Bonhams: IRELAND - WOLF'S TONE, TEELING AND THE BOOM 1798 Document Archives, held by George Hewett, Adjutant General of the British Army in Ireland 1791-1799 and Commander-in-Chief of Ireland, 1813-16 (2023)

Document files, held by George Hewett, Adjutant General of the British Army in Ireland from 1791 to 1799 and Commander-in-Chief of Ireland from 1813 to 1816, including:

(i) Printed proclamation titled 'Liberty, Equality, Fraternity, Union' with the title 'The General, Commander of the French Army, for the People of Ireland', issued by General Jean Hardy, opening: 'Irish!/You are not they have forgotten bantry bay! you know the effects to help you that France has already done; his affection for you, his desire to avenge his wrongs and ensure her independence remain the same. a cap of freedom, on the masonic partitions and eye in the center from where the rays of the sun expand,3 pages, bifolium, originally folded into a smaller bundle, some very light weather stains, especially on the first page, very small stain at bottom foot edge, but overall in good original unprinted condition, 8vo (186 x 120mm.)[EST T230253, other registered copy, in the National Library of Ireland], [Dublin, 1796?]

(ii) Memorandum on the Defense of Ulster [by General John Knox, Commander-in-Chief, County Tyrone, and presented to Adjutant General Hewett], which opens: "The experience of this year has shown that the whole of the people of El Ulster is an enemy of the government and is ready to revolt whenever the opportunity presents itself. To be changed by Violence and although people may return to their old ways, subservience is not to be confused with attachment..."; and go on to list troop deployments and the like,7 pages, some dust stains, etc., 4to, Derry, Sept. 25, 1797, engraved by Hewett "Mem [orandum]/ Ulster - Sept. 25, 1797"

(iii) Memorandum, apparently autographed and signed by General John Knox, Commanding Officer, County Tyrone, on the defensive possibilities of Lough Swilly, beginning: "In the Memoirs on the Defense of Ulster, which I recently had the Honor to To convey to you, I remarked that the landing-places on the shores of Lough Swilly were so many, that it would be laying down guns to set up regular batteries to prevent an enemy from landing: the Derry garrison, as I mentioned, must give every trouble to their scope, however without compromise..."; drove "

"; presented by Hewett "Nov.r 1st 1797/ Lough Swilly",4 pages, on watermarked paper with Britannia within crowned coat of arms and 'I Sullivan', some dust spots, especially where folded for delivery and archiving, folio, Derry, November 1, 1797

(iv) Archive of contemporaneous transcripts relating to the French plans to invade Ireland, prior to '98, comprising "Citizen Director Carnot's Report to the Executive Directorate - 11 Brumaire, 5th Year, etc." with the appendix "Summary of two plans of attack against England and Ireland, and the means of uniting them" by Barras,9 pages, originally folded into a bundle, sewn together, folio, [November 1, 1796]; Adjutant General T.W. Tom

, to General Hardy, Commander-in-Chief of the Francois Expeditionary Army", marked "copy",1 page, plus white unbleached paper with watermark 'G Taylor/ 1794' with crowned Britannia, folio, 16 Brumaire Year 6 [November 6, 1797]; "The Minister of the Navy and the Colonies to Brigadier General Humbert",4 pages, filigree 'To Blackwell/ 1796' and with Britannia crowned, folio, Paris, 1 and 6 Thermidor [July 19, 1798]

(v) Bartholomew Teeling's intended speech from the dock (which he was prevented from delivering), featuring "Teeling to Court" and "Teeling's Speech",2 pages, full blank, Whatman paper with watermark 1794, 4th[c.24 Sep 1798]

(vi) Archive of contemporaneous transcripts of letters from Wolfe Tone and other United Ireland leaders from 1998, and related material, including a copy of the statement given before Captain Shearman regarding the capture of Napper Tandy,4 pages, paper with Buttanshaw filigree/ 1794, 4to, Enniskillen, September 17 [1798]; Wolfe Tone, to General Hardy of the French invasion force, in French,1 page, 4to, Derry Gaol, 12 Brumaire [November 2], 1798; bifolium with transcripts of Wolfe Tone's letter from Derry prison to General Lord Cavan, protesting his treatment as a French officer after his arrest, and Cavan's reply; marked as "Copy",3 pages, 4to, Derry prison, November 3, 1798 and Buncrana, November 3, 1798; Wolfe Tone to the Commissioner for the Exchange of Prisoners, in French,2 pages, on the same Whatman paper with watermark 1794, 4th, Dublin Gaol, 19 Brumaire [November 9], 1798; Wolfe Tone to the French Directory, in French,2 pages, 4to, 19 Brumaire [November 9] 1798; Wolfe Tone, to the Minister of the Navy of France, in French, 2 pages, 4to, 19 Brumaire [November 9] 1798; Wolfe Tone's letter of introduction to "My Lord" sending copies of the above three letters, marked on the heading "

",2 pages, 4to, Provost Dublin Barracks, November 9 [1798]

(vii) Speech by Wolfe Tone in the dock, opening: "It is not my intention to cause the Court any trouble: I admit the charge against me to the fullest extent; what I have done, I have done, and am prepared to resist the consequences...",4 pages, on Whatman paper, filigree 1794, 4to, [November 10, 1798]

