EMMET'S SPEECH FROM THE DOCK.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 69, 22 August 1874, Page 11

EMMET'S SPEECH FROM THE DOCK.

No doubt there are but few of our readers who have not read the tragic story of Robert Emmett's fate. From a volume edited by the proprietor of the ' Kat:on,' we publish his eloquent and soul-stirring address to the notorious Lord Norbury, by whom lift was condemned to death. To many of our readers we feel certain it will not b* new, but the noble, patriotic, and independent spirit which breathes through every sentence, will be our apology for introducing it into our columns : —

"My Lobds — I am asked what have Ito say why sentence of death should not be pronounced on me, according to law. I have nothing to say that cun alter your predetermination, nor that it will become me to say, with any view to the mitigation of that sentence which you are to pronounce, and I must abide by. But I have that to say which interests nae more than life, and which you hare labored to destroy. I have much to say why my reputation should be rescued from the load of false accusation and calumny which has been cast upon it. Ido not imagine that, seated where you are, your mind can be so free from prejudice as to receive the least imoression from what lam going to utter. I have no hope that I can anchor my character in the breast of a court constituted and trammelled as this is. I only wish, and that is the utmost I can expect, that your lordships may suffer it to float down your memories untainted by the foul breath of prejudice, until it finds some more hospitable harbor to shelter it from the storms by which it is buffetted. Was I only to suffer deatn, after being adjudged guilty by your tribunal, I should bow in silence, and meet the fate that awaits mo without a murmur ; but the sentence of the hw which delivers my body to the executioner will, through the ministry of the law, labor in its own vindication, to consign my character to obloquy; for there must be guilt somewhere, whether in the sentence of the Court, or in the catastrophe, time must determine. A man in my situation has not only to encounter the difficulties of fortune, and the force of power over minds which it has corrupted and subjugated, but the difliculties of established prejudice. The man dies, but his memory lives. That mine may not perish, that it may live in tha respect of my countrymen, I seize upon this opportunity to vindicate myself from some of the charges alleged against me. When my spirit shall be wafted to a more friendly port — when my .shade shall have joined the bands of those martyrd heroes who have shed their blood on the scaffold, and in the field, and in the defence of their country and of virtue, this is my hope— l wish that my memory and my n,iuio may animate those vrho survive mo, while I look down with complacency on the destruction of that perfidious government, which upholds its domination by blasphemy of the most high— which displays its power over man, as over the bensts of the forest — which sets ni.ui upon his brother, and lifts his hand, in tin- l.ume of God, nguinst this throat of his fellow who believes or doubts a little more or alittle less than the government standard— a government which is steeled to barbarity by the cries of the orphans, aud the rears of the widows it has made.

[Here Lord Norbury interrupted Mr Emmet, saying—" that the mean and wicked enthusiasts who felt as he did, were not ecual to the accomplishment of their wild designs."] "I appeal to the immaculate God— -I swear by the Throne of Heaven, before which I must shoTtly appear— by the blood of the murdered patriots who have gone before me— that my conduct has been through all this peril, and through all my" purposes, governed only by the eonvictzon which I have uttered, and by uo other view than that of the emancipation of my country from the superhuman oppression under which she has so long and too patiently travailed • and I confidently hope that, wild and chimerical as it may appear there » still union and strength in Ireland to accomplish this noble«t of enterprises. Of this I *peak with confidence, of intimate knowledge, and with the consolation that appertains to that confidence Think not, my lords, that I say this for the petty gratification of giving you a transitory' uneasiness. A man who never yet raised hia voice to assert a lie, will not hazard his character with posterity by asserting a falsehood on a subject so important to his country and on an occasion like this. Yes, my lords, a man who doea not wish to have his epitaph written until his country is liberated, will not leave a weapon in the power of envy, or a pretence to impeach the probity •winch he moans to preserve, even in the grave, to which tyranny consigns him. • J J [Here he was again interiupted by the court.] "Again I say, that what I have spoken was not intended for your lordship, whose situation I commiserate rather than envy— my expressions were for my countrymen. If there is a true Irishman present, let my last words cheer him in the hour of his affliction." [Here he was again interrupted. Lord Norbury said he did not sit there to hear treason.] " I have always understood it to be the duty of a judge, when a prisoner has been convicted, to pronounce the sentence of the law- I have also understood that judges sometimes think it their duty to hear with patience, and to speak with humanity ; to exhort the victim of the- laws, and to offer, with tender benignity, their opinions of the motives by which he was actuated m the crime of which he was adjudged guilty. That a judge has : thought it his duty so to have done I have no doubt ; but where is the boasted freedom of your institutions—where is the vaunted impartiality, ulemency, and mildness of your courts of justice if an unfortunate prisoner, whom your uolicv aud not justice, i a about to deliver into the hands of the executioner is not suiferod to explain his motives sinoerely and truly, and to vindi' cate the principles by which he was actuated ? My lords, it may be a part of a system of angry justice to bow a man's mind by humiliation to the purposed ignominy of the scaffold ; but worse than the purposed shame, or the scaffold's terrors, would be the shame of such foul and unfounded imputations as have been laid against me in thia court. You, my lord, are a judge jI am the supposed culprit lam a man 5 you are a man also. By a revolution of power we might change places, though we never could change characters. If I stand

