and that if he
appeared there the people would rise in arms; so the French made him a
general, and gave him command of this little expedition. He reached the
island of Aran, in Donegal, on the 16th, and heard of Humbert's failure.
No one paid any heed to him. He read the letters in the post office,
hoisted a green flag, got very drunk, and was carried back to the brig
eight hours after landing. The brig sailed to the coast of Norway to
avoid capture. Finally Tandy and some of his friends took refuge in
Hamburg. The city delivered them up to the English and thereby incurred
the wrath of Bonaparte. They were sentenced to death but were not
executed, and Tandy was allowed to go to France, where he ended his
days.

[Sidenote: _ABORTIVE ATTEMPTS ON IRELAND._]

At last, on September 16th, Hardy succeeded in sailing out from the Raz
with 4,000 troops for the relief of Humbert. They were carried in the
_Hoche_ (80) and nine smaller ships, under Admiral Bompard. The French
took a wide course and arrived off Lough Swilly on October 10. They were
met the next day by Sir John Warren with three ships of the line and
five frigates. The French, who fought well, were overpowered. The
_Hoche_ and three of their frigates surrendered, and three more of their
vessels were caught during the next few days. Only two frigates and a
sloop returned to Brest. On the _Hoche_ was Wolfe Tone, who had embarked
as a French officer. He was tried by court-martial in Dublin and
sentenced to be hanged. His request that he might die a soldier's death
was refused; he cut his throat and died in prison. Of all the promoters
of the rebellion he was, perhaps, the most talented, and was excelled by
none either in courage or in whole-hearted devotion to the cause of
Irish independence. One more attempt at invasion was made by Savary, who
after landing Humbert's force had returned to France. Ignorant of the
fate of Humbert's expedition, he sailed from Rochelle on October 12 with
three frigates and a corvette, carrying 1,090 troops, and appeared off
Killala on the 27th. There he heard of the failure of both Humbert and
Bompard. He set sail again and was so hotly chased by some British ships
that he threw guns, stores, and ammunition overboard.[287] His ships got
away, though with some damage, and returned to Rochelle. So ended the
French attempts on Ireland. If in the height of the rebellion a small
expedition had succeeded, as Humbert did, in evading the British