The vessels were ready for sea, the troops were on board, nothing was wanted but a slant of wind to enable the fleet to get out.  But for five weeks it continued to blow steadily in the adverse direction.  The supplies ran low; the patience of the officers, and of the government, became exhausted—­the troops were disembarked and the project abandoned!  The second failure in a matter of such weight and importance was a heavy blow to the heart of the brave Tone.  Elaborate and costly efforts like those which had ended so poorly, he felt could not often be repeated; the drift of the war was cutting out other work for the fleets and armies of France and her allies, and the unwelcome conviction began to settle darkly on his mind that never again would he see such a vision of hope for dear Ireland as that which had shone before him on those two occasions, and vanished in doubt and gloom.

Yet there was no need to despair.  Assurances reached Tone every day that the defeat and humiliation of England was a settled resolve of the French Government, one which they would never abandon.  And for a time everything seemed to favour the notion that a direct stroke at the heart of England was intended.  In the latter part of 1797 the Directory ordered the formation of “The Army of England,” the command of which was given to General Buonaparte.  Tone’s heart again beat high with hope, for now matters looked more promising than ever.  He was in constant communication with some of the chief officers of the expedition, and in the month of December he had several interviews with Buonaparte himself, which however he could hardly consider of a satisfactory nature.  On the 20th of May, 1798, General Buonaparte embarked on board the fleet at Toulon and sailed off—­not for Ireland or England, but for Egypt.

On the Irish leaders at home these repeated disappointments fell with terrible effect.  The condition of the country was daily growing more critical.  The government, now thoroughly roused and alarmed, and persuaded that the time for “vigorous measures” had arrived, was grappling with the conspiracy in all directions.  Still those men would, if they could, have got the people to possess their souls in patience and wait for aid from abroad before unfurling the banner of insurrection; for they were constant in their belief that without the presence of a disciplined army on Irish soil to consolidate their strength and direct it, a revolutionary effort of the Irish people could end only in disaster.  But the government had reasons of their own for wishing to set an Irish rebellion afoot at this time, and they took measures to precipitate the rising.  The arrest of the delegates at the house of Oliver Bond in Dublin, and the capture of Lord Edward Fitzgerald contributed to this end; but these things the country might have peacably endured if no more dreadful trial had been put upon it.  What could not be endured was the system of riot and outrage, and murder, to which the unfortunate peasantry