The Society of United Irishmen is said to have been formed by Wolfe Tone on 14th October 1791 - but is this true? The author traces the roots of United Irish ideology to sources very different from those popularly associated with Irish nationalism - the Protestant republicanism of Oliver Cromwell and Algernon Sidney. This book describes how the Volunteer movement began during the war with America, how it revolutionized Irish politics and led to the development of the Society of United Irishmen. It reveals too that most of the leading Volunteer figures were Freemasons and that Freemasonry played an important role in radical politics and the evolution of the United Irish movement.