Quote#World
[T]he Irish patriots who had suffered so much in their [France's]…
Quote byWolfe Tone · 1763–1798
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Diary (16 June 1798), quoted in T. W. Moody, R. B. McDowell and C. J. Woods (eds.), The Writings of Theobald Wolfe Tone, 1763–98, Volume III: France, the Rhine, Lough Swilly and Death of Tone, January 1797 to November 1798 (2007), p. 299.
English (original)
[T]he Irish patriots who had suffered so much in their [France's] cause, and who by the number of men they employed, and the quantity of money they had cost England, had served as a powerful diversion in favor of the Republic, without putting her to the expense of one shilling.
— Wolfe Tone
More from Wolfe Tone
Our independence must be had at all hazards. If the men of property will not support us, they must fall; we can support ourselves by the aid of that numerous and respectable class of the community, the men of no property.
It is a fact undeniable though carefully concealed in England, that two thirds of the British navy are manned by Irishmen; a circumstance which if it stood alone should be sufficient to determine the French Government to wrest, if …
[Charles de La Croix]...asked me did I know one Simon, a priest. I answered...that I had a strong objection to letting priests into the business at all; that I had the very worst opinion of them, and that in Ireland especially they were …
[I]t is our principle that if a nation wills a bad government it ought to have that government. We have no power, and we have no right, to force men to be free.
The Harpers again. Strum Strum and be hang'd!
I for one will never be accessory to subjecting my country to the control of France merely to get rid of England.