fellow Volunteers were still opposed to giving Catholics the vote. In 1783 they became the first company of Volunteers in Ireland to "defiantly" admit Catholics into their ranks, and in May 1784 attended mass at St. Mary's chapel. Indeed, the building of this chapel was largely paid for by the Belfast 1st Volunteer Company. In sharp contrast to this, no Roman Catholic was ever admitted into a County Armagh company. In 1791, the Belfast 1st Volunteer Company passed its own resolution arguing in favour of Catholic emancipation. In October that year the Society of United Irishmen was founded, initially as an offshoot of the Volunteers. In 1792, a new radical company was created as part of the Belfast Regiment of Volunteers, the Green Company, under which guise the United Irishmen held their initial meetings. Wolfe Tone, a leading member of the United Irishmen, was elected as an honorary member of the Green Company, who he also calls the First Company, hinting that the Belfast 1st Volunteer Company reorganised itself into the Green Company. Eventually the United Irishmen would advocate revolutionary and republican ideals inspired by the French Revolution. Ironically it was only 31 years previous when Belfast had called upon volunteer militias from counties Antrim, Armagh, and Down to defend it from the French. Demise The Volunteers became less influential after the end of the war in America in 1783, and rapidly declined except in Ulster. Whilst volunteering remained of interest in counties Antrim and Down, in other places such as neighbouring County Armagh, interest was in serious decline as was membership. Internal politics too played a role in the Volunteers demise with sharp divisions of opinion regarding political affairs, possibly including "disapproval of the revolutionary and republican sentiments then being so freely expressed", especially amongst northern circles. The ultimate demise of the Volunteers occurred during 1793 with the passing of the Gunpowder Act and Convention Act, both of which "effectively killed off Volunteering", whilst the creation of a militia, followed by the yeomanry, served to deprive the Volunteers of their justification of being a voluntary defence force. Whilst some Volunteer members would join the United Irishmen, the majority were inclined towards the Yeomanry, which was used to help put down the United Irishmen's rebellion in 1798. Some of these United Irishmen and Yeomen had received their military training in the same Volunteer company; for example, the Ballymoney company's Alexander