Test of the Society of United Irishmen

The test was a pledge taken by members of a democratic political society in the Kingdom of Ireland, the United Irishmen, who in 1798 organised a republican insurrection.

The original Test taken by members of the Society of United Irishmen was written shortly after its founding in 1791 by William Drennan. Approved at the first meeting of the Dublin society in November 1791, it read:

I, - AB in the presence of God, do pledge myself to my country, that I will use all my abilities and influence in the attainment of an impartial and adequate representation of the Irish nation in parliament: and as a means of absolute and immediate necessity in accomplishing this chief good of Ireland, I shall do whatever lies in my power to forward a brotherhood of affection, an identity of interests, a communion of rights, and a union of power among Irishmen of every religious persuasion, without which every reform must be partial, not national, inadequate to the wants, delusive to the wishes, and insufficient for the freedom and happiness of this country.[1]

At the meeting, Theobald Wolfe Tone and Thomas Russell objected that the wording was to vague, and that the pledge might dissuade potential members. Although Tone and Russell were prime movers in the formation of the society, they found little support.[2]

As government repression increased following the French declaration of war on Britain in February 1793, and as a move, beginning in Belfast, was made toward a more militant, potentially insurrectionary, organisation, the test was revised. To allow a more radical interpretation of the society's aims, the reference to the Irish parliament was dropped and an emphasis placed on the need for secrecy.[3] The test now read:

In the awful presence of God, I, [name], do voluntarily declare, that I will persevere in endeavouring to form a brotherhood of affection among Irishmen of every religious persuasion, and that I will also persevere in my endeavours to obtain an equal, full and adequate representation of all the people of Ireland. I do further declare, that neither hopes, fears, rewards or punishments shall ever induce me, directly or indirectly, to inform on or give evidence against any member or members of this or similar societies, for any act or expression of theirs, done or made, collectively or individually, in or out of this society, in pursuance of the spirit of this obligation.[4]

Under the Insurrection Act of 1796 any person convicted of administering the oath was to "suffer death without benefit of clergy" and anybody taking the oath was to be "transported for life".[5]