THE PADRAIO UA CAS AIDE MEMORIAL COLLECT!® Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2015 https://archive.org/details/lifetimesofrober00madd_0 oWtBEDt-tr emmetf. THE LIFE AND TIMES OF ROBERT EMMET. R. R. MADDEN M.D., M.R.I.A. WITH NUMEROUS NOTES AND ADDITIONS. AND A PORTRAIT ON STEKL. ALSO A MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. WITH A PORTRAIT OH STEEL. NEW YORK : P. M. HAVERTY. P. J. KENEDY, EXCELSIOR CATHOLIC PUBLISHING HOUSE, 5 Barclay Street. D B .L SLJ Sstkrid according to Act of Congress in the year 18M BY P. M. HAVKRTT, la the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United StatM, the Southern District of New York. IjXjo *. ^ - rVTQSrCty 1. r : 'flS.rV^ 237877 V < PREFACE. The publisher deems it necessary to state that some liberties have been taken with the original text of Madden’s Life of Robert Em met, by leaving out some letters and other matter relating more propeny to Thomas Addis Emmet, most of which, however, has been introduced in the memoir of the latter. Other slight alterations have been found necessary in order to render the history more clear and connected. Valuable additions have been made to the work, in the shape of notes and extracts, from all recent authorities which could throw light on either the subject of the memoir, his times, or contempo- raries. The memoir of Thomas Addis Emmet has been taken almost verbatim from Madden and Haines, with additions from other lources where they could be introduced with advantage to the work CONTENTS PfLEFAClL - PAGft CHAPTER L Robert Emmet, his early history. — His career at College — Display at the Historical Society, (Note). — Judge Lefroy, (Note). — Moore’s opinion of Robert Emmet. — The late Judge Johnston, (Note). — Refusal to obey the Chancellor’s summons, aitd its re- sults. — Visit to the Continent in 1800. - - - - 8 CHAPTER II. Robert Emmet connected with the proceedings of the United Irish- men in Paris. — His study of works on Military Science. — Dow- dall, Despard’s agent, connected with Emmet. — Mr. Lewis Gold- smith’s account of Despard. — Of his own career. — Of his con- nection with Talleyrand. — Of Messrs. Badini, Beauvoisin, r. James M’Oabe; but Mr. Hickson says, and his information cannot b« ealled in question, that the fact was not so. MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 97 11 friend in need/’ who was “ a friend indeed” to Allen, was a membejr of the College corps.: he procured a military uniform for Allen, and made arrangements for his passage with the master of a vessel, that was about to sail to what port I have not been informed. Dowdall, about this time, came into town, and met Allen dressed in uniform with his friend. It was ar- ranged that Dowdall should embark with Allen ; and the ne- cessary arrangements for that purpose were made. Prepara- tions were made for their going on board a boat, at some intermediate point between the Rock and Killiney. Allen, dressed in military uniform, and Dowdall in plain clothes, ac- companied by their College friend, in his regimentals, pro- ceeded from Wind}Miarbour towards the place of embarkation (by the fields), and when they approached the sea-side, they observed some soldiers (two or three) coming out of their way towards them. The good eifects of facing the enemy boldly, were exhibited on this occasion. One of the soldiers evidently suspected the party ; for he questioned them about the corps that Allen and his College friend belonged to, and eventually told them, they must go with him to his officer. The Collegian interfered, and said, “ My good fellow, this is carrying the joke too far ; yet I would be sorry to be obliged to get your officer to punish you for your folly.” There was a disposition shown, on the part of the soldier, to lay hands on one of the party ; but the motion of those of Allen and his friend, and the corresponding expression of their features, took the soldier and his comrades aback. They wished the gentlemen a good morning, and in all probability, it was well for them they did so. Allen and Dowdall got safely on board ship, and out of the reach of their enemies. The following account of Mr. Allen was transmitted to me by Mr. B. P. Binns, from America, communicated by a person who speaks of an intimate acquaintance with Colonel Allen, who is now residing in Caen, in Normandy — a man no less ho- noured for his distinguished bravery in the field, than respected and esteemed for his private virtues, by all who know him, and amongst them, by some members of my own family : — “ He entered the French service on his arrival in France, and advanced from the rank of lieutenant to that of colonel, solely by his services, and they were of the most daring char- acter. It was he who led the storming party at the taking of 98 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. Ciudad Roderigo, in Spain, and was severely wounded above the thigh when he had gained the wall. The reward was his colonelcy. He was taken prisoner shortly after, and confined, with other French officers, on an island, I should say a rock, near Corunna. Luckily for him he had been made a prisoner by the Spanish army. Had he fallen into the hands of the English, or had they known any thing about his capture, he would have been transferred to England, though an adopted citizen of France, and made to suffer the dreadful penalties of high treason. “He was exchanged, and, with the others, returned into France, his uniform held together by patching and sewing, in rags, the uniform in which he had been made prisoner ; he had no other during his imprisonment and exposure on this bleak rock. He came time enough, however, for the campaign of 1813, which terminated at Leipsic ; was in that retreat ; in the horrible distress and night battle at Hauau ; re-entered France ; was at Montmirail and at Laon ; had still a gleam of hope, when the news of Marmont’s defection, and the occu- pation of Paris, crushed every thing. He joined the Emperor Napoleon at his return ; and was speedily demanded by the English government, at the second occupation of Paris he was arrested, and conducted to the frontier. “ The Bourbons had still so much shame as not to surrender him on French ground. “ The gens d’armes who happened to conduct him, had been soldiers, and he an officer ; there was a long struggle between old recollection aud their duty ; between the memory of times past, and the delivery of an old officer to the English guard waiting to receive him. This did not terminate till they were at the last station of French ground. “ They lingered on the road, and stopped for a night at a village a league or two within the frontier. The mayor pro- vided a strong room for the prisoner, which, in their care for security, they examined scrupulously, locking the door upon themselves The night came, the last night before the old offi- cer of the Empire, a gallant Irishman, was to be delivered to those who never spare. “ The gens d’armes asked leave to sup with him, and, as they got up to conduct him to the room, one of them said, * Mon* sieur le Colonel, the room in which you are to be confined is MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 49 Btrong, but one of the iron bars of the window is loose ; we trust you will not escape.’ It was a hint. “ At eleven o’clock at night he was in the street, with a bun die and his own sword, which they left in the room. He made for the Loire, but the array had melted away ; and, after the foreigners withdrew , and that France was herself again, he ap- peared, claimed his half-pay, and is still living. “ He has a small sum in the French funds, and thus can live : for half-pay in France is a wretched thing. “ He retired into Normandy, having sent for his two sisters, very old ladies, to live with him on their joint income and his own. “ I should say went for , for as one of them is blind, and neither able to travel alone, he came over here to Dublin, under a feigned name. “ Who could recognize a man broken by service and years, fourteen of which were as many campaigns ? Strangely enough, one of the first faces he met was that of Major Sirr, so infa- mously notorious during the rebellion and since, as Town-major of Dublin ; but his mother could not recognize Colonel Allen to-day. “ He entered the capital with one packet, and left it with the next. His sisters had notice, and were prepared. “ This was the return to his own home of the man who rose up against tyranny forty years before. He found it as he had left it, IN THE HANDS OF STRANGERS. Every thing had changed in Europe ; nothing in Ireland. (Signed) “ 1803 .” Mr. Henry Grattan, in the life of his father, gives the fol- lowing account of Dowdall : — “ There was an individual of the name of William Dowdall, a natural son of Hussey Burgh, The distinguished part that Burgh had taken on behalf of the liberties of his country, at the period of the revolution in 1782, has been already stated. For him, and for his memory, Mr. Grattan entertained the warmest affection. “ Dowdall was a young man of pleasing figure, good address, and an interesting manner ; he had been well educated, and was not deficient in information ; he was ardent and enthusi- astic, a great admirer of his father’s principles, aud those alsc 1 00 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. of Mr. Grattan. He used to attend the debates in parliament, and assist at the meetings of the Whig Club ; and he held a situation in the office of Mr. Foster, when Chancellor of the Exchequer. It was said that Mr. Grattan, through his means, had received some papers connected with the public accounts, which he had made use of in a debate in the House of Com- mons. This was considered an unpardonable offence by go- vernment, and, in consequence, he was dismissed from his situ- ation. Whether this was the real cause, or used merely as a pretext, mattered little in the opinion of Mr. Grattan, and he conceived himself bound, in honour, to allow him an annuity of forty guineas a year ; hence, a greater interest arose in whatever concerned Mr. Grattan. The ardour of his liberal principles, unsubdued by his dismissal, and, perhaps, his impru- dence, had caused him to be suspected ; and, after the trial of O’Connor, at Maidstone, which he attended, he was arrested. Being confined in the same prison with Neilson, he learned from him the real statement as to the report of the Secret Commit- tee, and he communicated it to Mr. Grattan. His letter will show what little chance of justice any one had in those times, and from those governors. “ Extract of a Letter from William Dowdall to Mr. Grattan. Dublin , 6 th October , 1798. “ ( Sir, — Perhaps nothing can surprise you more than a line from me, as I imagine you have concluded me long since hang- ed ; but I have the misfortune to tell you that I anl still in the land of the living ; to heighten my. misfortune — that land, Ire- land — my present residence, Newgate. “ ‘ All the persecution and threats I have experienced for more than four months past, had no terrors for me ; I looked for nothing so anxiously as the accomplishment of their worst threat. To hear the progressive destruction of my country in an English dungeon, aggravated, as it was, by English rela- ters, you will naturally suppose, left me a heart not much at ease ; but nothing, my dear Mr. Grattan, could equal what I felt from the villauous attempt I found making by your ene- mies, to implicate you in the late unfortunate business “ ‘ I have declined signing the conditions agreed on between MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 101 government and the other prisoners, as no consideration will ever induce me to consent to any examination, however spe- ciously it may be pretended that I shall not be required to name persons. I entirely and completely disapprove of the compro- mise, and, therefore, take it for granted, that I shall remain a prisoner for a long, long time, if they have not a Reynolds, a Hughes, or some other well trained hero to release me from my sufferings ( Signed ) 11 ‘ William Dowdall.’ ” Dowdall was eventually liberated, and was so far more for- tunate than his fellow prisoners who had signed the compact, as to be permitted to remain in his native country. He pro- ceeded to London, however, soon after his liberation, subse- quently to Paris, and came back to Ireland in the summer of 1802. His connection with Coionel Despard has been referred to elsewhere. He again visited London, and returned to Ire- land, about the period of Emmet’s arrival, or shortly after it, and joined Robert Emmet in his undertaking. It does not appear, however, that Dowdall was qualified for the desperate business he embarked in. He was present at a trial of rockets made by Robert Emmet, by night, on the strand at Irishtown ; Dowdall, it is said, became alarmed at the first experiment, and suddenly disappeared! He was for- tunate enough to make his escape to France with Mr. Allen ; but the place, and time of his death, I have not been able to ascertain. % Henly Howley was tried by special commission the 21th Sept. 1803. The prisoner was charged with having taken the stores in Marshalsea-lane, in Thomas-street, which had been converted into a Depot for arms by Mr. Emmet, about the 24th of March. Mr. Henry Coleman proved the stores had been taken from him by Howley, who stated his intention of carrying on his business there, which was that of a master- carpenter. The approver in this case was Finerty, a carpenter ; the first time he visited the Depot he saw the prisoner working at a wooden frame filled with bricks, which was to be inserted in a brick wall as a door, which, when shut, seemed to form part of the wall itself, and was so constructed to conceal a place in which pikes were concealed. This evidently was the door which served to conceal the secret chambers in Patrick- 102 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. street, of which MTntosh had given information to Major Sirr Witness saw Michael Quigley, who went by the name of Graham, in the Depot of Thomas-street, doing the brick work of this sham door. Witness was employed, and, from that time, worked at the Depot. Quigley seemed to act as fore- man. Witness was taken up immediately after the insurrec- tion had broken out, he was confined for five weeks and three days, and was then liberated. He then went to work in a car - penter's shop in Pimlico , where several men worked ; the prisoner was one of them , and on the 15th of the same month, Major Sirr, accompanied by some men, walked into the workshop. Howley withdrew into the back workshop, and the Major fired a pistol at him, “ after which the Major retreated , and called for assistance the witness heard two shots in rapid succession, and saw Hanlon, one of the Major’s attendants, fall. After this occurrence, witness was again arrested, and “ he gave testimony that day with a hope of saving his life.” The fact is, the witness was let out of prison to discover How- ley’s abode, and having performed his service, he was again arrested, to save his credit, and to pass for a persecuted patriot. This was by no means an uncommon practice. Major Sirr corroborated Finerty’s evidence, but he could not swear the man who shot Hanlon was the prisoner, or who withdrew into the back workshop when he, witness, came into the work- shop. He, the witness, fired at the person “ he conceived himself to be in pursuit of, seeing him armed with a pistol. That person attempted to^fire at him, but he missed fire, and re- treated to adjust his pistol, when Hanlon advanced, and wit- ness heard two shots, and he saw Hanlon drop dead. The Major’s care of his own person was evinced as usual ; he did with Hanlon, as he had done with Ryan : Howley and Lord Edward Fitzgerald were not men to be led quietly, like sheep to the slaughter-house. The Major admitted, on his cross-ex- amination, that when he fired at the man he had no warrant against him, that he was not a civil magistrate of the city of Dublin. The Court sanctioned Major Sirr’s account of his proceedings. It was evident a carpenter at his work, conscious of innocence, needed not to be armed with a loaded pistol. “ Henry Howley,” says James Hope, “ the ostensible pro- prietor of Mr. Emmet’s store in Thomas-street, was ‘set’ by ‘ a gossip’ of his own, while at work in a carpenter's shop ; h« MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 103 Had a pocket-pistol near him on a bench when Major Sirr ap- peared ; he seized the pistol, and walked towards the back of the premises ; the Major, who was in the act of following him, sprang back, exclaiming, 1 take care, boys, the villain is armed.’ Hanlon was then put forward, and Howley levelled his pistol, and pulled the trigger, but it missed fire. Howley, with the utmost coolness, lifted a chisel, and chopped the flint, in time to exchange shots with Hanlon. Howley was wounded in the hand, but Hanlon was shot through the heart. Howley’s gossip, who was at work with him, went to a back door to prevent his escape, but, seeing Howley lift a handsaw, he left his road, and Howley got out, but was observed by a corduroy manufacturer, in a small way of business, named Holmes, going up into a hay loft ; he gave information, and Howley was traced, by the blood which flowed from the wound in his hand, to his place of concealment. He was tried, and condemned of course. When he was about to receive the sentence he said, ‘ My Lord, I think it right to state that I am the person who shot Colonel Brown, of the 21st Scotch Fusileers ; let no other suffer for it.’ The judge, Baron George, cautioned him, that his admission might affect his sentence. Howley said, ‘ I am aware of that, my Lord, but I think it my duty to make this declaration, in order that it may save innocent lives from being taken away on that charge ; disseqtion has no terrors for me.’ ” The statement of Hope, I believe, is perfectly correct, with the. exception of the fact of Major Sirr having fired at Howley, as he was walking away, being omitted in his account. How- ley made a similar declaration, to the one mentioned by Hope, at the place of execution, with respect to the fate of Colonel Brown ; he died with fortitude, but without any affectation of indifference : his conduct was acknowledged, by the organs of Orangeism, to have been becoming. Howley had taken an active part in the rebellion of 1798, he was known to have been a man that no danger could daunt ; he had been wounded in some engagement with the King’s troops in the Queen’i county. Hanlon, the unfortunate attendant of Major Sirr, was the keeper of Birmingham Tower ; at the time of his death, he had charge of the state prisoners, and his conduct in that office was quite in. keeping with his behaviour in his pre- vious employment, as one of the bullies who formed the body 104 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. guard of the Major in his scouring of the streets of Dublin in the reign of terror. There is an engraved portrait of Howley extant, taken from a sketch by Petrie, at the trial of the former. He is represented with his arm in a sling, the expres- sion of his countenance is that of a man of the most daring disposition, and determined character. He was about 28 or 30 years of age. Dennis Lambert Redmond, a coal factor, was put on his trial the 5th of October, 1803, before Lord Norbury, Mr. Baron George, and Mr. Baron Daly. The evidence adduced against him, established his connection with the proceedings of the principal leaders on the morning of the 23d of July. On searching his premises, 14, Coal Quay, some hollow pieces of timber, resembling beams, had been found, each of which contained forty pikes. He fled after the failure on the night of the 23d of July, embarked on board a Wexford vessel, bound for Chester, which, in stress of weather, put into Car- lingford Bay, where he was arrested by the authorities, and sent to Dublin. While he was in prison, he attempted to put an end to his existence, by discharging a pistol at his head ; a piece of lead, which had been substituted for a bullet, had taken an oblique direction, glancing from the skull, and lodg- ing in the neck. He was found by the jailer lying on the ground, weltering in his blood ; he was wounded severely, but not mortally. When sufficiently recovered, he was put on his trial. The principal witness against him was one of the con- spirators, who had turned approver, Patrick M‘Cabe, a Cal- lender by trade, who resided in Francis-street. He said, that he accompanied the prisoner, Mr. Allen, and another gentle- man, on the morning of the 23d of July, from College-green to the Coal Quay, to Bloody Bridge, where they were to meet some other gentlemen ; there they separated, and appointed to meet in a field near the second lock of the Grand Canal. Mr. Allen and witness went together. When they got to the field, the subject of consultation was an intended attack on the Artillery Barracks, at Island Bridge ; the party present were to make that attack. Mr. Allen said arms were prepared for the purpose. Other parties were to attack the Castle, and Mr. Allen likewise said an attack was to be made on it at the lowest part of Ship-street gate. The -Magazine in the Park was also to be attacked by some of the Island Bridge barracks MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 105 Darty. The attack was to be, as nearly as witness could re collect, between nine and ten. Mr. Allen, the prisoner, an- other gentleman, and witness, breakfasted at Browne’s, near the bridge. The unnamed gentleman,' who seemed to know more of the matter than either' of the others, made some ob- jection to begin so soon ; Allen was in favour of the immedi- ate attempt : witness returned to town with the prisoner. On entering the premises of the prisoner, found two men making pike handles. He called on Allen at three o’clock, and made some observations about his wages, when Allen gave him a guinea, and bid him not lose time about his wages ; Allen de- sired him to call at six, which he did, and received a blunder- buss, and appointed that evening to meet him at Rainsforth- street, convenient to the canal. Witness went there, but he did not see Allen ; he v^ent into a public-house, and, after some time, saw a multitude of people coming from the canal ; they asked him to go along with them, he said he had no am- munition for his blunderbuss, and one of the people told him to go with them to the Depot in Marsh alsea-lane, and they would get plenty there. He went there with them, and, “ after every person that came helped himself to arms,” they went into Thomas-street, and there, either before or after them, a carriage was stopped, a trunk was taken out, and two or three, with pikes, began breaking open the lid. Witness called out, “ it is not for plunder we are looking.” He saw the gentleman in the carriage make a race towards the Church. Witness said he should be brought back , and so he was , and witness told him that no injury should be done to his property. The people then ran down Vickar-street, and attacked the watch-house ; then they proceeded towards Francis-street, then down Plunket-street, through Patrick-street, on to Kevin-street. They were fired on in Francis-street by the Coombe guard, which caused them to disperse ; witness made his way home, and was arrested at his own door. On his cross-examination, he said, he had been in the rebellion of 1798, he was still a prisoner, and came that day from the Castle. An extract from a paper of fourteen pages, which the prisoner had written during his confinement, was given in evi- dence against him : it appeared to have been ir. tended as an address to his countrymen. The last sentence of it was to the 106 MEMOIR Of ROBERT EMMET. following effect, — “ when any favourable opportunity occurs which may shortly be the case, I beg you will not do as here* tofore — take up arms to lay them down, like a blast of wind, and then be taken prisoners, and hanged like dogs.” There were several witnesses produced, who corroborated the evidence of M'Cabe. Mr. M'Nally made an able speech in his defence. Several witnesses were called, who gave him a high character for probity and general good conduct. The jury retired for five minutes, and brought in a verdict of guilty. On being asked, in the usual form, if he had any thing to say why judgment should not be passed, he addressed some observations to the court on the evidence of the several wit- nesses. He denied, in positive terms, that any pikes had been in his house, or made there. Respecting a