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CHAPTER XXIV.
Political Societies and the Seamen.
Many of the seamen whose names are included in the
foregoing list were members of the secret political
societies, which had been founded in order to spread in
the British Isles the principles of the French Revolution,
or had adopted these principles since their foundation.
It is natural, therefore, to inquire whether these societies
had been at work in the navy as well as on shore, and
whether the Mutinies were in any sense the result of
deliberate designs on the part of the revolutionary leaders.
These two questions must be considered before a conclusive
opinion can be given in regard to the causes of the
Mutinies.
For the purpose of this discussion, the most important
political clubs were the Corresponding Society, and the
Societies of United Irishmen and United Britons. But
there were many other organizations, such as the Friends
of Parliamentary Reform, 1 and the Constitutional and
Revolution Societies, 2 which helped to spread the new
political ideas in this country. In the early years of the
French Revolution the members of the political societies
had openly supported the measures of the republicans in
France, but the trials of Home Tooke, Hardy and several
other democrats, and the repressive Acts of 1794 and
1. An interesting account of this society is given in the Moniteur,
3 June, 1797. According to the London correspondent, who, as a
republican, would probably have the confidence of the members, their
toasts included "
: Prompt peace and alliance with the French Republic
the patriots imprisoned in the Bastille of Ireland ; the anniversary of
liberty; the Corresponding Society."
2. The two societies that were attacked by Burke in the Reflections
on the French Revolution.