(viii) Receipt of filing, submitted by Hewett: "French/Respecting Documents/Irish Invasion. Rebellion/TW Tone/Napper Tandy/Teelings Speech/Col Knoxs Mem.m"

(ix) Letter of Instruction from Frederick, Duke of York, Commander-in-Chief, issued to Lieutenant General Sir George Hewett, Bt., on receipt of "Command of the Army in Ireland" by His Royal Highness the Prince Regent (" . ..As for the General Defense System of the Country, whether it is related to the Enemy Invasion perspective or the Internal Commotion perspective, you are recommended, in the first instance, to follow the Plan that has been so cleverly established by Lord Cornwallis..."), annotated: "Last signed sheet given to Miss Carey - December 2, 1827",10 pages, on two pages, on Whatman paper, watermark 1811, blue silk ties, folio, Horse Guards, September 25, 1813

(x) Hewett's much-revised autograph draft of a Hewett memorandum on the state of military readiness in Ireland in the event of invasion, with separate sections for individual districts,23 pages, inlaid, etc., on watermarked paper with a crowned lion within a circle, J Budgen/ 1813, folio, [June 1815]

(xi) True copy of the above comprising a memorandum with "Observations on the present distribution of force in Ireland with reference to the invasion", divided into sections for the Northern District, Western District, Lower Shannon, South West, South East, Central and East; with accurate revisions made to the text, especially troop numbers and the like, through drafts and additions written in darker ink,38 double pages plus blank spaces, sewn with blue silk ribbon, on paper with crowned lion watermark, Ruse & Turner/ 1813, folio, Royal Hospital, June 22, 1815

'I TRIED TO ESTABLISH THE INDEPENDENCE OF MY COUNTRY; THE ATTEMPT FAILED; THEREFORE MY LIFE IS LOST AND I SEND IT' - Papers of George Hewett, who was Adjutant General of the British Army in Ireland, before and during the French invasion of 1798 and the campaign for Irish independence waged by Adjutant General Theobald Wolfe Tone .

The original documents, such as the two memoranda submitted by General John Knox on the defense of Lough Swilly (which in fact turned out to be the French landing site), are of obvious importance; as well as material relating to his time as Commander-in-Chief in Ireland at the end of the Napoleonic War. So was the printed proclamation issued by the invading army, of which we only found one other recorded copy. Wolfe Tone's papers and his fellow United Irishmen, though presented here as government transcripts, are also important; not just to show the state of British intelligence (and its readiness for invasion), but in cases where the originals may have disappeared by providing substantive records for some of the founding texts of the present-day Republic of Ireland.

A notable example is Bartholomew Teeling's celebrated speech, which he intended to deliver from the dock after his conviction, but was banned, his oration anticipating the words Robert Emmet would utter four years later: "If there were "Being active in trying to put an end to the bloodthirsty policy of an oppressive government was treason, I am guilty. If my effort to give my native country a place among the nations of the earth was treason, then I am guilty indeed." received, this peroration is derived from the following: 'The same Court that sentenced me -- Citizens, I am not talking to you here about the constitutional right of that Court, -- branded me a traitor' (RR Madden,United Irishmen, 1846, 3rd series). Our text retains a reference to the Irish language which appears unrecorded. It's also a mess; raising the intriguing possibility that its syntactic inconsistency reflects the confusion of an original draft: "The same Court that sentenced me, citizens (I am not talking to you here about the constitutional right of such a Constitutional Court and the blasting of the Irish language) I say: I marked as a traitor".

Most famous of all, of course, is the speech Wolfe Tone made, or intended to make, from the docks, ending (in our text): "I will stop you no more, in this world success is everything; I have tried to follow the same line in which Washington triumphed and Kosciusko failed; I tried to establish the independence of my country; I failed in the attempt; consequently, my life was condemned and I submit; the Court will fulfill its duty and I must strive to do my thing ".

The original has not survived and ours must be considered a primary source. The speech has a complicated publication history. He was about a third of the way through when he was told to surrender and the court ordered a pass open; one considered incendiary, since in it he states that "I worked to abolish the infernal spirit of religious persecution, uniting Catholics and dissidents." This passage was not restored until 1849, when Cornwallis's papers were published. Our text was punctuated close to this point. Marianne Elliott describes the subsequent textual history of him: 'The full text of Tone's speech was not published at the time. "Not circulated," Cornwallis's secretary wrote, transmitting a copy of the speech to London; "treat it as a private communication"...copies made by Dublin Castle survive, though never published. Most works use the version that appears in Howells'State sentences(1809-28), taken largely from a contemporary pamphlet. The abridged versions at trial differ considerably from the original copies. Most offend with elaborations that rob the original of that simplicity of style that was Tone's hallmark. Later versions go further. In what appears in the edition of his son's diaries, the calm dignity and resignation, which contemporaries particularly noted in Tone's demeanor, are replaced by a more confrontational and transversal style.tom wolfe, second edition, 2012, pp.380-81). The presence of this speech among the Hewett papers confirms its status and importance.