conversation he had with Mr. Read, when he gave the health of Buonaparte, and spoke favourably of his character, he said he thought there could be no impropriety in so doing, when he saw, by the public prints, that persons had been tried in England, and punished for disparaging the character of that great man. “ He did not hesitate to tell the court, though the halter was round his neck, and the axe ready to sever his head from his body, he was placed in a high official situation, acting under the provisional government : he acted with that energy which he thought would promote its welfare ; he acted according to the dictates of his own mind and principles. He would ac- knowledge, that its completion and success were the full amount of his wishes. Had any of his proceedings relative to the 23rd, been brought forward, he should feel” Here the prisoner became so agitated, as to be unable to proceed for some time. After a pause of some minutes, he said, “ The situation of my mind will not permit me to say any thing more. I submit to the senteuce.” Baron George said — “ If you wish to say any thing more that may ease your mind, we will wait as long as you please.” The prisoner replied — “ I have nothing more to say, but after I am sent to the cell, that no visitors shall be allowed to Bee me. Let no strangers be admitted from curiosity. I wish to have a chair.” The Attorney-General said, he had given directions that the prisoner should be furnished with chairs and tables.” The prisoner expressed a desire to have the use of pen, ink ; MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET, 10T and paper. “ He trusted he might be permitted to write a few letters to his friends.” Mr. Baron George said — “ We shall give directions as you desire.” He then proceeded to pass sentence in a very im- pressive and feeling manner. No allusion was made on the trial to the attempt which the prisoner had made on his life. The prisoner met his fate with firmness. He was about twenty-four or twenty-five years of age ; remarkably good- looking. He was respectably connected, and nearly related to a medical gentleman of some distinction, of his name, in Dublin. A sketch of him was taken at the trial, by Petrie, and engraved by Maguire, which is said to have borne a strong resemblance to the original. The particulars of the trial are taken from “ Ridgeway’s Report.” CHAPTER IX. From the following notices of the career of Michael Dwyer, more information as to his character and conduct may pro- bably be obtained, than from any previous account of this remarkable man. “I was sent,” says James Hope, “by Robert Emmet to the mountains of Wicklow, to examine the condition of a party which had kept to the mountains for five years, and set the military at defiance. A first cousin of Dwyer’s was my guide ; and I met Dwyer in the glen of Email,* in company with Hugh Byrne, John Moran, and Martin Burke. Their arms were in bad order, and I had them replaced. I furnished each of them with a new blunderbuss, a case of pistols, and ammu- nition. A spy named Halpin, who had fled into Dublin, shortly afterward appeared in the neighbourhood of Email. Dwyer got notice, and commenced a pursuit, until in sight of Dublin. He learned that Halpin was too far ahead : he dis- charged his blunderbuss with vexation, and blew the thumb * The place here called the glen of Email, is probably the glen ol Inn&ll. 1O8 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. off his left hand. I got him another, with a twisted barrel His hand was healed when 1 last saw him. “ Dwyer, Byrne and Burke,* ventured into Dublin, and came to my house at No. 8, in the Coombe. I had many anec* dotes from them. The following is one : — “ ‘ At the approach of winter, as the mountain air became chill, their numbers began to diminish. One night, Dwyer and Byrne were on an outpost, and stopped a man going towards the main body. On searching him, they found a letter directed from an enemy to Holt, with terms for surrender. They went instantly to Holt, and brought him a distance from the men, read the letter to him, and told him, that his being a Protes- tant was the- only thing that prevented his instant death ; and warned him, at the peril of his life, never to let them again see his face among the people. For some days his case was des- perate, not having concluded his treaty with the government ; and the parties in pursuit of individuals were so numerous at one time, that Dwyer escaped by sitting behind one of the mountain cataracts, while the military passed without observ- ing him.’ “An article in a recent magazine represents Dwyer as in- clined to plunder : the reverse is the fact. His means of life were derived from the love of his countrymen : and even in the opposite ranks he had many friends ; and although there was a barrack in the glen of Email, they never could banish him ouj of it. A deserter had joined him from the county An- trim, named M‘Alister. Dwyer told me he had a friend in the barracks, a corporal, a good soldier, and as trusty a friend as ever he had. Dwyer and his men had a subterraneous re- treat in the glen, lined with wood and moss, the entrance to which was covered with a large sod that was cut out of a tuft of heath, where they remained all day, and had their rations as regular as the soldiers in the barracks had, and took to the mountains at night. “ One evening Dwyer met my friend Cameron, and he gave him some ball-cartridges, saying, ‘ mind yourself to-night ; for r s- * Martin Burke was a brother-in-law of Dywer’s. He was taken in December, 1803, after a pursuit of several miles through the fastnesses of the mountains, and through the glens. In his flight, he is stated in the newspapers, to have crossed the river Ovoca nine times. MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. , 109 we will be in search of you/ M'Alister and Dwyer went that night to a house on the south side of the glen. A short time before day a rap came to the door, and some one said, ‘ Are you withm, Dwyer ? Dwyer answered, ‘ Yes/ ‘ Will you surrender V said the person. Dwyer answered, ‘ I came into this house without leave from the family. If you let them out, riltell you whatJ/11 do which being done, Dwyer said, * Now I will fi£ht till I die/ The house was instantly set on fire. M‘Alister and Dwyer had each of them a blunderbuss and a case of pistols, with which they commenced firing out first, and continued the firing with the two blunderbusses. Dwyer heard the officer calling the corporal, his friend, ‘ Come forward with your men, Cameron ; I see what you are doing/ Cameron advanced and fell, and also some of his men. A clamp of turf that was in the house took fire ; and Dwyer and M/Alis- ter expected soon to perish in the flames, when a shot from without broke M'Alister’s arm. M‘Alister said, 1 Dwyer, I am done ; but take my advice, and try to escape. Load your blunderbuss and give it to me ; go on your hands and feet ; I will open the door, and stand upright and discharge the blun- derbuss ; they will fire at me, and you may be off before they load again/ Dwyer went on his hands and feet after loading the blunderbuss, and his comrade clapped him on the back, say- iug, ‘Now, let me see the spring you make.’ Dwyer made the spring, and McAlister received the fire of the military, and fell dead at the door.* A stream ran past the door, and a little ice had formed on some gravel in the middle of it ; and Dwy- er’s feet slipped on it, and he fell on his hands ; he soon recov- ered himself, and was on his feet making good use of them. A highlander dropped his gun, and followed him across a field, and was so near him in the chase, that Dwyer said he felt his hand touching him, when he thought of giving him the trip, by which he threw down the highlander, and escaped. He said, if the highlander had not followed him, a volley would have brought him down before he cleared the field.” Mr. Luke Cullen, of Clondalkin, has given me the following account of Dwyer and his men, which throws much light on * The heroism and the fate of M‘Alister are the subject of some beau- tiful lines of Mrs. Tighe, which were republished, some years ago, in the “ Dublin Penny Journal.” 110 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. the frightful state of society nearly four years after the supprea sion of the rebellion of 1798. The facts detailed, the writei states he knows to have occurred. “ There were some persons in the vicinity of Greenan, a vil- lage on the road between Rathdrum and Ballymanus, who had given information against Mr. William Byrne, and every one of them was shot ; and such was the dreadful determination of the murderers, when one man, who went on crutches, called Cripple Doyle, evaded destruction for a long time, by secret- ing himself at a Mr. Allen’s, the gate of whose orchard was opposite his cabin door. He used to go occasionally to his cabin for a change of linen. Some of the outlaws having in- timation of this circumstance, concealed themselves in a plan- tation ; and as the cripple was limping up to his door, they shot him dead. A man named Matthew Davies, was served in like manner, as also one Dixon ; and Biddy Dolan, com- monly called Croppy Biddy, was the only one of Mr. Byrne’s informers who escaped. I should have mentioned before, that a Mr. Patrick Grant, a respectable farmer of that place, was arrested, and sent to Wicklow jail, principally for the purpose of forcing him to swear against Mr. Billy Byrne ; but Mr. Grant would do no such thing, not even to save his life ; and accordingly he was hanged, and his body ignomi- niously treated. His son, Thomas, was living some years ago, at his residence, Keerakee, near Rathdrum. “ A party of Dwyer’s men crossed the river near the Seven Churches, in December, 1800. On going to one of their haunts, they and their arms got wetted : their place of concealment was a turf-clamp hollowed out, and the aperture built up with sods of turf. They were in this place of concealment when the Rathdrum cavalry came up, having received information of their being there. One of their party was in an adjoining house, and was in the act of shaving himself at the very mo- ment the cavalry were at the door. After a few minutes con- versation among themselves, the soldiers passed on to another house, not thinking that was the place which had been des- cribed by their informer. The outlaws being apprized of their movements, considered it better not to stir, thinking the party would not come back. They came back, however, and pro- ceeded to pull down the clamp of turf ; when one of the men in concealment, Andrew Thomas, snapped his gun thrice at the MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. Ill assailants without effect, as from passing the river the night before, the priming of their guns had been wetted. Thomas looked at the musket, and said, ‘ It never missed fire before.' He and the others then rushed forth, and bolted through the cavalry without sustaining any injury, saving a blow of the butt end of a pistol, which Thomas received on the head from a man named Manby, from Rathdrum ; and Manby, it was be- lieved by his own companions, would have got out of Thomas’s way, but the passage was very narrow. “ I had this account from one of the yeomen who was on the spot. Mr. Weeks was out shooting on the bogs, and had his fowling piece loaded with duck shot, and had joined the party in quest of the outlaw, he fired at Thomas and wounded him severely in the thigh, after been wounded he made a desperate resistance, but he was despatched. Ilis body was thrown across a horse’s back in a shockingly mutilated state, and car- ried the distance of eight miles to Rathdrum, where they cut off his head and placed it on the Flannel Hall. Thomas was much looked up to by his party, and he was known to be a very determined man and a first rate shot. He was consider- ed by the yeomen to be a brave honourable fellow. Harman, who was in a complete state of nudity when he broke through the cavalry, was pursued by Mr. Thomas Manning, both were men of large stature and great bodily strength, but the former soon began to leave Manning behind, whose horse sunk at every step in the boggy ground ; at length, after a chase of three miles, and coming to a bridge extremely narrow, Harman found his passage likely to be stopped by a Mr. Darby, who was posted there on horseback fully equipped, having got be- fore him by taking the road. Harman advanced boldly to him with his gun levelled, which was in the same condition as Thomas’s had been, and cried out, ‘ Come on, Darby, you or I for it.’ Mr. Darby astonished at the strange apparition of the naked desperado, drew his horse as close as he could to the oattlements of the bridge, and let this ugly customer pass by. This rencounter took place near to Harman’s residence. He succeeded in getting to a place of safety, and surrendered some time afterwards, was sent to Botany Bay, returned from thence and went to Canada. “ About this time, a man residing between Rathdrum and Hacketstown, got private information that his house was to b® 112 # MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. robbed on a certain night. He gave notice to the yeomanry officers at Rathdrum ; they were highly pleased at the intelli- gence, for they expected that Dwyer and some of his party would be there ; plans were laid with great caution and secre- cy j they advanced to the house in the night, the men being placed in ambush. A man named Williams, the best shot amongst them, was placed inside, and ordered not to shoot unless in great danger. One of the robbers came, entered the house, proceeded to blow the fire and to light his candle, Wil- liams fired and shot the robber dead on the spot ; he was a noted shot and had killed a man outside of Rathdrum in 1798, and in so wanton a manner that his captain, the celebratec Thomas King, of Kingstown, said he was shocked at his bru- tality. The rest of the robbers escaped. When the body oi the robber was examined, instead of being that of Dwyer, it proved to be the body of a yeoman of the name of Mondy, of the Hacketstown corps, and was brought into Rathdrum By way of exhibiting the impartiality of military justice, they placed the head of the yeomanry robber opposite to that of the rebel Thomas on the same building.” Extract from the Hibernian Magazine , Nov. 1803. Some Account of Dwyer, the Irish Desparado. “ At the breaking out of the late rebellion, (Michael Dwyer) being about six or seven and twenty years of age, ranged him- self under the banners of insurrection ; and though always foremost in danger, had the good fortune to retire unhurt through all the battles of that deplorable contest. When the rebellion was put down, Dwyer withdrew, accompanied by a chosen band,' into the fastnesses of his native mountains, where lie has since kept his ground, bidding defiance to all the par- ties sent out from time to time against him. “ On a certain night, three men, who had before been privates in the Meath militia, and one of whom was the first t}iat administered the oath of an United Irishman, suddenly deserted from his gang. Dwyer instantly concluded that they had been tempted by the reward to betray him, of which he not only soon after received a # coufirmation from his emissaries, but also intelligence of the night on which they were to set out MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 113 for the purpose of securing him. Being well acquainted with all his haunts, they made little doubt of their success, but were waylaid by Dwyer, who put them to death with his own hand. “ Early in the last spring, a survey was. taken of that part of the country, and a place marked out for the erection of a barrack, at the entrance of a glen, called Glenmalore, which it is supposed would afford the facility of exploring the fast- nesses, recesses, and caverns of the rebels. The work pro- ceeded with great rapidity, and without the smallest molesta- tion, till the month of June last, when preparations were making to roof and occupy the building. In the night time, however, when things seemed to be in great forwardness, Dwyer appeared at the head of a strong party — and laying a sufficient train of powder, blew it from the foundation, so that there appeared scarcely a vestige of it in the morning. “ It must be a matter of astonishment, that an active, pow- erful, and vigilant government, could never entirely succeed in exterminating this banditti from these mountains, however dif- ficult or inaccessible they may at first slight appear. The 4 rebel, who is intimately acquainted with the topography of the place, has his regular videts and scouts upon the qui vive, in all the most advantageous points, who, on the appearance of alarm, or the approach of strangers, blow their whistles, which resound through the innumerable caverns, and are the signals for a general muster, to those hardy desperadoes. They are generally superintended by the chief himself, or by his brother- in-law of the. name of Byrne, a determined fellow, in whom alone he places confidence. They are both great adepts at disguising their faces and persons, and are thought to pay fre- quent visits to the metropolis, — Dwyer is an active, vigorous fellow, about five feet nine inches high, with something of a stoop about the shoulders. He has a ruddy complexion, with lively penetrating eyes, and said to be wonderfully patient of fatigue, and fearless of every kind of danger.” The following account of Dwyer I obtained from his brother Hugh Dwyer. After many fruitless inquiries respecting the surviving friends and relatives of the former, I found the brother living in Dublin in Flemming’s-place, Baggot-street, the owner and driver of a jaunting car. From this intelligent, well-conducted person, I received the account which is now given to the public. 114 * MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. “ Michael Dwyer was born at Glenbymall, county Wicklow, near Baltinglass.* His father was the eldest son of -bur chil- dren ; he, and all his family, were of the Catholic religion. His father held twenty-four acres of land, under Mr. Hannan and Mr. Cooke. Michael married, in the early part of 1798, Mary Doyle, the daughter of a small farmer. He had been ‘out with the boys/ in 1798, and had been on his keeping even previous to that year. “ Mr. Hayden, an informer, a brother-in-law of Mr. Tenni- son, near Stratford, told old Dwyer, if his son did not sur- render, that all his family would be taken up. Michael did not surrender, and, accordingly, they were all taken up, and put in jail ; the father, two brothers, and two sisters, were kept in prison fifteen weeks, as hostages. Hugh Dwyer took no part in ‘ the troubles/ and none of the rest of the family. “ Michael Dwyer was a well-behaved, good-natured young man ; moral in his conduct, civil and obliging to his acquaint- ances, and very true to his friends ; by no means quarrelsome, but always had been of a bold and daring disposition He could read and write ; he went to school at Bushfield. Vhen a young man, he was very sober ; but, in his latter years abroad, it was said he was not quite so much so as he had been at home. During the time he was ‘ out/ he had a great many escapes ; one of the narrowest of them was at Derna- muck, in the glen of Email, on a very stormy night, when he, and nine of his comrades, were concealed there.f Six of them were in one house, and four in another, convenient to the former ; information had been given to the magistrates. At the dawn of day, the house in which Michael Dwyer slept was attacked by the Highlanders ; Colonel Macdonald was the commanding officer. “ When Dwyer heard the tramp of the soldiers, he called up his friends, Samuel M'Alister, a deserter of the Antrim militia, John Savage, and one Costello, a tailor. Dwyer asked the soldier (without opening the door) if they would let the peo- * The notes of the conversation which furnishes these particulars, were taken down at the interview referred to. f The details of this adventure have been given in Hope’s account of his communication with Dwyer. 1 have been induced to give the brother’s version of it, as a corroboration of the main incident, which is one of a very singular nature. — R. R. M. ' 7 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET 1 1*3 pie of the house pass ; it was agreed they should be permitted to do so ; no sooner were the latter out, than firing com- menced on both sides. McAlister’s arm was broken by a musket ball, he turned to Dwyer, and said, ‘ I am now useless, I cannot get off ; when I present myself at the door, do you and the others rush out, and they’ll fire at me.’ This was done, and M‘Alister, and all, except Dwyer, were killed, lie jumped out of the house ; but fell at the door of the barn. A ball went through the collar of his shirt ; he got ‘ clean off/ but was almost naked. He was pursued by the Highlanders, and also by another party of soldiers, who had joined the former ; he fled through the glen of Email, forded the river, and at Slaney, the soldiers gave up the pursuit, on account of the rapidity of the flood. Six of his comrades were taken in the other house ; one of the name of Byrne turned informer ; the five others were hanged. Byrne was accused of having killed an officer ; to save himself he offered to give evidence against a man of the name of Valentine Case, ‘his gossip.’ This offer was accepted, and Case was ‘ half hanged ’ at Baltin- glass ; he was then taken down, dragged to the chapel, and, in front of it, his head was cut off. Byrne was employed tc behead him ; he did so, carried the head, and spiked it on the market-house. “ The night before the battle of Hacketstown, a vast num- ber of people were assembled, they were not all under Michael Dwyer ; his brother saw them, and thought there could not be less than fifteen thousand men. “ In 1803, he came down to Robert Emmet, when he was living in Butterfield Lane, a few days before the 23rd of July, accompanied by Martin Bourke and Hugh Byrne — Robert Emmet having written to him, expressing a desire to see him. “ In December, 1803, he surrendered to Captain Hume,* who behaved well to him ; he was conveyed to Dublin, lodged in the Tower, and afterwards was confined in Kilmainham. After some months imprisonment, he was transported for life, along with his companions, Hugh Byrne, Martin Bourke, * Dwyer surrendered on the express condition of being allowed t« emigrate to America. When he was in Kilmainham, and was inform- ed he was to be transported to New South Wales, he complained bitterly of the faith of the government having been broken with him. — R. R. M. 116 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. Arthur Devlin, and John Mearn. A. Devlin died soon aftei he was transported ; Bourke and Mearn were still alive in 1843. Shortly after their arrival in Botany Bay, a plot was formed, which was directed against the life of Dwyer. He was tried and acquitted ; Governor Bligh, however, sent him to Norfolk Island, and kept him there for six months. From that place he was sent to Yan Diemen’s Land ; he was two years there. When General Bligh died, Governor M‘ Quarry succeeded him ; he allowed Dwyer to return to Sydney, and appointed him to the situation of high constable, which he held for eleven years During this time he was in the con- dition of a free man ; he held some land, which he farmed, and made a comfortable livelihood out of it. He died in 1826. His wife, who went with him to Botany Bay, still is living at Gouldburn. His children did not go out for many years after his transportation ; he sent for them shortly before his death, but when they arrived, he was not living. “ His father and his family, who had suffered severely on his account, in consequence of an application to government, through Mr. Hume, got a sum of i£100 as an indemnity for the ruin which had been brought on them. Governor M‘Quar- ry either obtained permission for him to return to Ireland, oi offered to do so ; but it was not his wish to return. “ Michael Dwyer was born in 1770 ; he died in 1826, at a place called Liverpool, in New South Wales. He was about live feet eleven inches and a half high ; stout made, and of great activity. Those who say that Michael Dwyer was in the habit of robbing, or plundering houses, say what is not the truth. He was no plunderer ; he never committed an act of cruelty ; he saved the lives of many ; he never suffered a prisoner to be put to death. The people under him were faithful and obedient to him ; they had entire confidence in him. The thumb of his left hand had been shot off ; he had no other wound.” Such is the account of Michael Dwyer, given by his brother, which I believe is entitled to entire credit. His superiority, in every respect, to Holt, is too evident to need observation. The latter has been made a hero, with very doubtful claims to that character ; the former, far more deserving of that title, has been represented, very unjustly, as a mere brigand. Thomas Brangan, of Irishtown, I am informed by hii MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 117 daughter, was in the habit of visiting the Depots in Dublin under the name Williamson. His carts were used in convey- ing the stores from place to place ; two or three waggon loads had been brought to Brangans, from Thomas-street ; and a great quantity of pikes in hollow beams of timber. On the 23rd of July, many men armed with pikes came to Brangans, expecting to be called on ; the signal was not given. The sending up of a rocket at Irishtown was to be the signal for attacking the Pigeon House ; but no attack was made. When Emmet’s attempt failed, a reward was offered for Brangan’s apprehension, under the name of Williamson — the name by which he was known in the Depots. He then ab- sconded, and went to Dublin, with the intention of going to America. Brangan was concealed a long time at Mrs. Cuffs, a widow lady in Pill-lane ; he afterwards removed to Mr. Butler’s, in Fishamble-street, the corner of Saul’s Court. He became very ill, while he was in concealment there, and sent for Dr. Brennan, of wrestling notoriety, who visited him fre- quently ; and when his recovery was despaired of, a Roman Catholic clergyman, Dr. B e, was sent for. Difficulties occurred between him and Dr. B e, one of the most dis- tinguished divines of that day, or of the present, respecting a quantity of military stores in Mary’s Abbey, concealed in the ruined vaults of that ancient edifice, which had been converted into a Depot by Emmet. The vaults in question are those which there is some traditional record of their leading by a tunnel passage under the Liflfey, to the vaults of Christ Church, a tradition which I believe was the subject of some inquiry about two years ago on the part of Earl de Grey. Brangan was unwilling that information should be given which he was called upon to sanction, and the result was the necessity for an application for the special assistance of another clergyman, the venerable Dr. Betagh, which application was not unsuccessful. The house of Mrs. Cuff, in Pill-lane, was the temporary asy lum obtained by Brangan for Russell on his return to Dublin, after his unfortunate expedition from the north. The person who took the lodging for Russell, at Muley’s, was a Mr. Lacey, a native of Wicklow, a ’98 man. Lacey had been with Rus- sell the morning he was taken, he had also visited Emmet frequently at Harold’s-cross. At this time Lacey kept an inn in Kevin-street frequented chiefly by Wicklow people. This 118 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. man was the constant medium of communication between Em- met and Brangan. Shortly after the arrest of Emmet, he gave up the inn, and seemed greatly improved in his circum- stances. Brangan suspected him, and when Emmet was taken, being in concealment himself at the time, he took especial care to keep the secret of his place of retreat, and of his existence in the country from Lacey. When the latter came to his house to inquire for him, Lacey was informed by the family of the fugitive that he had gone to America. When Brangan heard of Emmet’s arrest, he said, “ Lacey is the traitor (Brangan was not the only person who entertained a similar opinion.) Brangan succeeded in making his escape from Ireland ; he got out* of the bay in a fishing boat, and was put on board of a vessel bound for America. Whether he proceeded to Ameri- ca, or had been put on board some vessel bound for Portugal from the American vessel, I have not ascertained, but in March, 1804, he wrote to his family from Oporto. After some time he proceeded to France, and got a commission in the French service. He rose to the rank of Captain in the 3rd Regiment, in that service formerly the Irish Brigade. He went through the Peninsular war, and his family are in possession of certifi- cates honourable to his courage from his commanding officers. He lost his life in a duel in France, in 1811, and died possess- ed of some little property. When he quitted Ireland he was thirty years of age ; he left a wife and four children behind him. “ Mr. John Hevey,” says Duggan, “ was a respectable brew- er, (and subsequently a tobacconist), in the city of Dublin, he had been well known to all the leading people of 1798. This gentleman was persecuted by the agents of the government, namely, Major Sirr, Major Swann, and Major Sands, commonly called the three S.’s. He was tried in Kilkenny and Dublin, and the account of his sufferings has excited great interest. “But he was only beginning his sufferings in 1798. He brought down the vengeance of the Majors on him in 1802, when he brought an action against Major Sirr for the robbery of his mare. After Mr. R. Emqiet’s object failed, Mr. Hevey was arrested and detained a prisoner in Kilmainham, until the general liberation of all the state prisoners, after the death of Mr. Pitt The sufferings poor Mr. Hevey had sustained by the MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 118 losses in business, and by the distress of mind and misery he had endured, brought him to ruin, to madness, and to beggary. I knew him in his prosperity, and was often in his brewery in Thomas-court, on business, and I knew him in Kilmainham a state prisoner, and also after my return from the Continent. I knew him also when he was reduced from affluence and comfort to extreme poverty. He had many companions and gay asso- ciates among his countrymen, when he was well off, but few friends when he wanted assistance, and was in great distress. I often heard of sentiments and toasts having been given in honour of his triumph over the Major at public entertainments, at the same time poor Mr. Hevey could not break his fast before he went out in the mornings, with bad shoes and stock- ings, with a bad hat and coat, and when he often returned in the evening with an empty stomach. He had a bed for some time in my little apartments until my business failed, and I was obliged to remove from town to Chapelizod. Shortly after, he became deranged, and was sent to the Lunatic Hos- pital, in Brunswick-street, where he expired, and no man knows where he was buried. This is but a slight sketch of Mr. Hevey, the brewer of Thomas-court. Shortly before his death, he ran into the Lower Castle Yard, and fell a breaking Major Sirr’s windows, and immediately he was seized by the Major’s people, and sent to the Lunatic Asylum, where he died a beggar.”* CHAPTER X. On the 29th of July, 1803, two bills were brought into Parlia- ment and read in both houses, the first, second, and third time, * The account of poor Hevey, and the feeling manner in which it is given, does great credit to Duggan. Indeed I am disposed to think that a man who could express the sentiments he does in the preceding statement, and evince the propriety of feeling which is shewn in it can hardly be the person of the same name, assumed or real, I have spoken of in a former memoir, as the correspondent of the Major, whom he truthfully speaks of here as the persecutor of poor Jlievey Hevey’s fellow citizens ought not to have allowed him to perish in a pauper mad house. 120 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. and received the royal assent the same day, the 29th of July, 1803. The one for suspending the Habeas Corpus Act in Ireland, the other for enabling the Lord Lieutenant, with the advice of the Chancellor, to try persons by martial law. The Chancellor of the Exchequor, in the debate on those measures, in the House of Commons, spoke of the attempted insurrection of the 23rd, as “ a violent and malignant rebellion then exist- ing in Ireland.” Mr. Windham said it was difficult for the house to decide what it ought to do, as no information of the state of the country had been laid before the house. Its capi- tal might be in a few hours in possession of the rebels, and the government there might be overturned. Mr. Sheridan said it was of the utmost importance that the capital should not be in, or supposed to be, likely to fall into the hands of insurgents ; and, therefore, he thought the pro- mulgation of such opinions would be giving encouragement to rebellion, and treason, in every part of the United Kingdom. Lord Castlereagh said, it had been insinuated that Dublin had been within an ace of falling into the hands of the rebels, he was sure that no information had reached this country which at all afforded any foundation for such an assertion. From what he himself knew on this subject he could state with confidence, that the danger had been greatly exaggerated. It had been attempted to be stated that government was taken completely by surprise, that they had not any adequate means of prepar- ation against the insurgents. He begged leave to contradict this assertion in the strongest terms , government was aware sev- eral days before the atrocious crime , which hod given rise to the present deliberation , was perpetrated , that some convulsion was in contemplation , and their measures of precaution had corres- ponded to what they conceived would be the magnitude of the danger. The Chancellor of the Exchequor eulogized the con- duct of Mr. Sheridan, he had covered himself with immortal glory, and had secured to himself a name in history which would never perish. Mr. Windham expressed a hope that the honourable gen- tleman, Mr. Sheridan, would not be backward in supporting those who were so profuse in their expression of their favour- able opinions. Mr. Sheridan said he was influenced solely by the love of his country — a country which in his soul and MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 121 conscience lie believed contained the best, wisest, and happiest community in the “ universe.’' 1 in the discussion of the National Defence Amendment Bill, on the 4th of August, 1803, Mr. Sheridan made a violent speech in defence of the ministry, and the war party in the house, which was replied to by Mr. Windham, who said, that — “ The honourable gentleman seemed to be actuated with all the zeal of a new convert, or rather he conducted himself with all the precipitancy of a raw recruit, for he had no sooner fallen into the ranks, (Mr. Sheridan sat on the Treasury Bench,) than he fired off his musket without waiting for the word of command j as the honourable gentleman, however, began, he must not be surprised to find his fire returned. After years of war, in which he and they had possessed oppo- site principles, and held opposite language to those of the ma- jority of the country, they now* wheeled suddenly about, and claimed great merit for doing their duty. After years of war, in which the honourable gentleman had by his orations almost set the four quarters of the world on fire, he now came and said, ‘ 1 am the only man that can save you — 1 will, with my little bucket, my thimble full of water, extinguish this mighty conflagration.’ Mr. Sheridan said, “ The Right Hon. Gen- tleman had accused him of the precipitancy of a raw recruit, but the Right Hon. Gentleman was so eager to return the fire, that he forgot to put a bullet into his piece, for he merely heard the report, but felt nothing.” Colonel Hutchinson, on the 11th of August, moved an ad- dress to his Majesty, praying to have information laid before the house concerning the late rebellion. He said, — “ In order to make the Union take deep root amongst them, there should be no distinction known between Irishmen and Englishmen.” It had been remarked 1782, by Lord Auckland, now a noble peer, “ that the British parliament might as soon at- tempt to make the river Thames flow over Highgate-hill, as to make Ireland have a parliament of their own. He abhor- red the idea of government having recourse to shedding of blood, to prevent such unhappy rebellions in Ireland. There were many grievances to redress. It was insulting to be told we had the power of redressing those grievances. The last act of power o r the government had been likewise held an impo«- sibility.” 122 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. Sir William Elliott said, that with respect to the late insur rection, “ the government had received intimation from many quarters in Ireland, and from gentlemen of his own 'particular acquaintance , that a rebellious conspiracy was going forward, to which communication they paid no attention Lord Castlereagh defended the conduct of government, in the suppression of the rebellion of 1798, as well as that of the insurrection of 1803. With respect to the former, “ never WAS THERE A REBELLION OF SUCH EXTENT PUT DOWN WITH SO MUCH PROMPTITUDE, OR SO LITTLE DEPARTURE FROM CLEMENCY ! !” Mr. Robert Williams said, he had been seven years an Aid- de-camp in that country, and never knew an instance of the guards having been doubled, but on the evening of the 28rd of July ; they had doubled all the guards, and had a powerful garrison under arms. “ The Irish government was not taken by surprise.” “ Lord Temple denied that the rebellion in Ireland could in any respect be considered as a religious rebellion, or as a re- bellion of the cottage against the palace. If the attack lately made in Dublin by rebels there, was made by surprise on the government, ministers deserved to be impeached,* for not being aware of, or not having known it ; and if they had known it, he would ask, why the rebels were allowed, even for an hour, to be iu arms ?” On the 2nd of December, Mr. Secretary York brought in a bill for continuing the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act in Ireland. He said, that notwithstanding what one of the leaders of the conspiracy said at his death, his Majesty had proof that the Irish rebels were connected with their traitorous countrymen in France, if not directly with the rulers of France themselves. These traitors in the confidence of the French government, came over to Ireland for the very purpose of stir- ring up insurrection. They calculated upon the renewal of hostilities between this country and France. Mr. C. H. * This doctrine is the most absurd one imaginable. The govern- ment was to be punished for the supposed secrecy of the plans of the conspirators. This was the doctrine, however, of the members of the opposition; but not one word was said about impeaching the ministry for the wickedness of conniving at the discovered plans of those con- spirators, and thus suffering innocent people to be inveigled inte them. MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 123 Hutchinson made a long speech against the measure, and voted for it. The 5th of December, on the second reading of the Irish Martial Law bill, Mr. Secretary York, in reply to Mr. El- liott’s objections to the introduction of the bill in the absence of information, shewing the necessity of it, said, — “ The Irish government were not taken by surprise and unprepared, on the 23rd of July, as it had been suggested. There was a garrison of four regiments of foot, besides the 1 6th Dragoons, in Dub- lin, a force sufficient to crush an insurrection ten times more formidable than that of the 23rd of July. The march of the rebels was only from their head-quarters in Dirty-lane to Cut- purse-row. The affair did not last an hour. The peace establishment of Ireland was then 25,000 regulars. Colonel Crawford said he disagreed with the Right Hon. Secretary, that the affair was only a contemptible riot, that all proper precautions had been taken, and that the government was aware of the intended insurrection ; if so, how did it hap- pen, that on that day the Viceroy went as usual to his country house, where the Lord Chancellor dined with him. It was evident Lord Kilwarden had no knowledge of it, or he would not have exposed himself as he had done. He, Colonel Craw- ford, was informed, that such was the miserable state of pre- paration, that the regular troops had only three cartridges each, and the yeomanry could get none at all ; and that ten men out of every company in the garrison, had been allowed that day to go into the country to look for work. Mr. W. Poole said, there were sixty rounds of ball-cart- ridges on the 23rd of July for every man, in the Castle, and in the Depot in the Phoenix Park, three millions of ball-cart- ridges ready to be given out on the first alarm. This, he stated, from his own official knowledge of the subject. Mr. Windham said, the contradictory account of the insur- rection given by ministers, was like the answer of a student of the College, when asked whether the sun revolved round the earth, or the earth round the sun, said, sometimes one and sometimes the other. If the Lord Lieutenant had any know- ledge of the intended insurrection, would he have left town that night ? It was not communicated to the Lord Mayor, nor to the Commander of the Forces. He would vote, however, for the measure. 124 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. ’ The Chancellor of the Exchequer said, that instructions had been given early on the day before the disturbance took place, and to all the necessary officers. If the Lord Lieutenant had not gone to his country house, the city of Dublin might have been put into a state of alarm. On the 7th of March, 1804, Sir John Wrottesby moved for the appointment of inquiry into the conduct of his Majesty's government, on the 2 3rd of July last. Sir John, among various proofs of the remissness of government, brought for- ward the circumstance of the Viceroy having been, at three o’clock in the afternoon of the 23rd of July, guarded by one officer and twelve men ; at seven o’clock, by thirty men ; and at eleven at night, by having fifteen hundred horse and foot under arms. Lord Castlereagh said, Emmet was only backed by about eighty rebels. The government knew an insurrec- tion would break out on the 23rd July, but not before it was dark , (this was utterly at variance with what his lordship stated on a previous debate ). With respect to the men being without ammunition, it was his duty to state, that General Fox, the Commander-in-chief, had ordered sixty rounds to be issued to each man some days before ; and if they had not that store of cartridges with them, it certainly was not the fault of General Fox. Mr. Secretary York stated, he imputed no blame to Gen- eral Fox. The principle on which his brother was directed to act was, that of trusting as little as possible to the rumours and accusations circulated against each other by the parties which distracted Ireland. In justice, however, to his brother, he stated, that long before the 23rd of July, 1803, he had ex- pressed his opinion to the government of the expediency of repealing the Habeas Corpus Act. Mr. Fox said, an honourable relation of his (Admiral Berkely) gave notice of a motion concerning the recall from Ireland of General Fox, which, however, he afterwards de- clined bringing forward, having stated, that it was not the wish of that officer to have any inquiry entered into concern- ing him, if a declaration were made on the part of his Majes- ty’s government, that his conduct was approved of. Such a declaration has been made, and made in a manner, which to him is satisfactory. If infamy or blame, therefore, rest in any quarter, it does not rest with him : he stands clear of it, by MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET 125 the judgment which ministers have pronounced on his conduct As no blame, therefore, attaches to the Commander-in-chief, do his Majesty’s ministers now defend themselves, or the Lord Lieutenant ? Suppose it should be said, that no blame could attach either to the Lord Lieutenant or the Commander-in- chief ; be it so for argument. But he (Mr. Fox) must say, that a coolness did take place between them, which made it impossible for both to continue together in Ireland ; and it re- quired, that either the one or the other should retire from his situation. It was necessary to observe, that for many days not only previous to, but after the 23rd of July, they were under the best understanding with each other. But as soon as the Lord Lieutenant found, that the conduct of the Irish government, on the occasion of the insurrection, was loudly complained of, and censured all over England, he was unfortu- nately advised to throw the blame of the transaction off him- self, and lay it on the Commander-in-chief. It was then cool- ness began, and then the resignation of his honourable relative took place. Though this retirement from his situation was called a resignation, he would say, it was not a voluntary re- signation. The language his relative used was this, I desire you would recall me from my command, if the Lord Lieuten- ant say I ought to be recalled.” He was actually recalled ; and he did not come away voluntarily. But what was the effect of such recall ? Nothing less, than giving the public to understand, that the Commander-in-chief had neglected his duty. Mr. Fox then complained of several most illiberal and unfounded reflections cast upon his brother in the Dublin Journal , (Mr. Giffard’s paper) which was as much under the control of the Castle, as the Moniteur was under the direction of the French government. “ When I see,” continued Mr. Fox, “ such things as these published in a government paper, which dares not insert them without authority, what inference can I make than except, that they, were designedly published, in order to remove a great degree of odium from one party by throwing it on another ?” The Algerine bills to which the preceding discussions have reference, were said to have been rendered necessary by the late troubles in Ireland. These troubles, however, had been suppressed in less than an hour, with the loss of five or six men on the part of the king’s troops, and about iive-and 126 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. twenty on that of the insurgents. The public tranquility, in fact, could hardly have been said to have been disturbed out of the immediate precincts of the emeute, from two points, not calculated by their names even to add to the prestige of the attempt, from the corner of Dirty-lane to that of Cutpurse- row. But the fact is, the introduction into Ireland of similar measures, was seldom in consequence of insurrections, but in consequence of plots and conspiracies, got up by the adherents of government to create or to foment them. We have the clearest proofs of the fact, in the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act in Ireland, in 1801, which went through all its stages in one night, with little opposition, except on the part of Lords Moira and Holland. Lord Grenville, in voting for it, said, he never gave a vote with more satisfaction to his conscience. These great British statesmen had two con- sciences, like Launcelot Gobbo, one made of Indian rubber, exceedingly elastic, for stretching to any shape or size on a squeezeable subject in relation to Ireland ; the other, of good tough materials, like the timbers of British ships, tight and sound, that was brought into action when any attempt was made hostile to liberty, that was dangerous to Englishmen. The measures which are treated of in the discussions noticed in the preceding pages, the bitter fruits of insurrection, or plausible pretext which insurrection afforded, were followed by acts in Ireland consonant to them in the letter and the spirit of their enactments. The prisons were filled with sus- pected criminals. In the Provost of Major Sandys alone, in the month of August, 1803, there were upwards of five hun- dred people confined, enduring sufferings less deadly, but not much less dreadful, than those endured in the Black Hole of Calcutta. The 12th of October, the Government issued a proclamation, setting forth that Wm. Dowdall, of the city of Dublin, gent. ; John Allen, of do., woollen draper ; Wm. H. Hamilton, of Enniskillen, 'gent. ; Michael Quigley, of Rath- coffy, bricklayer ; Owen Lyons, of Maynooth, shoe-maker ; Thomas Trenaghan, of Crew-hill, Kildare, farmer ; Michael Stafford, of James’s-street, baker ; Thomas Frayne, of Boven, Kildare, farmer ; Thomas Wylde, of Cork-street, cotton manu- facturer ; John Mahon, of Cork-street, man servant, who, being charged with high treason, had absconded. A