at the bar of this court, and dare not vindicate my character what a farce is your justice ! If I stand at thia bar and dare not vindicate my character, how dare you calumniate it. Does the sentence of death which your unhallowed policy inflicts upon my body, condemn my tongue to silence, or my reputation to reproach ? Your exeoutioner may abridge the period. of my existence ; but while I exist I shall not forbear to vindicate my character and motives from your aspersions - and, as a man, to whom fame is dearer than life, I will make the last use of that life in doing justice to that reputation which is to live after me, and which is the only legacy I can leave to those I honor and love and for whom lam proud to perish. As mcD, my lords, we must appear on the great day at one common tribunal; and it will then remain for the Searcher of all hearts to show a collective universe who was engaged in the most virtuous actions, or swayed by the purest motives — my country's oppressor, or" [Here he was interrupted, and told to listen to tha sentence of the law.] " My lords, will a dying man be denied the legal priveWe of exculpating himself in the eyes of the community from an undeserved reproach, thrown upon him during his trial, by charging him with ambition, and attempting to cast away for a paltry consideration the liberties of his country ? Why did your lordships insult me ? Or rather, why insult justice, in demanding of me why sentence of death should not be pronounced against me? I know, my lords, that form prescribes that you should ask the question. The form also presents the right of answering. This, no doubt, may be dispensed with, and so might the whole ceremony of the trial, since sentence was already pronounced at the Castle before the jury were empanelled. Your lordships are but the priests of the oracle, and I insist on.the whole of the forms."

[Here Mr Emmet paused, and the court desired him to proceed.] "I am charged with being an emissary of France ! and for what end ? It is alleged that I wished to Bell the independence of ray country ; and for what end. Was this the object of my ambition '? And is this the mode tyr which a tribunal of justice reconciles contradiction ? No ; lam no emissary ; and my ambition was to hold a place among the deliverers of my country, not in power nor in profit but in the glory of the achievement. Sell my country's independence to France! and for what? Was it a changa of masters ? No, but for my ambition. Oh, my country, was it personal ambition that could " influence rae ? Had it been the soul of my actions, could I not, by my educatiou and fortune, by tho rank and consideration of my family have placed myself amongst the proudest of your oppressors My Country was my Idol. To it I sacrificed every "selfish, every endearinc sentiment ; and for it I now offer up myself, O God ! No, my lords ; I acted as an Irishmen, determined on delivering my country from the yoke of a foreign 'and an unrelenting tyranny, and the more galling yoke of a domestic faction, which is its joint partner and perpetrator in the parricide, from the ignominy existing with an exterior of splendor and conscious depravity. It was the wish of my heart to extricate my country from this doubly rivetted despotism — I wished to place her independence beyond the reach of any power on earth. I wished to exalt her to that proud station in the world. Connection with France was, indeed, intended, but only as far as mutual interest would sanction or require. Were the French to assume any authority inconsistent with the purest independence, it would be eignal for their destruction. We sought their aid— and we sought as we had assurance we should obtain it — as auxiliaries in war, and allies in peace. Were the French to come as invaders or enemies, uninvited by the wishes of tho people, I should oppose them to the utmost of my strength. Yes ! my countrymen, I should advise you to meet them upon the beacli with a sword in oue hand and a torch in the other. I would meet them with all the destructive fury of war. I would animate my country to immolate them in their boats before they had contaminated the soil of my country. If they succeeded 'in landing, and if. forced to retire before superior discipline, I' would dispute every inch of ground, burn every blade of grass, and the last entrenchment of liberty should be my grave. What I could not do myself, if I should fall, I should leave as a last charge to my countrymen to accomplish ; became I should feel, conscious that life, any more than death is unprofitable, when a foreign nation holds my country in subjection. But it was not as an enemy that the succors of France were to land. I looked, indeed, for the assistance of France, but I wished to prove to France and to the world that Irishmen deserved to be assisted — that they were indignant at slavery, and ready to assert the independence and liberty of their country": I wished to p.ocure for my country the guarantee which Washington procured for America to procure an aid which, by its example, would be important as its valor ; disciplined, gallant, pregnaut with scieuce and experience ; that of a people who would perceive the good, aud polish the rough points of our character. They would to us as strangers, and leave us as friends, after sharing in our perils and elevating our destiny. These were my objects; not to receive new taskmasters, but to "expel old tyrants. It was for these ends I sought aid from France, because France, even as an enemy, could not bo more- implucablo than the enemy alraady in the bosom of my country.

