing Wolfe Tone (section)

=== Invitation to Belfast ===
In July 1790 in the visitors' gallery in the [[Irish House of Commons]], Tone met [[Thomas Russell (rebel)|Thomas Russell]], a disillusioned [[Presidency armies|East India Company]] veteran. He found Russell equally critical of the proceedings in the chamber below. Henry Grattan's reform-minded [[Irish Patriot Party|Patriots]] were floundering in their efforts to build upon the legislative independence from England ([[Constitution of 1782|the "Constitution of 1782"]]) that the [[Irish Volunteers (18th century)|Volunteer militia movement]] had helped secure. Tone later described the encounter with Russell as "one of the most fortunate" in his life.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Joy |first1=Henry |title=Historical Collections Relating to the Town of Belfast |date=1817 |publisher=G. Berwick |location=Belfast |page=34}}</ref>

With Russell providing the introductions,<ref name=":1222"/>{{rp|49–50}} in October 1791 Tone addressed a small reform club in [[Belfast]].<ref name=":2" />{{rp|378}} Members were Protestant "Dissenters" from the established church, [[Presbyterian Church in Ireland|Presbyterians]] who, notwithstanding sometimes substantial commercial property, had no elected representation. Belfast was a parliamentary [[Rotten and pocket boroughs|borough in the "pocket"]] of the town's proprietor, the [[Marquess of Donegall]]. They had coalesced around the proposal of one of their number, now resident in Dublin, [[William Drennan]], for "a benevolent conspiracy, a plot for the people" dedicated to "the Rights of Man" and to "Real Independence" for Ireland.<ref name="9bSrV22">{{cite web |date=February 2020 |title=Category Archives: William Drennan |url=https://www.irishphilosophy.com/category/person/long-18th-century/william-drennan/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201101134817/https://www.irishphilosophy.com/category/person/long-18th-century/william-drennan/ |archive-date=1 November 2020 |access-date=10 May 2020 |website=assets.publishing.service.gov.uk |pages=15–16}}</ref> (Tone's diary records [[Thomas Paine]]'s ''[[Rights of Man]]'' as the "[[Quran|Koran]] of Belfast").<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Donnelly |first=James S. |date=1980 |title=Propagating the Cause of the United Irishmen |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/30090237 |journal=Studies: An Irish Quarterly Review |volume=69 |issue=273 |pages=(5–23) 8 |jstor=30090237 |issn=0039-3495}}</ref>