reward was offered of J03OO for the arrest of each of the following MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 127 persons, Messrs. Dowdall, Allen, Hamilton, Quigley, Lyons, and Stafford, and £200, for the discovery of Thomas Frayne, Thomas Wylde, and John Mahon. A reward of £1,000 was likewise offered for the discovery of the murderers of Lord Kilwarden, or his nephew, Mr Wolfe ; and £50 for each of the first hundred rebels who had appeared in arms in Dublin on the 23d of July, who should be discovered and prosecuted to conviction. This was, if not an extensive premium on perjury, certainly a very large temptation to it. It produced the effect, I will not say intended, but most assuredly that might be expected from it. A number of miscreants of the class of Mr. James O’Brien, again skulked into public notice, crept into places ot public resort, sneaked into court, and swore away the lives of men, who, if faith is to be put in the solemn assurances of in- dividuals of the families of their victims at this distant date, from the period in question, were guiltless of the charges brought against them. Two of the worst of those miscreants, were persons of the name of Mahaffey and Ryan. A vast number, moreover, of gentlemen of respectability were taken up ; a few were liberated, but the majority were kept in close confinement for nearly three years. On the 14th of April, 1801, Mr. Pelham moved in the House of Commons, the order of the day for considering “ the report of the secret committee for inquiring into the state of Ireland, and the conduct of persons in England tending to treason and sedition,” and then moved for leave to bring in a bill for suspending the Habeas Corpus. Amongst the few who opposed the bill on the second reading, was Sir Francis Burdett. “ He saw no difference between the late and the present administration ; he had watched their blood-tracked steps in Ireland ; he had witnessed their wicked edicts, all tending to destroy the remnant of the constitution. He wished the house to pause and reflect on what coercion had done in Ireland.” Mr. Sheridan strongly opposed the bill, Mr. Law, and Mr. Spencer Percival (the Attorney and Solicitor-Gene- ral) strenuously defended the bill. The former said, “as an honest man, he heartily voted for it.” Mr. Horne Tooke said, “ that when he heard the sentiments of the men from whom the future judges of the land were to be taken, giving their votes, as honest men, for such measures, he .28 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. trembled to think of the country’s situation, when they should sit upon the bench.” In November, 1803, Mr. J. Kiernan, of Enniskillen, was sent up to Dublin, a prisoner, for examination, by Mr. Wick- ham. A Mr. Dennison, a state prisoner, who had been con lined for some time in Kilmainham, was discharged in the be- ginning of December, 1803. Mr. Lawless, an eminent brewe* of Dublin, was arrested in November, and let out on bail. Mr. Charles Teeling, who had been arrested the 8th of No- vember, 1803, was discharged about the 23d of November, his brother, George Teeling, who had come to visit him, having been made a prisoner, and detained. Messrs. Philip Long, John Hickson, John Hevey, St. John Mason, Nicholas Gray, James Tandy, Henry Hughes, Wm. H. Hamilton, John Palmer, Wm. M‘Dermot, Daniel Dolan, Daniel Brophy, and Dennis Cassin, were arrested and commit- ted to Kilmaiuham ; and, in a house opposite that jail, Messrs. Cloney, Carthy, Dickson, Holmes, &c., were imprisoned. The conversion of national, scientific, and commercial estab- lishments (no longer needed in Ireland) to military purposes, we have a curious account of, in the London Chronicle , of August 25th and 27th, 1803. From Dublin, August 21, “ The ci-devant parliament house, and the celebrated academy house in Grafton-street, are converted into barracks. The market-house in Thomas-street has been lately fitted up, with a view to impede the progress of an enemy from the west end of the town, and to command the different avenues in that quarter : the 93rd regiment has been appointed its garrison. The arches of the house are filled up, and a balcony is con- structed on the first floor, upon which the soldiers can draw up, and fire with the best effect. The Royal Exchange has also been purchased by government, for the purpose of bar- racks, and it is intended to place some cannon on that part of it which fronts Parliament-street, Essex Bridge, and also that which is opposite to Castle-street. “ Barriers are to be erected at the entrances into Francis- street, Meath-street, James’s-street, &c., the whole city to be surrounded by an oak paling of considerable height, and gates to be erected at all the principal entrances into town.” On the 21st of August, 1803, the Lord Mayor issued a proclamation, commanding all persons, except military men in l MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 129 their uniforms, the members of privy council and judges, to keep within their dwellings from nine o’clock at night until six o’clock in the morning, and all persons to affix to their doors a list of the persons inhabiting the same ; and any person found in a house not included in that list, will be treated as an idle and disorderly person. August 16, 1803, the Dublin papers state, that Mr. Philip Long had been arrested, and committed to Kilmainham ; also, on the 10th of August, that a barrister, Mr. St. John Mason, who had arrived on the 9th, in * his own carriage with four horses, had been arrested, and sent to Dublin. In the London Chronicle of September the 3d and 6th, 1803, the following is taken from the Dublin papers, dated the 29th of August : — “ A Mr. Houlton, a naval officer, was arrested in Dundalk, and brought up to Dublin in a chaise and four ; a suit of rebel’s uniform was found on him. When arrested, he was dressed in his naval uniform, but this was removed, and he was arrayed in the rebel uniform, and thus brought to the Cas- tle.” The above notice of Houlton’s arrest is deserving of partic- ular attention ; this man was employed by the government in a most atrocious conspiracy against the people. The particu- lars of it will be found in Plowden’s Post Union History, Yol. I., p. 223. A miscreant of the name of Houlton, of the broad cloth class, speculating on the wickedness and weakness of the government, applied for an interview with Mr. Marsden, and, by the latter, was brought before the Privy Council, Lord Redes- dale presiding at it. Houlton said he had private information that there were' several of Russell’s northern adherents em- barked in fishermens’ boats and some smuggling craft, with a design of surprising the Pigeon House. He offered his services to government in any way that they might be made useful to the state, and accordingly it was determined by government to send him down to the north, where he was to pass off as a rebel general. Mr. Houlton was equipped with a suit of rebel uniform, and a superb cocked hat and feathers, provided by the government, for the latter alone they paid seven guineas. Houlton made no stipulations for reward ; for his expenses he consented to receive LI 00. Lord Redesdale, pleased with hia modesty, no less thau his zeal, in the service of government, in 130 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. the first instance spoke of 500 guineas being at his disposal “ When the government had fully equipped Mr. Houlton in hia rebel uniform, he was sent on his mission/’ says Plowden, “ to Belfast, to tempt, to proselytize, to deceive and to betray.” Instructions were sent down to Sir Charles Ross, who then commanded in Belfast, to apprize him that the rebel general was a confidential servant of the Castle, and was not to be in- terrupted or interfered with, but was to be aided and assisted as he should desire and suggest ; the express was forwarded by an orderly dragoon. Houlton, however, had set off in a post- chaise and four, aud arrived in Belfast long before the dra- goon, and immediately after his arrival, commenced business at a tavern in the town, where he talked treason in so undisguised a manner as to excite astonishment. Information was given to the commanding officer, Sir Charles Ross, the man was arrest- ed, and by Sir Charles Ross’s orders, lie was dressed in his rebel uniform and paraded round the town, and was then com- mitted to jail. At length Sir Charles Ross received the in- structions of the government. The plot was marred ; it only remained to send the ill-starred informer back to his employers under a military escort, and, on his arrival, he was punished for his failure, to his utter astonishment, by being committed to Kilmainham. There he frankly acquainted the state prison- ers with the whole of his unlucky mission j after some time he was liberated, and rewarded with an inconsiderable appoint- ment on the coast of Africa. In the pamphlet entitled “ Pedro Zendono,” this unfortunate wretch is spoken of as being in confinement in Kilmainham in 1804 ; as having been originally brought forward, chosen for his mission by Dr. Trevor, and, after its failure, and his imprisonment, as having menaced Trevor with unpleasant disclosures, which caused his being treated for some time with extraordinary severity. In Major Sirr’s correspondence with the informers of 1198 and 1803, it will be found he was in communication in both years with a midshipman in the navy, who went by the name of Morgan. MEMOTR OF ROBERT EMMET. 131 CHAPTER XI. There is probably but one person living who could give a cor rect account of the events which transpired the night of the 23d, after the flight of the leaders, and the route of their fol- lowers, so far as regarded the principal person among the for- mer. That person was Anne Devlin, at the period referred to r a young woman of about 25 or 26 years of age, the daughter of a man in comfortable circumstances, for one in his station in life, a cow-keeper, on a large scale, in the neighbourhood of 13 utter field-lane ; his establishment and the land he occupied, were in sight of the house tenanted by Robert Emmet. Anne Devlin was a niece of the Wicklow outlaw, or hero, Michael Dwyer : her cousin, Arthur Devlin,* was one of Emmet's * On lately looking over a manuscript life of O’Dwyer, captain of the Wicklow outlaws of ’98 I hit on a stray leaf of the biography of Rob- ert Emmet. On the night of defeat they retreated to his residence, Batterfield-laue, and very early on Sunday, the 24th, the most of them went to the house of Brien Devlin, whose residence was convenient— he was the father of that faithful young woman, Anne Devlin. There they spent the day, without seeming depressed in spirit by their recent failure ; nor did they seem to have any ultimate object in view such as their desperate state might suggest. Resistance to the last ; sur- render or escape was not spoken of by them, at? least in public. On Monday Mrs. Devlin was getting some milk churned, and some of them volunteered to bear a hand. Mr. Heavy took off his coat, got a white apron from one of Mrs. Devlin’s daughters, and was actually churning when a woman raised the latch of the door and walked in without rapping, as she was accustomed to do. She gazed about her with an apparent air of stupid vacancy ; she made some slight excuse for coming in, and retired. She was the wife of a yeoman. Mr. Grierson, the King’s printer, had a residence convenient. She went and told him how she had that moment seen fifty French officers at Devlin’s. Mr Grierson had just eat down to dinner with a couple of friends that he had previously invited to spend that day with him at his country residence. He did not believe all that the woman told him, but he submitted the whole to his friends, and asked their consent, if he should not start immediately for the Castle and give information as he received it. The wine was going round, toasts were pledged and thanks were sent to heaven for the preservation of all the King’s loyal subjects. It was that, they being in an obscure place that would not be suspected, they considered themselves quite safe, and would net attempt to stir until the silent hour of night. This hint was adop 132 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. right hand men, and a brother of her’s was likewise one of hi§ agents. When Emmet took the house in Butterfield-lane, ted. The wine sparkled more vividly and became more attractive. The butler in passing through the hall heard part of the woman’s story; and while attending to his duties at a sideboard in the apartment when the gentlemen were in an under tone discussing the recent intelligence received of the French officers, he had heard sufficient to enable him to clearly comprehend the substance of the woman’s information. He was well acquainted with Arthur Devlin, and he lost no time in conveying the intelligence to his uncle, Brien Devlin, for him. There was no time to be lost. As soon as it became dark Brien Devlin had three horses ready for them, and a veteran of ’98, named Cummins, from one side of Blessington, undertook the guiding of them to John Doyle’s, of Ballymore, near to Ballynascorne}^ where they remained for that night and next day, and on Tuesday evening went to Mrs. Rose Bagnal’s, of Ballynascorney, something better than a mile from Doyle’s, still in the county of Dublin, and about eight miles distant from the seat of Government. On the night of Wednesday, the 27th, they left Mrs Bagnal’s, declar- ing that they would not be the cause of any person suffering on their account. Their bivouac for this night was in a small glen not far distant from Mrs. Bagnal’s, where the sky was the canvass of their tents, and their only tapers the brilliants of heaven. Here chilled from the night air and dew, and no doubt suffering from want of food, on the morning of the 28th they made their way to a public house at Bohernabreena, kept by William Kearney, about two and a half miles nearer to Dublin than the place where they had spent the night. After taking such refreshments as the place afforded they still remained, some of them testing the comparative properties of Kearney’s Parliamentarian and his home-brewed mountain dew — when Robinson, the barony constable of Upper Cross, who had been all that morning endeavouring to get on their trail, now Stepped into Kearney’s amongst them ; he certainly did not expect to meet them there, and he was near paying a large price for his morning visit but for the host, who protected him from Quigley’s ire. Kearney may be said to be one of themselves, he having fought through the the battles of ’98, and was a particular friend of Stopford. He let them know who this unwelcome visitor was, and saw him away from danger. In Kearney’s house there was a small upper room, with a very nar- row stairs leading to it. It had scarcely the appearance of an apart- ment used for ordinary purposes. It was a cockloft, and had no window but a skylight. The greater number of the staff, particularly such as had on their uniform, were in this room. About eleven o’clock, as one of the men was looking out through the skylight, he perceived a military party, composed of army and yeomen, something more than 500 strong. The latter were commanded by Mr. La Touche, Captain of the Rathfarnham Mounted Corps of Yeomen, and Mr. R. Shaw aa MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 133 Anne Devlin was sent by her father to assist in taking care of it, and act as servant to Mr. Emmet. It was not without much second in command. They were returning from Mrs. Bagnal’s, where they had been seeking for the refugees. When they were perceived they were too close upon them to even make an attempt at escape. The officers then formed a cordon about the house, but their lines were at a tolerable distance from it. They had now no alternative left but to surrender at discretion, or fight as long as they could stand. The house was slated, and had tolerably good walls, but very low; and, as I observed, had no windows to fire out through. Badly as they were situated for defence against such superiority, they resolved not to surrender with life. The party consisted of Mr. Emmet, Heavy, Quigley, Stopford, Mahon, Wyld, Cummins, two Parrots (brothers) Phepoe, and a person under an assumed name, supposed to be Aylmer ; Arthur Devlin, John Neil, a brother-in law to O'Dwyer, and Byrne, who deserted from the Castle guard on the 23rd inst. The only noise made was the throwing up of the hammers of three blunderbusses, and renewing the priming in their pans. Arthur Dev- lin knelt down in the middle of the floor, with the muzzle of his blun- derbuss covering the head of the narrow stairs, his left hand steadily supporting the piece, and his finger laid on the trigger. All was now as silent as death. Kearney and his wife stood on the floor below, as mute as Egyptian mummies. Mr. La Touche and Mr. Shaw entered, and some of their men drew a little closer to the house. Mr. Shaw said, “Well, Kearney, have you got any strangers here?’* “No, Sir,” was the reply ; “ the house is not large, and you can easily see through it.” Mr. Shaw looked into a tap room whose door was partly open, and then, throwing a look all round, he observed the narrow stairs leading to the apartment where the objects of his inquiry lay crouched for the time like tigers in their lair. Immediately before the gentle- men entered Kearney perceived two or three baskets at the door, which were used for bringing turf down from the mountains by being suspended across a horse’s back. These he laid hold of, and threw one of them on the first step of the stairs, and each of the others over it in a careless and disorderly manner, to give that passage the appearance of not being in frequent use Mr. S. still pointing upwards, asked is there any one up here. “ No, Sir,” said Kearney, with an astonishing firmness, “ we make no use of that place but to throw some light lum- ber on it — it is not able to bear anything heavy on it.” Mr. S. had at this time laid one foot on the first step, and was rising the second to ascend, when Mrs. Kearney caught the skirt of his coat, and, with a gentle pluck, said — “ Oh, Sir, if yon go up there you will fall down through r, and be killed.” Had he advanced another step her last sentence would have been fulfilled, for he would have received Dev- lin’s fire through the head, and the future Sir R.’s fate would hava been sudden and awful ; and the family in all probability might hava remained since without a title. Beyond dispute, it was to Kearney and his family that that gentleman owed his life; and strange are tha 134 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. difficulty I found out her place of abode in the year 1842. ShA was then living in Jolin’s-lane, in a stable-yard, the first gateway in the lane, on the right hand side, leading from New Row, and next to the rear of the premises formerly occupied by Mr Henry O’Hara. Her husband, a decent poor man of the name of Cambell, as well as herself, I found had knowledge of my family, and I needed no other introduction. Mrs. Cambell, whom 1 will con- tinue to call by her best known* name, Anne Devlin, is now far advanced in years, contributing by hard labour, to the sup- port of her family. Will the prestige of the heroine fade away when it is told that she is a common washerwoman, living in a miserable hovel, utterly unnoticed by, and unknown, except among the poor of her own class. “ On the 23d of July, at about eleven o’clock at night,” says Anne Devlin, “ Robert Emmet, Nicholas Stafford, Michael Quigley,' Thomas Wylde, John Mahon, John Hevey, and the two Parrotts, from Nass, came to the house at Butterfield- vicissitudes to be met with on the pathway of life, the same Wm. Kearney, his brother, and father, an octogenarian, were executed in 1815 on circumstantial evidence tendered against them for the sup- posed murder of a ploughman to one of the S. family. I say supposed, for the missing man was never found dead or alive since. The two gentlemen now retired, and marched off their party, and as soon as the place was cleared the besieged garrison marched off in the direction of Mrs. Bagnal’s again. On this evening, that faithful and neglected Anne Devlin, with Miss Wyld, sister to Thomas Wyld, took a jingle and drove out with letters to them. They were sitting on a sunny bank, a short distance above Mrs Bagnal’s when the two young women approached them. A council had been held, and it was decided that each of them should do the best he could for himself. Neil, O’Dwyer’s brother in-law pressed Mr. Emmet to go with him to Ismail, and that O’Dwyer would protect him until an opportunity would be afforded him of getting out of the country. His staff hailed the proposal, and Byrne, the deserter, being a Wicklow man, volunteered to assist Neil as guide and bod} T guard. But Mr. Emmet would not hear of it. “ No,” said he, “ I could not for any consideration go near him after our defeat.” He divided some money with a few of them that joined there then. He then got into the jingle, with him Devlin and Miss Wyld, and after a feeling farewell, they drove off in the direction of Dublin. He parted with them a little outside of Rathfarnham. At night the rest of his companions, after shaking hands with each other in the most cordial manner, and with a manly farewell, parted . — From a Dublin Newspaper of recent date. MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 135 lane.” Anne Devlin saw them outside of the house in the yard ; she was at that moment sending off a man on horse- back with ammunition in a sack, and bottles filled with pow- der. Anne called out, “ Who’s there ?” Robert Emmet, answered, “ It’s me, Anne.” She said, “ Oh, bad welcome to you, is the world lost by you, you cowards, that you are, to lead the people to destruction, and then to leave them.” Robert Emmet said, “ Don’t blame me, the fault is not mine.” They then came in, Quigley was present, but they did not up- braid him, Emmet and the others told Anne afterwards that Quigley was the cause of the failure. Michael Quigley was constantly in the store in Thomas- street. On the 23d his conduct was thought extraordinary, he rushed into the Depot shortly before nine o’clock, and said he had been looking dowm Dirty-lane and saw the army coming, he ran in, exclaiming, “ all is lost, the army is coming.” Robert Emmet said, “ if that be the case we may as well die in the streets as cooped up here.” It was then he rushed out, and the route took place. Robert Emmet ran down Patrick- street, and the Coombe, crying out “ turn out,” “ turn out ;” but no one came out. He was attacked by some soldiers on the Coombe, but got off. They stopt at Butterfield-lane that night and next day, and, at night, about ten o’clock, fled to the mountains, when they got information that the house was to be searched. Anne’s father, who kept a dairy close by, got horses for three of them, and went with them. Rose Hope, the wife of James Hope, had been there keep- ing the house also.* The reason of their stopping there that night was, that Emmet expected Dwyer and the mountaineers down in the morning by break of day, but Dwyer had not got Emmet’s previous letter, and had heard of Emmet’s defeat only the next day, and, therefore, did not come. Mr. Emmet and his companions first went to Doyle’s in the mountains, and * Rose Hope resided also at Butterfield-lane, and assisted in keep- ing the house for Mr. Emmet; she was then nursing a baby, her other children were in Dublin, and she had to go back and forwards be- tween Butterfield-lane and the place where her children were taken care of. Anne Devlin was in the same capacity in the house in Butterfield-lane at different periods. Rose Hope was a Presbyterian but had four of her children baptized by a Roman Catholic Clergy *nan. MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 136 thence to the Widow Bagnal’s. Anne Devlin and Miss Wylde, the sister of Mrs. Mahon, two or three days after went up to the mountains in a jingle with letters for them. They found Robert Emmet and his associates at the Widow Bagnal’s sitting on the side of the hill, some of them were in their uniform, for they had no other clothes. Robert Emmet insisted on coming back with Anne and her companions, he parted with them before they came to Rath- farnham, but Anne Devlin knows not where he went that night, but in a day or two after he sent for her to take a let- ter to Miss Curran, he was then staying at Mrs. Palmers, at Harold’s-cross. Major Sirr had positive information of Robert Emmet’s place of concealment at Harold’s-cross, he was directed to give a single rap at the door, and was informed that he would find Mr. Emmet in the parlour. She, (Anne Devlin), overheard a conversation, while in confinement in Kilmainham, in which it was stated that the Major’s informer was a person who had been with Robert Emmet in the morning.