I have been charged with that importance in the emancipation of my country as to be considered the keystone of the combination of Irishmen, or, as your Lordship expressed it, ' the life and blood of tho conspiracy.' You do honor me over much ; you have given to tho subaltern all the credit of a superior. There are men engaged in this conspiracy who are not only superior to mo, but even to your own conceptions of yourself, my lord, — mou before the splendor of whose genius and virtues I should biw with respectful deference, and who would think themselves disgraced by.sliakiug your blood-stained hands. [Here ho was interrupted.]

What, my Lord, shall you tell me on my passage to the scaffold (which that tyranny of which you are only the intermediary executioner has erected for my murder) that lam accountable for all the blood that has and will be shed in this struggle of the oppressed against the oppressor, — shall you tell me thiß, and must I be so very a slave as not to repel it ? Ido not fear to approach the Omnipotent

Judge to answer for the conduct of my whole life; and am I to bo appalled and falsified by a mere remnant of mortality here ? By you, too, although if it wero possible to collect 8,11 the innocent blood you have shed during your unhallowed ministry in one great reservoir, your lordship might swim in it." £Here the judge interfered.] " Let no man dnre, when 1 am dead, to charge me with dishonor. Let no man attaint my memory by believing that I could have engaged in any cause but that my country's liberty and independence, or that I could have become the pliant minion of power, in the oppression and misery of my country. The proclamation of the Provisional Government speaks for our views ; no inference can be tortured from it to countenance barbarity or debasement at home, or subjection, humiliation, or treachery from abroad. I would not have submitted to a foreign oppressor, for the same reason that I would resist the foreign and domestic oppressor. In the dignity of freedom I would have fought upon the threshold of my country, and its enemy should only nter by passing over my lifeless corpse. And am I, who lived but for my country, and who have subjected myself to the dangers of the jealous and watchful oppressor, and the bondage of the grave only to give my country their rights, and my country her independence, am I to be loaded with calunrjy, and not suffered to resent it ? No ; God forbid!"

Here Lord Norbury told Mr Emmet that his sentiments disgraced his family and education, but more particularly his father, Dr. Emmet, who was a man, if alive, who would not countenance such such opinions. To which Mr. Emmet replied : —

" If the spirits of the illustrious dead participate in the concerns and cares of those who ■were dear to them in this transitory life, oh ! ever dear and venerated shade of my departed father, look down witli scrutny upon the conduct of your suffering son, and see if I have, ever for a moment deviated from those principles of morality and patriotism, which it was your care to instil into my youthful mind, and for which I am now about to offer up my life. My Lords, you are impatient for the sacrifice. The blood which you seek is not to be congealed by the artificial terrors which surrounds your victim — it circulates warmly and unruffled through the channels which God created for noble purposes, but which you are now bent to destroy, fnr purposes so grievous that they cry aloud to heaven. Be yet patient ! I have but a few more words to say — I am going to my cold and silent graye — my lamp of life is nearly extinguished — my race is run — the grave opens to receive me, and" I sink into its bosom. I have but one request to ask at my departure from this world, it is — Ihb CHAEITT of ITS SIIENCE. Let no man write my epitaph ; for as no man who knows my motives dare now vindicate them, let not prejudice nor ignorance asperse then?. Let them and me rest in obscurity and peace; and my tomb remain uninscribed, and my memory in oblivion, until other times and other men can do justice to my character. When my country takes her place among the nations of the eartn, then and not till t7ien let my epitaph be written. I have done."