* Biddy Palmer was very intimate with him, but she would never have been untrue to him. The day after the gentleman went away from Butter field-lane a troop of yeomen came with a magistrate, and searched the house. Every place was ransacked from top to bottom. As for Anne Devlin she was seized on when they first rushed in, as if they were going to tear down the house. She was kept below by three or four of the yeomen with their fixed bayonets pointed at her, and so close to her body that she could feel their points. When the others came down she was examined. She said she knew nothing in the world about the gentleman, except that she was the servant maid, where they came from, and where they went to, she knew nothing about, and so long as her wages were paid she cared to know nothing else about them. The magistrate pressed her to tell the truth, he threatened her with death if she did not tell ; she persisted in asserting her total ignorance of Mr. Ellis's acts and movements, and of those of all the other gentlemen. At length the magistrate gave the word to hang her, and she was dragged into the court yard to be executed. There was a common car there, they tilted up the shafts and fixed a rope from the back band * The allusion, I believe, is to a person of tlxe name of Lacey. MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 131 >iat goes across the shafts, and while these preparations were making for her execution, the yeomen kept her standing against the wall of the house, prodding her with their bay onets in the arms and shoulders, till she was all over covered with blood, (a young woman then of about twenty-six years of age), and saying to her at every thrust of the bayonet, “ Will you confess now ; will you tell now where is Mr. El- lis ?” Her constant answer was, “ I have nothing to tell, I will tell nothing 1 ! !” The rope was at length put about her neck ; she was drag- ged to the place where the car was converted into a gallows ; she was placed under it, and the end of the rope was passed over the back-band. The question was put to her for the last time, “ Will you confess where Mr. Ellis is ?” Her answer was, “ You may murder me, you villains ; but not one word about him will you ever get from me.” She had just time to say, “ The Lord Jesus have mercy on my soul,” when a tre- mendous shout was raised by the yeomen : the rope was pulled by all of them, except those who held down the back part of the car, and in an instant, she was suspended by the neck. After she had been thus suspended for two or three minutes, her feet touched the ground, and a savage yell of laughter re- called her to her senses. The rope round her neck was loosen- ed, and her life was spared : she was let olf with half hanging. She was then sent to town, and brought before Major Sirr. No sooner was she brought before Major Sirr, than he, in the most civil and coaxing manner, endeavoured to prevail on her to give information respecting Robert Emmet’s place of concealment. The question continually put to her was, “ Well, Anne, all we want to know is, where did he go to from But- terfield-lane ?” He said he would undertake to obtain for her the sum (he did not call it reward) of £500, which, he added, “ was a fine fortune for a young woman,” only to tell against persons who were not her relations ; that all the others of them had confessed the truth, (which was not true,) and that they were sent home liberated, (which was also a lie). The author said to her with becoming gravity, — “ You took the money, of course.” The look the woman gave was one that would have made an admirable subject for a painter — a regard in which wonder, indignation, and misgiving of the seriousness of the person who addressed her, were blended ; — 188 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. “ Me ! take the money — the price of Mr. Robert’s blood 1 No ; I spurned the rascal’s offer.” The Major continued coaxing, and trying to persuade her to confess. He said, every thing had been told to him by one of her associates. Nay, what’s more, he repeated word for word what she had said to Mr. Robert the night of the 23d, when he came back to Butterfield-lane — “ Bad welcome to you,” &c. One of the persons present with him then, must have un- doubtedly been an informer. After she had been some time in Kilmainham, Mr. Emmet was arrested, and sent to that prison. Dr. Trevor had frequently talked to her about him ; but she never “let on” that she had any acquaintance with him. At this time she was kept in solitary confinement for refusing to give information. One day the doctor came and spoke to her in a very good-natured way, and said she must have some indulgence, she must be permitted to take exercise in the yard. The turnkey was ordered to take her to the yard, and he accordingly did so ; but when the yard door was open, who should she see walking very fast up and down the yard, but Mr. Robert. “ She thought she would have drop- ped.” She saw the faces of people watching her, at a grated window that looked into the yard, and her only dread was, that Mr. Robert, on recognizing her, would speak to her ; but she kept her face away, and walked up and down on the other side ; and when they had crossed one another several times, at last they met at the end. She took care, when his eyes met her’s, to have a frown on her face, and her finger raised to her lips. He passed on as if he had never seen her ; but he knew her well, and the half smile that came over his face, and passed off in a moment, could hardly have been observed, except by one who knew every turn of his countenance. The doctor’s plot failed ; she was taken back to her cell, and there was no more taking of air or exercise then for her. She was in Kilmainham, a close prisoner, when Robert Em- met was executed. • She was kept locked up in a solitary cell ; ! and indeed always, with a few exceptions, was kept so during her confinement the first year. The day after his execution, she was taken from jail to the Castle to be examined, through Thomas-street. The jailor had given orders to stop the coach at the scaffold Mfhere Robert Emmet was executed. It was stopped there, and she was forced to look at his blood, which MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 139 was Still plain enough to be seen sprinkled over the deal boards. At the latter end of her confinement, some gentlemen be- longing to the Castle had come to the jail and seen her in her cell. She told them her sad story, and it was told by them to the Lord Lieutenant. From that time her treatment was al- together different : she was not only allowed the range of the women’s ward, but was permitted to go outside of the prison, and three or four times, accompanied by her sister and Mrs. Dwyer and one of the turnkeys, was taken to the Spa at Lu- can, for the benefit of her health ; for she was then crippled in her limbs, more dead than alive, hardly able to move hand or foot. At length Mr. Pitt died : it was a joyful day for Ireland. The prisons were thrown open, where many an honest person had lain since the month of July, 1803. The whole family of the Devlins, with the exception of a boy, James Devlin, and a girl of tender years, had been thrown into prison at the same time that Anne Devlin was ar- rested. The old man, Bryan Devlin, his wife, son and daugh- ter, were at one time all inmates of Kilmainham jail. By Dr. Trevor’s orders, Anne Devlin was kept constantly in solitary confinement ; and the plea for the continuance of this rigorous treatment was, the abusive language which the prisoner never failed to address to Dr. Trevor, when he made his appearance at the door of her cell. She admits that this was the fact ; that she knew he was every thing that was vile and bad, and “ it eased her mind to tell him what she thought.” On some occasions, when he left the prisoner, the wife of the jailor, an Englishwoman, used to come to her cell, let her out privately, and bring her to her own apartments for an hour or two at a time, and give her wine and nourishing things. This kept her alive, and helped her to recover her senses. Without the kind- ness of the jailor’s wife, she never could have recovered. On one occasion, Dr. Trevor came unexpectedly, and discovered that she had been let out of her cell. His rage was dreadful. He cursed her, and she returned his maledictions, curse for curse. In the latter part of 1804, on some pretence of enforcing sanatory regulations, Anne Devlin was removed from the new prison at Kilmainham, where her father was then confined, and 140 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. sent to the old jail, and after some time was brought back to Kilmainham. Some communications between the father and daughter had been discovered, and in this way an end was put to them. The poor old man had still one comfort left to him. A young lad, his favourite child, had been permitted for some time to remain in his cell with him. An order came from Dr. Trevor in the month of March, 1805, to separate father and child. The latter then sick in fever, was torn from him one night, and forced to walk more than a mile to the other pri- son x ) and the pretence for this removal was, that the boy had visited his sister in the old prison, and this was an infringe- ment of the sauatory regulations of the prison. The boy was sent to the old jail, and, as Dr. Trevor asserted, was humanely permitted to remain with his sister Anne. The poor boy had no where to go ; his father and mother, and nearly all his rel- atives were in jail. He had not been long removed, when he died in the old jail, under Dr. Trevor’s care. Mr. Edward Kennedy, one of the state prisoners, characterized the occur- rence in question, as “ a very foul transaction.” Dr. Trevor, in his reply to the charge, brought forward his man, George Dunn, the jailor, to swear an affidavit for him, as he was wont to do on any occasion when the doctor’s credit was damaged or en- dangered.* He likewise produced a turnkey and a jail apo- thecary, to swear to his humanity. The latter swore, that after the death of the boy, when Dr. Trevor came into the cell, Anne Devlin was violent in her abuse ; she cursed the doctor when he spoke to her of examining the dead body of her brother. The state prisoners of Kilmainham jail, addressed a memo- rial to the Viceroy, Lord Hardwick, the 12th of August, 1804, complaining of the hardships they suffered, and of the barba- rous and tyrannical conduct of the Inspector of Prisons, and Superintendent in particular of Kilmainham, Dr. Trevor. This memorial was signed by fourteen of them ; amongst others, by Messrs. Patton, Hickson, Tandy, Long and Mason. The fol- lowing passage refers to the treatment of Anne Devlin : — • “ His treatment of all, but especially of one unfortunate state prisoner, a female, is shocking to humanity, and exceeds credi- bility. He drives, through exasperation, the mind to madness, of which instances have already occurred.”f * Vide Dr. Trevor’s Statement, p. 22. f Memoir of St. J. Mason’s imprisonment, p. 11. Dublin: 1807. MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 141 Mr. James Tandy states, during his imprisonment, “ two of the state prisoners were discharged in a state of the most vio- lent delirium and a third, from the cruelty of incarceration, was for a length of time in a strait waistcoat.* The extraordinary suflferings endured, and the courage and fidelity displayed by this young woman, have few parallels, even in the history of those times which tried people’s souls, and called forth the best, occasionally, as well as the basest of human feelings. She was tortured, frightfully maltreated, her person goaded and pricked with bayonets, hung up by the neck, and was only spared to be exposed to temptations, to be subjected to new and worse horrors than any she had under- gone, to suffer solitary confinement, to be daily tormented with threats of further privations, till her health broke down and her mind was shattered, and after years of suffering in the same prison, when others of ‘her family were confined without any communication with them, she was turned adrift on the world, without a house to return to, or friends or relations to succour or to shelter her. And yet, this noble creature pre- served through all her suflferings, and through forty subsequent years, the same devoted feelings of attachment to that being, and his memory, which she had exhibited under the torture, in her solitary cell in Kilmainham jail, in her communications with the terrorists, and the petty tyrants of the Castle and the jail. And yet, the heroism of this woman is a matter for Irishmen of any rank, aye, of the highest rank in the land, to be proud of. The true nobility of nature displayed by this poor crea- ture, of plebeian origin, under all her suflferings ; the courage exhibited in the face of death, in the midst of torture, of this low-born woman ; the fidelity and attachment of this menial servant to a beloved master, proof against all fears, superior to all threats and temptations, — will not be forgotton. The day will come, when the name of Anne Devlin, f the poor neglected creature who now drags out a miserable existence, struggling * Appeal to the Public. By James Tandy, p. 72. Dublin: 1807. f Anne Devlin the faithful servant of Robert Emmet, has been now (1866) dead about one year, having ended her days in great poverty. She was buried in Glasneven Cemetery near the column recently erect- ed to O’Connell. A few persons who appreciated her humble heroism have placed a monument over her remains. 142 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. with infirmity and poverty, will be spoken of with feelings of kindness, not unmixed with admiration. In the summer of 1843, accompanied by Anne Devlin, I proceeded to Butterfield-lane, to ascertain the fact of the ex- istence, or non-existence, of the house in which Robert Emmet had resided for some months, in 1803. For a length of time our search was fruitless. The recollection of a locality, at the expiration of forty years, is a very dim sort of reminiscence. There was no house in the lane, the exterior of which, remind- ed my conductress of her old scene of suffering. At lengthy her eye caught an old range of buildings at some distance, like the offices of a farm-house. This she at once recognized as part of the premises of her father, and she soon was able to point out the well-known fields around it, which had once been in her father’s possession. The house, alongside of which we were standing, on the right-hand side of the lane going from Rathfarnham-road, she said must be the house of Mr. Emmet, though the entrance was entirely altered ; however, the posi- tion of an adjoining house left little doubt on her mind. We knocked at the door, and I found the house was inhabited by a lady of my acquaintance, the daughter of a Protestant clergyman, who had been, strange to say, the college friend and most intimate acquaintance of Robert Emmet. The lady of the house, in whom I discovered an acquaint- ance, left us in no doubt on the subject of the locality — we were in the house that had been tenanted by Robert Emmet. The scene that ensued is one more easily conceived than de- scribed. We were conducted over the house ; my aged com- panion at first in silence, and then, as if slowly awaking from a dream, rubbing her dim eyes, and here and there standing for some moments at some recognized spot. On the ground floor, she pointed out a small room, on the left-hand of the en- trance, “ that’s the room where Mr. Dowdall and Mr. Hamil ton used to sleep.” The entrance has been changed from about the centre to the right-hand end ; the window of a small room there has been converted into the door-way, and the room itself into tho hall. “ This,” said Anne Devlin, “ was my room, I know it well, my matrass used to be in that cor- ner.” There was one place, every corner and cranny of which she seemed to have a familiar acquaintance with, and that was the kitchen. On the upper floor, the principal bed-room at MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 143 the present time, attracted her particular attention ; she stood for some time gazing into the room from the door-way : I asked her whose room it had been ? it was a good while before I got an answer in words, but her trembling hands, and the few tears, which came from a deep source, and spoke of sor row of an old date, left no necessity to repeat that question — it was the room of Robert Emmet : another on the same floor was that of Russell. They slept on matrasses on the floor, there was scarcely any furniture in the house ; they often went out after dark, seldom or never in the day time. They were always in good spirits, and Mr. Hamilton used often to sing, he was a very good singer ; Mr. Robert sometimes hummed a tune, but he was no great singer, but he was the best and kindest hearted of all the persons she had ever known : he was too good for- many of those who were about him. Of Russell she spoke in terms hardly less favourable than those in which she expressed her opinions of Emmet. She mentioned the names of some gentle- men who occasionally visited them, some of whom are still living. At the rear of the house, in the court-yard, she point- ed out the spot where she had undergone the punishment of half-hanging, and, while she did so, there was no appearance of emotions, such at least as one might expect recalled terror might produce, but there were very evident manifestations of feelings of another kind, of as lively a remembrance of the wrongs and outrages that had been inflicted on her, as if they had been endured but the day before, and of as keen a sense of those indignities and cruelties, as if her cowardly assailants had been before her, and those withered hands of her’s had power to grapple with them. The exterior of the house she could not recognize, some of the windows had been altered, an addition had been built to it at one end, the wall round the court-yard is new, and the outer gate, near the garden wall, was not where it formerly stood. A considerable quantity of ammunition and some pikes, on the night of the 23d, or the night following, were buried in the adjoining fields, but the precise spot where, she had no re- collection. It only now remains for me to remind my Irish readers that Anne Devlin is living in poverty, and that those (whatever may be their politics) who think that fortitude in the midst of 144 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. terrors, and unshaken fidelity to a master in the time of ad versity, are manifestations of noble qualities, and worthy of commendation, may also remember that they are entitled t> some recompense. No reward can compensate their possessor for her sufferings, but some assistance may contribute to her comfort for the short time she has to live. The only assist- ance she ever got from any person, from the day of Robert Emmet’s death, was subsequently to her liberation, when a sum of money, somewhere about ten pounds, was subscribed for her, she knows not by whom, but it came into her hands through Mr. Edward Kennedy, a timber merchant of New- street, who had been confined in Kilmainham. Trevor was one of those men who, in bad times, rose from obscurity, and sustain themselves in their new position, on the surface of society, by means which, at other periods, would drag down the reputation of any persons, living under a well- ordered government, to the lowest depths of obloquy and in- famy. This man had qualities infinitely baser than Sirr’s ; he was cruel, vindictive, sordid, and perfidious : his misdeeds had been frequently complained of to the government, the memori- als against him were seldom noticed. His services had been acceptable to the state, and they had been amply recom- pensed. He held a variety of offices — he was supervisor of state prisons, physician of ditto, an agent of transports — he was likewise a justice of the peace, and he exercised the func- tions of a suttler, a spy, an informer, and of inquisitor-general in Kilmainham jail. He was continually hatching plots to entrap prisoners, in their unguarded moments, into admissions of guilt, or the implication of others in it ; he contrived a plot to involve the friends of the unfortunate Robert Emmet in the alleged guilt of endeavouring to effect his escape, and when his dupes were made acquainted with the design, “ he station- ed a man that went by the name of lame Kearney, a robber, in a waste place, over the range of the apartments of the state prisoners, where he (Kearney) was regularly posted for a fortnight, during which he bored holes in the ceiling, to look down upon the prisoners, and to catch their observa- tions. “ The ear of Dionysius was not a fable ”* On another occasion he employed two men of the second class of state prisoners, Doyle and White, to suggest an attempt at prison * Pedro Zenono, Inquisitor of Kilmainham. Dublin, 1807, p 24. MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 145 breaking, with the view of bringing in the military, and leav- ing them “ to do their duty” towards those who should be caught in the attempt. The plot was only counteracted by the disclosure of it, by Doyle, to the prisoners, and the unfor- tuuate man was punished for so doing, by Dr. Trevor, by being immediately removed in irons, and sent on board the transport ship. On another occasion, at six o’clock in the morning, the dungeons and apartments of all the state prison- ers were burst open, the gaoler went round with a guard of soldiers, with fixed bayonets, and one of the latter was posted in each cell or room, holding their muskets over each prisoner as he lay in bed, without uttering a syllable, and, when this ceremony had been gone through in every cell or apartment, the gaoler re-appeared, and searched each prisoner’s effects, and carried away all his papers. These papers were delivered to Dr. Trevor, inspected on the pretence of searching for treasonable papers, but in reality for the purpose of discover- ing the original, in manuscript, of a ludicrous song written, of which he was the subject, which had become a street ballad, for the warbling of which some old syrens, not “syrens of old,” were sent to jail for three months. On another occasion, some of the state prisoners had trans- gressed one of the regulations of the jail, of trivial importance. Mr. Geo. Dunn behaved brutally on this occasion to the prisoners, and, amongst others, to Mr. Hickson ; the jailer was knocked down, in sight of his patron, by Mr. Hickson, a gentleman as little likely to be guilty of any act of unprovoked violence as any man I know. Trevor immediately sent off for the High Sheriff of the county, Mr. Luke White, who soon ar- rived, and entered the prison with a file of armed soldiers. The conduct of Mr. Luke White to his fellow-citizens in their unfortunate position was rude, arrogant, unfeeling, and un- manly. An investigation had been ordered by the orders of the Viceroy. The Chief Justice Downes, Judge Day, and Mr. Justice Osborne, were appointed to inquire into the com- plaints of the prisoners. The report of the judges, though it stated that the grievances complained of were exaggerated, recommended various alterations and ameliorations of the con- dition of the prisoners, in fact it was evident, even 011 the face of the report, that these gentlemen, for the majority of them were such, were treated with the most unnecessary severity. 146 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. The details of their sufferings are heart-sickening ; the com- mon sink overflowed the cells of some of them, they were kept, except during two hours in the day, locked up in their cells, and the place which was used for certain purposes, wak the same to which they were led, one after the other, in rotation, to their meals. All their hardships they attributed to the capricious cruelty and vindictive disposition of Dr. Trevor. The probability is the government knew nothing, and cared nothing, about their treatment. The government put these gentlemen in jail, the most of them on suspicion, and several of them most assuredly totally innocent of participation in Emmet’s crime. Dr. Trevor was the servant of that government, and for his guilt that government was answerable. Mr. Marsden, the under-secretary in 1803, in a communica- tion to Dr. Trevor, dated July 19, 1808, made the govern- ment responsible for his acts, by stating, that “ he should be always ready to bear testimony to his ability, integrity, and usefulness, in his care and management of the jail and its prisoners, persuaded that, had he discharged his duties with less propriety, he would have had fewer enemies.” Lord Castlereagh likewise made the government responsible for Dr. Trevor’s conduct during the former rebellion, by the fol- lowing communication, dated from Downing-street, August 18, 1808. “ Sir, — I have to acknowledge your letter of the 4th inst., and have no hesitation in saying, from the opportunities I had of being acquainted with your conduct in the management of Kilmainham prison, in the year 1198, that it met with the entire approbation of the Irish government at that period.* “ I am, Sir, “ Your most obedient, humble servt., “ Castlereagh. “ Dr. Edward Trevor.” Trevor was an irritable vindictive man ; and it cannot be denied that some of his prisoners were irritable, and perhaps, unreasonable in their conduct under that irritation. Bernard Code, and John Hevey, had suffered enough from persecution * Dr. Trevor’s Statement, page 24. MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 147 at various times, to render men not only irritable, but insane. The former I knew well, he was wholly unconnected with Emmet’s affair. Duggan informed me that he and Condon applied to Coile to know if he would take a part in the “ busi- ness,” and Barney Coile said, “ I will act constitutionally.” St. John Mason, moreover, the cousin of Robert Emmet, was in no wise implicated in the conspiracy ; this fact is admitted by every person connected with it with whom I am acquaint- ed ; and yet this gentleman was one of the state prisoners who suffered the greatest hardships ; at one time he was three months locked up in his cell, and shut out from all communi- cation with his fellow prisoners. And Dr. Trevor, forsooth, complains, in his pamphlet, that this gentleman’s temper was irritable. When he was in solitary confinement, conscious of his innocence, but sensible, at the same time, of the wrongs done to him, of the ruin of his prospects at the onset of his career, of the injuries heaped on his character, of the insults daily offered to his person, when he was encaged like a wild beast ; treated like a felon, or worse than a felon, for the hatchman, who was charged with locking and unlocking the doors of his cell, when his food was flung to him, was a con- victed murderer ; it was expected, forsooth, by Dr. Trevor, and Mr. Marsden, when their victim was enraged and phren- zied with such treatment, “ when his brain was on fire, and every fiend of hell was let loose on his heart, he should then, it seems, have placed himself before his mirror, he should have taught the stream of agony to flow decorously down his fore- head. He should have, composed his features to harmony, he should have writhed with grace, and groaned with melody.” CHAPTER XII. y When Emmet fled to the mountains, he found the Wicklow insurgents bent on prosecuting their plans, and making an im- mediate attack on some of the principal towns in that county, Emmet, to his credit, being then convinced of the.hopelessnesa of the struggle, had determined to withhold his sanction from 148 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. any further effort, convinced, as he then was, that it could only lead to the effusion of blood, but to no successful issue. His friends pressed him to take immediate measures for effecting his escape, but, unfortunately, he resisted their solicitations ; he had resolved on seeing one person before he could make up his mind to leave the country, and that person was dearer to him than life — Sa rah Curran, the youngest daughter of the celebrated advocate John Philpot Curran. With the hope of obtaining an interview with her, if possible, before his intended departure, of corresponding with her, and of seeing her pass by Harold’s-cross, which was the road from her father’s coun- try-house, near Rathfarnham, to Dublin, he returned to his old lodgings at Mrs. Palmer’s. During the time he remained there, he drew up a paper which he intended to have transmit ted to the govern ment, in the hope of inducing it to put a stop to the prosecutions and executions which were then going on. The rough draught of this paper was found in the room he oc- cupied when he was arrested. The contents were as follows : — “ it may appear strange, that a person avowing himself to be an enemy of the present government, and engaged in a conspiracy for its overthrow, should presume to suggest an opinion to that government on any part of its conduct, or could hope that advice, coming from such authority, might be received with attention. The writer of this, however, does not mean to offer an opinion on any point on which he must, of necessity, feel differently from any of those whom he addresses, and on which, therefore his conduct might be doubted. His intention is to confine himself entirely to those points on which, however widely he may dif fer from them in others, he has no hesitation in declaring, that as a man he feels the same interest with the merciful part, and as an Irishman, with at least the English part of the present administration ; and, at the same time, to communicate to them, in the most precise terms, that line of conduct which he may hereafter be compelled to adopt, and which, however painful it must under any circumstances be, would become doubly so if he was not conscious of having tried to avoid it by the most distinct notification. On the two first of these points, it is not the intention of the undersigned, for the reason he has already mentioned, to do more than state, what govern- ment itself must acknowledge — that of the present conspiracy MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 140 It knows, (comparatively speaking) nothing. That instead of creating terror in its enemies, or confidence in its friends, it will ouly serve, by the scantiness of its information, to furnish additional grounds of invective to those who are but too ready to censure it for a want of intelligence, which no sagacity could have enabled them to obtain. That if it is not able to terrify by a display of its discoveries, it cannot hope to crush by the weight of its punishments. Is it only now we are to learn, that entering into conspiracy exposes us to be hanged ? Are the scattered instances which now will be brought forward necessary to exemplify the statute ? If the numerous and striking examples which have already preceded were insuffi- cient — if government can, neither by novelty of punishment nor the multitude of its victims, impress us with terror, can it hope to injure the body of a conspiracy so impenetrably woven as the present, by cutting off a few threads from the end of it ! “ That with respect to the second point, no system, however it may change the nature, can affect the period of the contest that is to take place ; as to which, the exertions of the United Irishmen will be guided only by their own opinion of the eligi* bility of the moment for effecting the emancipation of their country. “ That administration ” On the 25th of August he was arrested at Mrs. Palmer’s, at Har old’s-cross, at about seven o’clock in the evening, by Major Sirr, who, according to the newspaper accounts, “ did not know his person till he was brought to the Castle, where, he was identified by a gentleman of the College”* The writers of those accounts kuew little of the 11 finesse” of an Irish Fouche, and the police office refinement of his conduct towards his informers on such occasions.f He played the same game precisely in Russell’s case, at a later period. * Dr. Elrington, Provost of Trinity College , had been previously applied to by the Major, through a lady, for a description of Emmet’s person, and that description was furnished by him ! ! ! A Provost scanning the features of the students of the College over which he presided, and furnishing the agents of police with the results of his observation, is a new proceeding. * In 1841, the remains of Major Sirr, the assassin of “ Lord Edward," were deposited in St. Werburgh’s churchyard, the spot is marked oul 150 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. The Major’s account of the arrest of Emmet, as subsequent* ly given in evidence on his trial, was to the following effect. On the evening of the 25th of August, he went to the house of one Palmer, at Harold’s Cross ; had heard there wap a stranger in the back parlour ; rode there accompanied by a man on foot, who knocked at the door ; on its being opened, by a little girl, the daughter of Mrs. Palmer, the Major alighted, and ran immediately into the back parlour ; he desir- ed the woman and the little girl to withdraw, and then asked the prisoner his name, he said his name was Cunningham. The man who accompanied the Major, was then left in charge of the prisoner by the Major, while he went into the next room to make inquiries of Mrs. Palmer, who said the prisoner’s name was Hewitt. The Major went back and asked him how long he had been there, he said he came that morning. He had attempted to escape before the Major returned, for he was bloody, and the man said he had knocked him down with a pistol. The Major then went to Mrs. Palmer, who said the prisoner had lodged there for a month. He judged he was a person of importance. When the Major first went into the back parlour there was a paper on a chair which he seized, (the paper intended to have been transmitted to the government). The Major then went to the canal bridge for a guard, having in the East corner by a broken flag with a short inscription, and sha- ded by a melancholy tree. The stone does not exactly state that the town Major of ’98 was buried under it, and appears to have been originaly placed over the corpse of his father who preceded him in that office, and was also distinguished by his bad character, a fact unknown to the biographers of Lord Edward Fitzgerald. A more infamous tool than Henry Charles Sirr, was probably never employed by any gov- ernment, the bare relation of his atrocities would far exceed the wild- est fiction which ever emanated from the brain of the most morbid romancist. The horrors of Continental cruelties, and secret tortures, depicted in the terrible pages of Lewis, Radcliffe, or Ainsworth, dwindle into insignificance when contrasted with the perpetrations of Sirr and his bloodstained associates during the Irish reign of terror. “ It was at that sad crisis.” said Curran, that the defendant, from an obscure individual started into notice and consequence. It is in the hot bed of public calamity, that such portentous and inauspicious products are accelerated without being matured. From being a town Major a name scarcely legible in the list of public incumbrances, he became at once invested with all the real powers of the most’absolute authority The life and liberty of every man seemed to be given up to his dis posal. “ The Streets of Dublin," from the Irish Quarterly Review. MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 151 desired them to be in readiness as he passed by. He planted a sentry over the prisoner, and desired the non-commissioned officer to surround the house with sentries, while he searched it. I then examined Mrs. Palmer and took down her account of the prisoner, during which time I heard a noise, as if an escape was attempted. I instantly ran to the back of the house, as the most likely part for him to get out at ; I saw him going off, and ordered a sentinel to fire, and then pursued my- self, regardless of the order. The sentry snapped, but the musket did not go off. I overtook the prisoner, and he said, “ I surrender.” I searched him, and found some papers upon him. On the Major’s expressing concern at the necessity of the prisoner’s being treated so roughly, he (the prisoner) observed “ that all was fair in war.” The prisoner, when brought to the Castle, acknowledged that his name was Emmet.* In the remarkable series of papers published in the “ Dublin and London Magazine,” of 1825, entitled, “Robert Emmet and his Contemporaries,” to which I have already referred, there is an account of one of the latter, who is called by his Chris- tian name Malachy, who appears to have been one of the fore- most persons in preparing the minds of the Wicklow men for another struggle, previous to Robert Emmet’s operations. The father of this Malachy, and of another son Bryan, the author states, lived in the County Wicklow, and, I infer, from his ac- count, some where in the vicinity of Enniskerry. His position was that of a country gentleman, and his sons appear to have been employed in superintending his affairs. The family were Catholics, and possessed much influence over the poor of their persuasion in the neighbourhood. Their place of residence was dignified with the name of Castle ; but is described as a “ Castle rack-rent” in its condition and its appearance. The face of Malachy, the author says, was one which once beheld could never be forgotton. He is represented as a bold, plau- sible and talented man, of a remarkably fine and symmetrical person, and a most forbidding aspect ; his face was seamed, or rather harrowed into prominent ridges with the small pox ; and his features were large, coarse, and strongly marked. He always dressed in the height of fashion, and was particularly neat in his attire. The other brother, Bryan, was a sot, bu* * Ridgeway’s Report cf the Trial of Robert Emmet, page 75. 152 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. in every other respect, but that of temperance, was a bettei man than Malachy. Previous to the outbreak, an act of treachery, ascribed by the author to Malachy, led to the arrest of some of his com- panions in Wicklow. On the night of the 23rd, he is repre- sented as one of the few leaders who came dressed in the rebel uniform, and accompanied Robert Emmet from the Depot to the Market-house in Thomas-street. Malachy is stated to have been very desirous to have tired the other rockets which were to be the signals for those who were waiting to join Emmet’s party, in the Barley-fields, (now Mountjoy-square), the Coal- quay, and other places. Emmet is said to have prevented his doing so, saying let no lives be unnecessarily lost. Bryan is represented, on the night of the 23rd, as having fallen in Thomas-street, and Malachy in disguise having been taken pri- soner. But he had not been long in prison when he was lib- erated, and met the writer of the account in question. He stated that he had some very important information to com- municate to Emmet, and got his address from the former. But this person had no sooner given it, than it flashed across his mind there was treachery at work, that Malachy’s release from prison was for no good purpose. He, accordingly, lost little time in proceeding to Harold’s Cross, after he parted with Mal- achy, but, on his arrival, he saw crowds round the house, and military in front of it, and soon after Emmet was led forth, “ betraying no signs of fear or perturbation, but evincing the same calm and dignified aspect which ever distinguished this extraordinary young man.” Leonard, the old gardener of Dr. Emmet, told me the in- former against Mr. Emmet was generally supposed by the friends of the latter to have been one of the state prisoners, of the name of Malachy, who was let out of Newgate, where he was confined, for the purpose of finding out Emmet’s retreat ; and that Malachy got information from a French emigrant, who was acquainted with Robert Emmet, of his being at Har- old’s Cross. There is an account in the Dublin papers of the arrest of a French emigrant on the night after the outbreak in Dame-street, by Major Sirr. The London Chronicle , of October the 8th and 10th, 1803, cites the following paragraph from the Dublin papers of the 4th of October. MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET 153 u Malachy Delany, Esq., of the County of Kildare, who was tried aud acquitted at the last assizes of the County, and ar- rested on Friday last, in consequence of information given to Major Sirr, and committed to Kilmainham jail.” The reader is furnished with all the information which 1 am able to lay before him respecting the person referred to, as 1 presume, by Leonard, and in the publications above cited. There was a gentleman of the name of Carty, or Carthy, arrested soou after the outbreak in J uly, of whom Mr. II , one of the state prisoners, made mention to me, in an account of some of the persons in confinement whom he had previously met at Mr Long’s, in Crow-street. This gentleman informed me, that some 'time previous to the 23d of July, he had sup- ped at Philip Long’s with Emmet, Cloney, Carthy, Allen, Gray, and Hughes. Carthy had been engaged in the former rebellion ; he was a sort of a gentleman. Trevor, in Kilmain- ham, when in jail, one day was, in conversation with Mr. H , very desirous of getting an admission from him of his knowledge of the parties engaged in Emmet’s business. Mr. H — — was protesting his ignorance of the plans of the former when Trevor, in a whisper said, “ With whom did you sup at Long’s on such a night ?” — naming the particular occasion above referred to. Mr. H was astonished, and well might be so. Carthy was then kept in confinement in a house where informers used to be domiciled in 1798 ; but in 1803 many persons of a very different kind had been confined there : this place was called the “ Stag House it was opposite to Kilmainham jail. Carty, however, was not suspected, but an- other individual was, who was then confined in the jail. A convict of the name of Darby used to wait on the state prison- ers ; this man told some of them that a certain person in the jail, on a particular day, had been writing a statement for Dr. Trevor, containing information respecting the insurrection. The person was invited into their rooms, and Nicholas Gray, after the punch had circulated freely, took the paper from his pocket ! Mr. Leonard M'Nally, the barrister, is said by some others — on what grounds I know not — to be the person from whom the information of Emmet’s place of concealment was obtained. In times like those which are referred to, when treason in all its motley forms is in active operation, it necessarily happens 154 MEMOIR or ROBERT EMMET. that men, bewildered by the proofs of perfidy which are con* stantly brought before them, without knowing from what quarter the treachery proceeds, in proportion as they have been credulous, become distrustful, and fly from one extreme to another. Hence, their suspicions are often groundless, and the parties who have violated confidence often remain not only undiscovered, but unsuspected, while those who have continued faithful and only solicitous about the consciousness of their fidelity are looked upon with doubt, and not unfrequently with something more. It may tend to turn those ill-founded suspicions to a quarter where perfidy, duly recognized and recompensed, is officially recorded, to show who were the parties who were receivers of 6ecret-service money in 1802-3. The following are some of the items in the secret-service money list : — February 6, 1802, Major Sirr, for John Beckett, three others, and Dan Car — in full of their claims oh Government, - - - <£328 8 February 20, 1802, Major Sirr, for Mrs. O’Brien John Neile, Francis Devlin, and two others — in full of their claims, - - - 300 0 May 2, 1803, Mr. Marsden, for Quigley, 40 0 June 13, 1803, Major Sirr, for Heydeu, 22 15 August 25, 1803, Mr. Pollock, for L. M., 110 0 September 14, 1803, Mr. Marsden, for L M., 100 0 October 13, 1803, Dr Trevor, for Ryan and Mahaffey, - 100 0 October 15, Major Sirr, for informer for Howley and Condon, - - - 66 It November 1, Finlay and Co., account of Richard Jones, , - - 1000 0 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 The last-mentioned item, there can be little doubt, was the reward for the apprehension of Robert Emmet, paid into Fin- lay’s Bank to the account of the person named, Richard Jones, to be handed over by him to the informer. The cir- cumstance of lodging the money in this case in the hands of a banker leads to the conclusion that the informer was not a person in an humble rank of life. There are persons who would be able to state who the gentleman was, of the name of MEMOIR OF RO-BKRT EMMET. 155 Richard Jones, who had an account open in Finlay’s Bank, in 1803. Who the informer was, remains unknown. The only object in desiring that the name of the informer should be known is, that the names of persons suspected unjustly should be rescued from that unfouuded suspicion. CHAPTER XIII. Previous to the trial of Robert Emmet, an attempt was. made to effect his escape from prison. Arrangements had: been made, in the event of the success of this attempt, to have been conveyed on board a vessel called the Erin, from which he was to have been landed at some continental port. The principal agent through whom the negotiations were carried on in Kilmainham, was Mr. St. John Mason, the cousin of Robert Emmet. From this gentleman I received the following information of that attempt and its failure. The documents which are subjoined to his account, disclose the whole proceedings of the persons who were parties to the pro- posed attempt. One of these documents, bearing the signa- ture of “ Yerax,” there can be no impropriety now in stating, was written by Mr. St. John Mason. It is needless to offer any comment on the barbarity of the conduct of those persons who suffered the hopes of the unfortunate prisoner to be raised, and when they had been wound up to the highest pitch of ex- pectation, dashed them to the ground, and claimed the merit of a faithful adherence to their duty. Where could this wick- edness have been perpetrated and rewarded, except in Ireland ? “ Mr. St. John Mason informs me, that he received a note from Robert Emmet, stating, that he wished him to offer George Dunu, a sum of money, from .£500 to £1000, on the condition of his favouring and effecting his (Robert Emmet’s) escape. “ Mason made a communication to G. Dunn, to which the latter agreed. The idea originated with Trevor and George Dunn, and by some means — (by the means of the turn- 156 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMmET. key M'Sally, I am informed bv another of the state prisoners} — were communicated to Emmet. Mason wrote to Robert Emmet to recommend him to have the money not given at once to Dunn, but to have it secured to him, and not to think of Dunn’s accompanying him. The project fell to the ground ; all the letters of Mason were sent to the Secretary of State.” Extract from “ The Times” December 9, 1841 : Robert Emmet and the Gaoler of Kilmainham. To the Editor of the Times. “ Paris, Decp.mber 2 d. “ Sir — The London newspapers which arrived here on Monday, contained the following article : — “ ‘ Extract of a letter from Dublin, November 27. Mr. G. Dunn, the Governor of Kilmainham Prison, Dublin, for the last forty years, expired on Thursday, leaving a numerous family behind him. When Emmet was under his charge for high treason, an immense sum of money, by way of bribe, with an offer of a free passage to America, was made him, if he al lowed his prisoner to go free ; but the honesty of Mr. Dunn spurned the bribe.’ “ Mr. George Dunn, the person above-mentioned, had not been the Governor of Kilmainham Prison, Dublin, for the last forty years. The rest about Robert Emmet is pure invention. The facts which suggested this posthumous praise of George Dunn are these : — “ Robert Emmet was taken from the bar of the Court- house, Green-street, Dublin, to the prison of Newgate, at (if I remember rightly) about nine o’clock at night, of the — of October, 1803, after having been sentenced to death. Im- mediately on his entrance within the walls of the prison, the then governor (Gregg) either from precaution, excess of zeal, or stimulated by a brutal disposition, loaded him with irons, and, I believe, placed him in a cell. At half-past twelve o’clock, however, an order arrived from the Secretary of State (the late Mr. Wickham) that the prisoner be removed to Kil- mainham jail, ostensibly to bring him nearer to the intended place of execution (Thomas-street, opposite Bridgefoot-street), but in reality for safe keeping. MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 151 “ The governor of Kilmainham prison at that day, was a person named Dunn, uncle of him mentioned in the above ex- tract, who was then only a turnkey. Dunn, the governor, was a man apparently rough and savage, but at bottom, humane and kind. Robert Emmet had scarcely been committed to his custody, when his eyes fell upon the fetters with which the prisoner (a slight young man) was loaded. The tears burst from his eyes ; for he saw that the irons had cut through the silk stockings worn by Emmet, and to the bone — his ancles were bathed with blood. “ Dunn’s kindness did not stop here. He ordered refresh- ments for his ill-fated, but deeply-interesting charge, of which he stood much in need, after a trial of eleven hours, during the whole of which time he stood, and not having, from an early hour in the morning that preceded it, tasted food. He order- ed him to be placed in one of the best rooms of the prison, and directed that every comfort he desired should be supplied him, and continued his kindness up to the moment when the prison- er, thanking him for his humanity, left the prison for the 8caffold. “ I wish not to refer to certain incidents in the after life of George Dunn, now so indiscreetly brought before the public. It will be enough for me to remind your readers, that his name occurred in the proceedings against Brock and Pelham in the first Mayoralty or Shrievalty of Alderman Matthew Wood, of London. The alleged offer of a bribe to that or any other person, to connive at the prisoner’s escape, is obviously an un- truth. In the first place, Emmet was removed unexpectedly and after midnight from Newgate to the custody of Dunn the elder, and brought out for execution only ten hours afterwards. (Justice was promptly executed in those days.) No time re- mained, therefore, for tampering with the jailer after the fact of the prisoner’s removal to Kilmainham could have become known to his friends ; and in reality, the nearest friends and connexions of Robert Emmet (Mr. H , the barrister, Mr. P , and others) capable of making that effort, were them- selves inmates of Kilmainham jail, on suspicion of guilty know- ledge of the conspiracy which burst forth into insurrection on the 23d of July previously “ I have the honor to be, Sir, &c., “ B. W.” 158 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. Extract from “ The, Times ,” February „ 1843. Robert Emmet and the Gaoler of Kiljiainham. “ To the Editor of 1 the Times? “ Bath, February 12, 1842. “ Sir, — The writer of this letter begs leave to state, that in several recent numbers of The Times, certain extracts from Dublin newspapers have been inserted, concerning the unfortu- nate Robert Emmet and the late George Dunn, jailer of Kil- mainham, to the following effect : — “ ‘ That when Robert Emmet was under the charge of Mr. Dunn, for high treason, an immense sum of money, by way of bribe, with an offer of a free passage to America, was made him, if he allowed his prisoner to go free ; but the honesty of Mr. Dunn spurned the bribe.’ “ Those extracts having so appeared in The Times, and being, substantially, perversions of facts, it is respectfully sub- mitted, that in fairness, the truth should be spread commen- surately with the mis-statement ; and that it should likewise go forth to the public through the same great organ of intelli- gence, and its vast circulation, whereby that mis-statement had been already so widely diffused. “ The matter of present consideration is, the conduct of George Dunn, as to the attempted escape of Robert Emmet, in relation to which, manifold have been the laudations squan- dered upon the memory of Dunn. The following is the truth : — “ A proposition was unquestionably made to George Dunn, and a certain sum of money — a bribe, no doubt — was offered, for his aid and instrumentality towards effecting the escape of Robert Emmet. But, contrary to the statements in the news- papers, that proposition and that bribe were not ‘ spurned at by Dunn.’ The proposition was entertained, and a positive assurance given by him, that he would 1 do every thing in his power to effect the escape.’ There is no individual living, nor has- there ever been any other, save Dunn himself, who had personally known, or who at present knows those facts, but he who now states them, and who freely admits, as he has always MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 159 admitted, that he did make that proposition. No third person was ever present, no money was ever paid to Dunn, and no offer was ever made of a free passage to America. But, in fact, throughout the transaction, Dunn, so far from acting with integrity, practised the foulest perfidy. The transaction itself occurred, not after the trial of Emmet, but several days before it ; and Dunn had neither the power nor the means of accom- plishing the escape, though he had given reason to suppose that he possessed both, and had, with the semblance of sin- cerity, faithfully promised, if possible, to effect it. He was, in fact, at the time, neither the jailer of Kilmainham, nor even the confidential turnkey at the entrance gate : he was merely the turnkey and attendant of the interior department where the state prisoners were confined. But even if he had been the jailer, he could not have effected the escape ; for there was another person, since dead, who, in the guise, and under the * covert and convenient-seeming,’ of a doctor, had a paramount authority in the prison — a man who appeared there a!s the in- spector (or rather the haunting spectre) of the jail — an incubus sojourning therein* day and night, about sixteen hours' out of the twenty-four, and who, also acting as the government over- seer or superintendent of the state prisoners, commanded even the jailer. “The jailer at that time was John Dunn ; and though a namesake, was not the uncle of, nor in any way related to, George Dunn : the former having been a native of a mid- land county in England, the latter of Berwick-upon-Tweed. On the death of John Dunn, two persons, named Stephenson and Simpson, successively filled the jailership previously to George Dunn. He could not, therefore, as jailer, have had the custody of Robert Emmet, and could not, consequently, have had the ability ascribed to him of effecting the escape ; and in his own station, such was impossible, though his inability was not then so well known as afterwards. “ But properly to understand this question, which is actually one of official intrigue and peculation, it is requisite, in regard to the machinations which, in conjunction with others, Dunn practised on the attempted escape of Robert Emmet, again to refer to the personage already alluded to, as the superin- tendent of the state prisoners, and who was at that period 160 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. well kuown as the celebrated Pedro Zendono, the inquisitoi of Kilmainham. “ Of this man’s inhuman conduct towards the state prison- ers, this writer had bitter knowledge and experience for more than two years ; which brutal Conduct has, before three of the supreme judges, been verified by the solemn oaths of more than twenty state prisoners, and afterwards, by the exertions of this writer, became the subject of parliamentary investiga- tion by Sheridan. And the deeds of this prison tyrant, to- gether with those of his helpmate Dunn, are now among the records of parliament. “ This individual, to whom Downshire had the honour of giving birth, having become enamoured of a handsome female, certain circumstances made it desirable that the young woman should speedily become a wife ; and he accordingly bestowed her upon his brother soldier, George Dunn, then a pedestrian campaigner in a militia regiment ; with the condition, however, that the lover and the husband of this spotless wife, should alike participate in her favours ; and also with the further stipulation, that the lover should, on the first occasion which offered, obtain a post for me husband in the jail of Kilmain- ham, and if possible, have him in time advanced to the jailer- ship. “ Those little interchangeable acts of friendship having con- tinued during the life of the happy lady, both without aud within the prison — where the bower of bliss was the sheriff’s execution-room, — George Dunn accordingly became the turn- key of the state prisoners, and, in fulness of time, the jailer of Kilmainham. “ At the period of the present transaction, George Dunn, though only a turnkey, was, from his position in the prison, admitted to the honours of the sittings with the Grand Inqui- sitor and the nominal jailer, John Dunn, who, though other- wise a good man, then weakly lent himself to the machina- tions of the other parties. Accordingly, about one week be- fore the trial of Robert Emmet, it was planned that George Duun should have a conversation with him respecting his escape. Whereupon, several communications, by open slips of paper, iu the hand-writing of Robert Emmet, was conveyed to this writer, and answers returned by an under turnkey, a con- victed felon, whom the inquisitor craftily used as the bearer in- MEMOIR 0* ROBERT EMMET. 161 stead of Dunn : in one of which slips of paper, Robert Em- met requested this writer, then in an adjoining cell, to apply to George Dunn, specifically naming him, and in conspicuous characters, and to olfer him a certain sum of money, as stated in such slip of paper, if he (Dunn) would effect his liberation ; the sum so offered, to be well and faithfully secured to Dunn, and payable only when the liberation should have been effected. “The writer of this paper saw the peril and difficulty, not only of the attempt itself on the part of Robert Emmet, but he also saw his own peril in making the application. He saw that he was about to commit himself, as principal in a case of high treason, the consequences of which were not, and could not be unknown to him. However, upon receiving that par- ticular communication, he did not, for a single moment, hesi- tate as to what he should do ; and the very first opportunity wE‘|h offered, he made the application. “ In doing so, he admits his legal guilt ; but as to any moral guilt, he feels but little compunction. His only regret is, that he failed in the attempt. What were his motives ? Robert Emmet was his first cousin, and the ties of nature are not easily broken. He had a great and noble heart. He shared with the rest of his family, those transcendant talents, which have acquired for the name of Emmet an imperishable renown. But, above all, he was then upon the threshold of the grave, the finger of death was almost upon him ; and where lives the man, having a human heart within him, who would not, under such circumstances, have made a similar at- tempt ? If the writer of this was a criminal, he feels proud that he was equally so with a Hutchinson and Wilson. “ However, Dunn received the proposition, including the specification of the sum which would be given, in a way which showed, as soon after proved, that he had been previously trained by his employer to expect it. He entertained that proposition, and he treacherously promised to effect the escape. “ The sum of money which had been actually offered to Dunn, is, in the Dublin extracts, magnified into that of <£6000, as a strengthening proof of his incorruptible integrity. But, if only oue-fourth of that sum had been stated, it would have come nearer to the truth. However, the mere amount is not the question — the treachery of Dunn is the point ; and, ex- cept as regards that, the refusal or non-refusal of any sum is 162 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. altogether immaterial. He was to receive his reward onlj upon the condition of accomplishing a particular object — and that object, he well knew, was impracticable ; so that, even if he had refused the bribe — ( which he did not) — where would have been his merit ? He would then have refused a reward, which he knew that he never could obtain, except by the performance of a condition which he also knew that he never could accomplish. “But, in promotion of the plans concerted by the trium- virate, the inquisitor, knowing the relationship between Rob- ert Emmet and this writer, permitted a degree of intercourse to exist between them. He permitted the correspondence already stated. He permitted Robert Emmet to receive from this writer, through Dunn, a supply of clothes, which were in fact those that he wore upon his trial. He also permitted him, under the conduct of Dunn, to stop in the passage lead- ing to this writer’s cell, which was purposely in the immediate neighbourhood of his kinsman : and, with the eye and ear of Dunn vigilantly watching, he permitted Robert Emmet to con- verse from the passage, and to shake hands with this writer through the grated window of his cell. And all this was done, not from any uncongenial kindness of the inquisitor, but as a snare, not only for discovering whether any allusion would be made to the insurrection, as showing the privity thereto of this writer, but also to provoke, in the presence of Dunn, some proposition as to the escape, which they would wrest into a proof of a conspiracy and plot between the prisoners, which their own previous conspiracy had laboured to effect. “ In furtherance of their schemes, the correspondence which by slips of paper was perfidiously permitted to pass between the two prisoners, through the convict turnkey, was, in efery stage, daily waylaid, and conveyed by the overseer to Mr. Chief Secretary Wickham, and Alexander Marsden, the Un- der-secretary. And without referring to other proofs thereof, that correspondence was afterwards, in their defence, by them presented through the Castle to the House of Commons, and printed in its proceedings. “ The cravings of the Cerberi were soon after fully satisfied by that sort of pabulum which they sought for their safe keep- ing of the prison-gates. For the overseer, according to par- liamentary documents, swore before the three judges who sal MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 162 in the prison upon the commission obtained from Government bj this writer, that he (the overseer J had prevailed upon the Government to increase the salary of George Dunn, on ac- count of his fidelity, in preventing this writer from effecting the escape of Robert Emmet. Thus did those conspirators take advantage of their own wrong for purposes of pecuniary fraud and personal aggrandizement. And as to the overseer, he by means of the present transaction and other acts equally base, and likewise by a long course of prison peculation, from having been an obscure and needy adventurer, became a man of wealth. “ But as to George Dunn’s conduct in this transaction, it is plain that he was not the man of probity, the incorruptible servant of justice, which the newspaper extracts report him to have been. But, on the contrary, that he was a confederate, leagued with the other parties, for inveigling Robert Emmet and this present writer into a perilous conspiracy ; and, with the blackest perfidy, that he was all along plotting and work- ing for his own aggrandizement, and that of his unprincipled employer — of that base individual who was the prime instigator of the transaction, the pivot upon which the machinery moved — that salaried and sycophantic peculator, who, as the chief inquisitor of the prison, conspired with and delegated his Mosca, his familiar, to decoy his victims iqto a snare, in pro- motion of his own infamous objects ; and that on this occasion George Dunn was merely his working instrument — the rope in the hands of the hangman. “ One word more, and in conclusion, concerning the insur- rection in which poor R. Emmet was involved, and also con- cerning himself. That insurrection must indeed be viewed only with absolute and unqualified condemnation. But as to Robert Emmet individually, it will surely be admitted that even in the midst of error he was great, in principle untainted, in courage dauntless. And, when upon his trial, with the grave already open to receive him, that the burst of eloquence with which he shook the very court wherein he stood, and caused not alone ‘that viper whom his father nourished ’ to quail beneath the lash, but likewise forced even that ‘ remnant of humanity,’ one of those who tried him, to tremble on the judgment-seat, was, under all the circumstances, an effort almost superhuman — a prodigy ; not only when he hurled upon then} 164 MEMOIR OP ROBERT EMMET. that withering defiance and memorable castigation, but also when he advocated the grounds upon which he had acted — ex- hibiting altogether a concentration of moral integrity, talent, and intrepidity unparalleled in the annals of the world. “ Verax.” COPY OF DISPATCH FROM HIS GRACE THE LORD LIEUTEN- ANT OF IRELAND; CONTAINING THE CASE OF MR. ST. JOHN MASON; WITH AN APPENDIX. Ordered , by the House of Commons , to be printed, June 2, 1812. 11 Dublin Castle, Dec. 1, 1811. “ Dear Sir — Having been directed to furnish such informa- tion as 1 could collect, relative to the causes of the arrest and imprisonment of St. John Mason, in 1803, and for some time after, I proceeded to investigate the case with all the diligence in my power ; but I found few original papers on the subject ; no official project or memorandum, and even the information collected by inquiry has been in many parts very vague and unsatisfactory. Nor can this appear surprising when it is re- collected, that he was arrested during the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, and while the country was in a state of insurrection, and that since his arrest a period of eight years has elapsed ; that in that time there have been seven Chief Secretaries, three Under-Secretaries, and three Attornies- General ; that notwithstanding changes of administration, and former complaints and inquiries as to his treatment in prison, Mr. Mason has now, for the first time, desired a scrutiny into the causes of his arrest and detention (at least to my know- ledge) whereby that part of the subject has been forgot. The case, as far as I have been able to discover it, was this : — “ St. John Mason was first cousin to Robert Emmet ; his trial is in print, and the reading of it might be no bad prepara- tion for any gentleman who wished to understand the state of Dublin at that time, and the views and feelings of govern- ment : Emmet’s concern in the insurrection of July 23, 1803, appeared by the papers which on that night were found in the Rebel Depot in Mass-lane, and sent to the Castle, some of which were proved on his trial ; so far the government was fully informed ; but what the extent of their information in MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 165 other respects was, it is perhaps impossible now to discover : we must endeavour to ascertain the facts, and suppose them to have been known at the time. “ For some months previous to the insurrection, Emmet had lived in or near Dublin, occupied chiefly in preparations for that event. At the time of the insurrection, and for some time before, but how long does not appear, St. John Mason, the first cousin and intimate friend of Emmet, resided at Sea Point, a genteel boarding-house, about four miles from the city, to which he probably had made frequent visits, though this does not appear : I cannot find any evidence of any inter- course having taken place between them during this time ; but it seems natural, that in the alarm and doubt, and suspense which followed the 23d July, it should have been at least strongly suspected that such intercourse had existed. Mason certainly took no part in the murders in Thomas-street ; the insurrection in that quarter took place about nine o’clock in the evening, at which time he was in a large company at the house of a very respectable gentleman who resided about miles from town, and from Sea Point. Even this, how- ever, did not tend to exempt him from all suspicion, as it was generally said that the company were surprised at his not coming till eight o’clock, (though a dinner-party) and at his arriving there, not from Sea Point, but from town. On that night Mason lay at Sea Point ; on the next or the following night he lay at an hotel in James-street, almost adjoinging the spot where the insurrection had broken out, and from thence proceeded by various modes of travelling as far as Nenagh, that being the direct way to Kerry, where Mason’s connec- tions lay j there he was arrested (it does not appear on what day) by , a Magistrate of the County, in consequence, as he states, of an order for that purpose from the then Under Secretary. In Mason’s letter-case were found some letters, particularly one directed to him, concerning which he express- ed considerable anxiety, saying, that it was from a female in London. This letter the magistrate read, and forwarded with the rest, and the prisoner, to the Castle. It cannot be found, but the magistrate’s account of it is, that it purported to be from a woman, but was expressed as if it had some covered meaning ; mentioned a longing till her nails should grow so long as to tear flesh and draw blood, and in more than one 166 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. place expressed a wisli to draw blood. On the whole, the magistrate states his opinion to have been at the time, that the letter was written by Emmet. Mr. Mason was transmitted to Dublin, where, on the 9th of August, he was under the Chief Secretary’s warrant com- mitted to Kilmainham. [See the Magistrate’s Statement, Appendix, No. I.] “ In the latter end of August Robert Emmet was taken, and committed to the same prison. “ George Dunn, an Englishman, formerly one of the under- keepers, and a confidential attendant on the state prisoners, and now the chief keeper ot Kilmainham, swears, That about the 5th of September, (being at that time one of the under- keepers) he was applied to by Mr. St. John Mason to procure the escape of Emmet, then also a prisoner in Kilmainham jail, for which he promised him the sum of five hundred pounds ; adding, that should Emmet get clear off, he (Dunn) would receive one thousand pounds in all, and that he should be kept harmless. Dunn further swears, that conceiving it his duty to prevent, if possible, the execution of such a plan, and that the best mode of doing so was not immediately to reject Mason’s proposal, he promised to consider it ; but in the mean time communicated with his ‘ superiors in office,’ and, in consequence of the directions he received, had another inter- view with Mason, and said he would endeavour to comply with his request ; upon which Mason gave him a note to deliver to Emmet, which note he withheld, but communicated the con- tents to Emmet, and it was ultimately handed to Mr. Wick- ham. “ Dunn also swears, that Mason then proposed, with which Dunn seemed to comply, that he should procure the key from Mr. John Dunn, the then keeper, while at dinner, and so let Emmet escape, and inform Emmet thereof, that he might take such steps as he thought necessary, which he accordingly did; that Emmet then gave him a note to Mr. Mason to procure clothes for the purpose of disguise, which note he was directed to show to Mr. John Dunn the keeper, and afterwards deliv- ered it to Mason, who said * * * would be with him the following day, and would procure what was desired : that Mason gave him (Dunn) several things to carry to Emmet, which he immediately showed to his superiors, and then deliv MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 161 ered them to Emmet, except some articles which were consid- ered improper to be conveyed to him. “ Dunn further swears, that he afterwards informed Mason, that it would be out of his power to effect Emmet’s escape, as Mr. John Dunn, the then keeper, remained entirely in that part of the prison ; upon which Mason gave him a guinea note as a reward (which he also handed to his superiors). At the same time, Dunn swears, that Mason requested him to in- struct * * * a person whom he supposed would be produced on Emmet’s trial, how to act according to the directions Mason then gave Dunn, for the purpose of preventing her giving evidence. “ Emmet was tried on the 19th, and executed on the 20th of September. After his trial, he wrote a letter to Mr. Wick- ham, then Chief Secretary, evidently not with any hope of pardon or respite, but apparently dictated by a sense of jus- tice, and by that sentiment of magnanimity with which, what- ever his crimes may have been, he certainly conducted himself on that solemn occasion. In that letter he declared, that it had been his intention not only to have acknowledged the de- licacy with which he had been personally treated, but to have done the most public justice to the mildness of the then ad- ministration of his country, and at the same time to have ac- quitted them, as far as rested with him, of any charge of re- missness in not having previously detected a conspiracy, which from its closeness, he knew it was impossible to have done. “ That Emmet had Mason then in his thoughts cannot be proved ; but it can scarcely be supposed that he would have unnecessarily used such language if he had been satisfied of the innocence of so near a relative, confined, to his knowledge, in the same prison. ( Signed ) “ J. S. Townsend.” No. I. Copy of the Examination of the Magistrate , Chief Secretary's Office, Dublin Castle , September 26, 1811. “Arrested Mr. John Mason in 1803, in consequence of a letter from this office from Mr. Marsden, as witness thinks, and thinks he showed Mason the letter brought to him by a yeo- man of the name of , found Mason in an inn at Nenagfy 168 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. and took him ; he appeared at first very much frightened He searched him, found nothing on his person, nor in his desk or letter-case, which he opened ; but wished much to get one particular letter, which he said was from a girl in London. Witness desired to see it, and on reading thought it a sort ol disguise, probably from Emmet, written in too ambiguous a manner ; kept no copy. It purported to be from a woman, and one of the expressions was, of a longing till her nails should grow so long as to tear flesh and draw blood, and re- peated several times, ‘ Oh, how I long to draw blood.’ Wit- ness sent it to the Castle with the rest, and observed on it in his letter ; read none of the others, but sent the whole sealed up. He returned witness thanks for his kind treatment in the morning, having passed the night in custody. “ Witness asked if he could account why he had been taken up ; he said he had been quizzing some ladies as Sea Point with politics, and supposed they had reported of him ; he said he had lain in a hotel in James-street a night or two after the 23rd of July, and had travelled in various ways to Nenagh. “ Witness knows he was at Sea Point on the night of 23rd July, 1803. tl He was civil to witness, but, as he has heard, quarrelled with every person in whose custody he was after. “ In some time after * * * * told witness that a man from Kerry had informed him, that the people there were ready to rise but for the arrest of their Colonel by witness. “ Witness had a relation of his own name who held a place in the Revenues in Kerry, and wrote to witness to get him re- moved, as he expected to be murdered for his name, on ac- count of witness having arrested Mason.” No. II. Copy of original Note in the hand-writing of Mr. St. John Mason ; — now in the Chief Secretary's Office. “ You must relinquish every idea of not going alone, or nothing can be done. I see no reason why G. (George Dunn) should go ; on the contrary, consider it would be most impru- dent and impolitic, and the delay of discovery may be for the hour even by his staying. I have a friend at Booterstown, who will be here to-morrow If he can, I know he will pro* MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 109 'jure a blue coat that will do, but it cannot be brought here. Surely you would be less liable to discovery by being alone, wherever you went for two nights. The only possible reason you can have for not having G. stay, is on account of R. and A. In short give up that idea, or the whole will be imprac- ticable. G. will be safe by remaining (not so if he goes) ; it may be unpleasant to him at first ; but he has nothing to do but to persist in his negligence and brave it. “You must go singly ; consider the clue to discovery in G. A. R. and E. wife of one connection, of another, and so on, &c. Prepare, therefore, to go alone. “You say, if you could all be safe for two nights ; suppose I grant all but the 1 if.’ But I say the difficulty of conceal- ment, even afterwards, would be ten-fold for each person ; once more I conjure you not to think of it. “ September, 1803.” No. HI. Copy of an original note in the handwriting of Mr. R. Emmet , now in the Chief Secretary’s Office. “ Ask G. at what time Mr. D. dines, and if he leaves any one at the door then. Though it might be a little early, yet, as he is longer away then than at any other time, it would better enable us all to go out, and, with the change of dress, would not be noticed. If it cannot be done then, he must watch the first opportunity after dinner that Mr. D. goes down the house, and let me out immediately ; I will be ready at the moment. Don’t let him wait till the guards are doubled, if he can avoid it, but, if he cannot do it before, let him be on the watch then, as D. will probably go to give them instruc- tions when placing them in the yards, as he did last night. I am anxious not to defer it till to-morrow, as I heard the offi- cers who came the rounds consulting with him about placing the sentries for better security, and think I heard them men- tion me in the Hall. D. also came in at one o’clock last night, under pretence that he thought he heard me calling. If it is delayed till to-morrow, it must be done at dinner-time. If sentries are placed in the hall by day, the only way will be, whenever D. goes down, let G. whistle ‘ God save the King' in the passage, and I will immediately ask to go to the neces> no MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. sary, and will change my clothes there instantly ; but, in this case G. must previously convey them there. Send for a pair of silver spectacles, (No. 5 fits my sight) which will facilitate the disguise ; after I am gone, G. must convey the clothes I wore away. “ Sept. 1803.” No. IY. Copy of a letter from Mr. Robert Emmet to the Right Hon. William Wickham. 11 Sept. 10, 1803. “ Sir, — Had I been permitted to proceed with my vindica- tion, it was my intention not only to have acknowledged the delicacy which I feel, with gratitude, that I have been person- ally treated, but also to have done the most public justice to the mildness of the present administration of this country, and, at the same time, to have acquitted them, as far as rested with me of any charge of remissness in not having previously detect- ed a conspiracy, which from its closeness, I know it was impos- sible to have done ; I confess that I should have preferred this mode, if it had been permitted, as it would thereby have en- abled me to clear myself from an imputation under which I might, in consequence, lie, and to have stated why such an ad- ministration did not prevent, but, under the peculiar situation of this country, perhaps rather accelerated, my determination to make an effort for the overthrow of a government of which I do not think equally high. “ However, as I have been deprived of that opportunity, I think it right now to make an acknowledgement which justice requires of me as a man, and which I do not feel in the least derogatory from my decided principles as an Irishman. “ I am, &c., (Signed) “ Robert Emmet. “ Rt. Hon. W. Wickham, “ &c. &c. &c.” No. Y. Copy of a letter from Mr. George Dunn, to Dr. Trevor ; with Dunn's affidavit annexed. “ Sir, — Your having required from me an exact statement of my conduct, relative to the intended escape of Mr. Emmet MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. m and Mr. Russell, prisoners confined in Kilmainham jail, in the year 1803, and since executed, I take the liberty of submitting the following facts, the authenticity and accuracy of which 1 am ready to verify upon oath. “ In that year, about the 5th of September, I was applied to by Mr. St. John Mason, a prisoner then confined in Kil- mainham, and since liberated, to procure from prison the escape of Mr. Emmet, for which he promised me the sum of five hund- red pounds ; and if Mr. Emmet should, in consequence, get clear off (meaning his escape from prison) I should receive a thousand pounds in all, and that he would keep me harmless. Conceiving it my duty to prevent, if possible, the execution of such a plan, and that the best mode of doing so was not to immediately reject his proposal (by which I should be preclud- ed from all further information) I told him I would consider upon what he mentioned. I immediately informed you there- of, and received your directions how I should act, in conse- quence of which, I had another interview with Mr. Mason, and said, I would endeavour to comply with the request ; upon which he gave me a note to deliver to Mr. Emmet, which I gave to you, the contents of which I have no doubt but you recollect ; and which, you since informed me, you handed to Mr. Secretary Wickham. Mr. Mason then proposed (with which I seemed to comply) that I should procure the key from Mr. Dunn, the then keeper, while at dinner, and then let Mr. Emmet escape ; and to inform him (Mr. Emmet) thereof, that he might take such steps as he thought necessary, which I accordingly did, and Mr. Emmet gave me a note to Mr. Mason, to procure clothes for the purpose of disguise ; which note I showed, by your directions, to Mr. Dunn, the keeper. I after- wards delivered it to Mr. Mason, who informed me, that * * ***** would be with him the following day, and pro- cure what was desired. *In two days after, Mr. Mason gave me several things to carry to Mr. Emmet, which I immediately showed to you, and then delivered them, except some articles which you mentioned to me were improper to be conveyed ta him. “ I then informed Mr. Mason, that it would be out of my power to effect Mr. Emmet’s escape, as Mr. Johu Dunn, the keeper, remained entirely in that part of the prison ; upon winch Mr. Mason gave me a guinea note, which I handed to 173 MEMOIR OP ROBERT EMMET. you, and instructed , a pcrso 1 whom he supposed would be produced on Mr. Emmet’s trial, how to act according tc the directions he then gave on that occasion, for the purpose of preventing her to go, or to give evidence. (Signed) “ Geo. Dunn.” The parts omitted in this memoir are those portions of the documents which relate to the attempts made to elfect Russell’s escape, which have been inserted in Russell’s memoir. Haviug inserted the information of the secret informer of the government, which represents Mr. Mason as a person long connected with treasonable proceedings, I think it due to Mr. Mason to insert his petition to the House of Commons, in 1811, and a duty to my countrymen, thus to show the evident refutation of the foul calumnies against him, and to exhibit a specimen of the information on which the lives and liberties of Irishmen have been taken out of the protection of the law, and made to depend on the fantasies and caprices of a minor functionary of the Irish government. No. vrn. Copy of an Extract in Book from the, letter signed Mason has associated much and intimately with the Irish rebels ; he is a native of Kerry ; was in Dublin College, and graduated in 1797. Was one of a Committee then held at a printing-office in Exchequer-street, when he with * * * * 0 f Kerry, and * * * * 0 f Tipperary, were deputed agents to Kerry ; the former was the county representative, the two latter the colonel and adjutant general, by the request of A. O’Connor and Emmet. On the arrest at Oliver Bond’s, Mason went to Wales, and lived near Tenby. Mason soon after entered his name on the Inns of Court. In summer, 1800, he made a visit at Fort George. He then went to Hamburgh ; thence to the Hague. * * *, * * * *, * * *, * * * *, * * *, * * *, * * * *, were at Liverpool with the crew of the Hoche, disguised as Frenchmen. Mason, at the desire of , went there, supplied them with money, met them in London, contrived to have them first exchanged, and pay their expenses to Dover ; and when it was known that they were MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. IT? there, but their persons not known, Mason caused some French men to pass for them, who thereupon were sent to Ireland, where the stratagem was discovered too late. Mason has some fortune. From the Hague he went tc Coblentz, from thence to Lon- don, by Embden ; there he lodged, first, in Marlborough-street, then in Kentish town, and last, in Crown-street, Westminister, associating with several disaffected persons, particularly , , , , , , . With the last he was at Cheltenham last summer (1802) ; was a relation of Robert Emmet, and his class-fellow in College ; is cautious and timid. MR. MASON’S PETITION, PRESENTED BY MR. SHERIDAN, 26th June, 1811. The Petition of St. John Mason , Esq., as presented to tJu House of Commons , May It, 1811, by the Right Hon R. B. Sheridan. “ To the Honourable the Commons of the United Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, in Parliament assembled, “ The humble Petition of St. John Mason, u Most respectfully sheweth, “ That your Petitioner was admitted a member of the Irish Bar, in Trinity Term, 1808. “ That, in August thereof, your Petitioner was, when on circuit, arrested at the distance of seventy miles from Dublin, to which he was directly conveyed, and committed to the pri- son of Kilmainham, where your Petitioner was detained in close and rigid custody, for more than two years. “ That the instrument, by virtue of which your Petitioner had been so committed, was a State-warrant, signed by Mr. Wickham, then Chief Secretary for Ireland, under the Earl of Hardwicke’s Administration, and by his Excellency’s com- mand, containing a sweeping and general charge of treason ; and that said warrant did not specify that said charge was founded on any information given upon oath. “ That your Petitioner and his friends have applied to the Irish government, in every shape, b)th personally and other- 174 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. wise, respecting its oppressive treatment of your Petitioner ; soliciting Examination , and claimiug to be informed of the cause of your Petitioner’s having been so deprived of his liberty for more than two years : but, that all such applications have been wholly unavailing, in consequence, as your Petitioner doth firmly, but most respectfully, assert to this honourable House, of the absolute inability of that government to state, with truth, any just cause whatsoever for such rigorous and unjust imprisonment of your Petitioner. “ That, as it is impossible for your Petitioner to prove the negative of an undefined and unspecified charge, your Petitioner can, in general terms only, most solemnly declare his inno- cence ; — to establish which, your Petitioner had, also, during his imprisonment, when he was at the mercy of vile and cor- rupt informers, repeatedly, but in vain, demanded from the said government of Ireland, that Right which the Constitution gives to every subject of the land, against whom accusation has been laid, namely, a Trial by the Laws of his country ! “ That the infringement and suppression of justice, which had been exercised in the case of your Petitioner, not coming within the scope or cognizance of any legal tribunal, your Pe- titioner begs leave, with the most becoming respect, to ap- proach this honourable House for Constitutional redress ; and, as an injured subject of this realm, in whose person the general rights of the community have been violated, humbly appeal against such violation and suppression of justice ; — and, forti- fied as well by the rectitude of his conduct, as by a firm confi- dence in the protecting justice of this honourable House, your Petitioner begs permission to present his complaint against that Officer of the State, under whose government such viola- tion had been committed ; and whom your Petitioner, how- ever elevated might have been the trust and station to which that Officer had been exalted, cannot constitutionally consider as divested of responsibility for the acts of that trust, as exer- cised during his administration in Ireland ; — which said com- plaint your Petitioner most humbly begs to present to thia honourable House, as his duty, in the last resort, to society and to himself, challenging all inquiry , and defying all imputa- tion on his probity and honour. “ That your Petitioner doth, therefore, distinctly and di- rectly charge the government of the Earl of Hardwieke, whe? MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 175 that noble Earl was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, with Injus- tice and Oppression, by having, in the person of your Peti- tioner, abused, to the injury and destruction of the subject, the discretionary powers of that trust, which had been granted for his protection ; and further, that the said Earl of Hardwicke has since continued to deny to your Petitioner that humble measure of justice, an acknowledgment of his innocence , of which your Petitioner cannot but think his Lordship is now con- vinced. And your Petitioner now humbly prays that this honourable House, which your Petitioner looks up to, as the Grand Depositary and Guardian of the Public Rights, ac- cording to the structure of the Constitution, will be graciously pleased to grant to your Petitioner, who is now in humble at- tendance, awaiting the pleasure of this honourable House, such means and opportunities of substantiating his said allegations, as may, in its wisdom, appear best calculated for the attain- ment of such his object, and for the accomplishment of justice ; — your Petitioner so praying, not only for the purpose of vin- dicating his character, but also under the protection of this honourable House, of guarding , by his humble efforts, the rights of the subject against similar infractions ; which rights have been so unconstitutionally violated in the person of the indi- vidual, your humble Petitioner. “ And your Petitioner shall, &c., &c. “ St. John Mason” CHAPTER X I Y . On Monday, September 19, 1803, at the special commis- sion before Lord Nor bury, Mr. Baron George, and Mr. Baron Daly, Robert Emmet was put on his trial, on a charge of high treason, under 25 Edward III. The counsel assigned him were Messrs. Ball, Burrowes, and M'Nally. The Attorney-general, Mr. Standish O’Grady, opened the indictment. In the learned gentleman’s address to the jury, the establishment of the prisoner’s guilt seemed not to be a matter of more importance than the defence of the government 176 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. from the appearance of surprisal, or the suspicion of having suffered a conspiracy, “ serious in its unsounded depth and un- known extent,” to have assumed a more formidable shape than a double policy and a feeble executive were calculated to deal with. In fact, in the speeches of the Attorney-general, the Solicitor-general, and the King’s Counsel, Air. Plunket, the hearers were perpetually, though, of course, unintentionally, reminded of the squabble between the Governor and the General. The Attorney-general, in the course of his able address, said : — “ Perhaps at former periods some allowance might be made for the heated imaginations of enthusiasts ; perhaps an extravagant love of liberty might for a moment supersede a rational understanding, and might be induced, for want of suf- ficient experience or capacity, to look for that liberty in revo- lution. But it is not the road to liberty. It throws the mass of the people into agitation, only to bring the worst and most profligate to the surface. It originates in anarchy, proceeds in bloodshed, and ends in cruel and unrelenting despotism. . . . Gentlemen, I do not wish to undertake to speak in the pro- phetic. But when I consider the vigilance and firmness of his Majesty’s Government, the spirit and discipline of M's Majes- ty’s troops, and that armed valour and loyalty which, from one end of the country to the other, has raised itself for the purpose of crushing domestic treason, and, if necessary, of meeting and repelling a foreign foe, I do not think it unreason- able to indulge a sanguine hope that the continuance of the same conduct upon the part of government, and of the same exertions upon the part of the people, will long preserve the nation free, happy, and independent Gentlemen, upon former occasions, persons were brought to the bar of this court, implicated in the rebellion, in various, though inferior degrees. But if I am rightly instructed, we have now brought to the bar of justice, not a person who had been seduced by others, but a gentleman to whom the rebellion may be traced as the origin, the life, and soul of it I do sincerely lament with him (the prisoner), that some of those who have been hitherto brought to justice, were comparatively speaking, insignificant persons. They were not, I admit, prime movers of this treason ; but I trust the commission may not pass ovef without some distinguished examples.”. . . . MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET ir. At the conclusion of a speech of considerable length, th« jury were told to give the prisoner the full benefit 3f any de- fence he might make, and dispassionately consider the nature of his vindication “ EXAMINATION OF WITNESSES. “ Joseph Rawlins, Esq., being sworn, deposed to a know- ledge of the prisoner, and recollected having been in his com pany some time in the month of December last, when he un- derstood from him that he had been to see his brother at Brussels On his cross-examination, the witness said, that in conversations with him on the subject of continental politics, the prisoner avowed that the inhabitants of the Austrian Netherlands execrated Buonaparte's government ; and, from the whole of the prisoner's conversation, the witness had rea- son to believe that he highly condemned Buonaparte's conduct and government. “ Mr. George Tyrrel, an attorney, proved the execution, in the month of June last, of the lease of a house in Butterfield- lane, Rathfarnham, from Michael Frayne to the prisoner, who assumed on the occasion the name of Ellis. Mr. Tyrrel was one of the subscribing witnesses to the lease, aud a person named William Dowdall was the other. “Michael Frayne, who leased the above-mentioned house to the prisoner, proved also to that fact, and that he gave him possession of it on the 23rd of April preceding, that the pr* soner and Dowdall lived in the most sequestered manner, an i apparently anxious of concealment. “John Fleming, a native of the County of Kildare, sworn deposed that on the 23 rd of July, and for the year previous thereto, he had been ostler at the White Bull Inn, Thomas street, kept by a person named Dillon. The house was con- venient to Marshal-lane, where the rebel Depot was, and to which the witness had free and constant access — having been in the confidence of the conspirators, and employed to bring them ammunition and other things. He saw the persons there making pike-handles, and heading them with the iron part ; he also saw the blunderbusses, firelocks, and pistols in the De- pot : and saw ball-cartridges making there. Here the wit- ness identified the prisoner at the bar, whom he saw in the Depot for the first time on he Tuesday morning after the ex- 118 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. plosion in Patrick-street — (that explosion took place on Satur day, the 16th of July). The witness had opened the gate of the inn-yard, which opened into Marshal-lane, to let out Quig- ley, when he saw the prisoner, accompanied by a person of tha name of Palmer ; the latter got some sacks from the witness, to convey ammunition to the stores, and the prisoner went into the Depot, where he continued almost constantly until the evening of the 23rd of July, directing the preparations for the insurrection, and having the chief authority. He heard the prisoner read a little sketch, as the witness called it, purporting that every officer, non-commissioned officer, and private should have equally everything they got, and have the game laws as in France. Being asked what it was they were to share, the prisoner replied, ‘ what they got when they were to take Ireland or Dublin.’ He saw green uniform jackets making in the Depot by different tailors, one of whom was named Colgau. He saw one uniform in particular — a green coat, laced on the sleeves and skirts, &c. and gold epaulets, like a general’s dress. He saw the prisoner take it out of a desk one day and show it to all present — (here the witness identified the desk, which was in court) ; he also saw the prisoner, at different times, take out papers, and put papers back into the desk ; there was none other in the store. Quig- ley used, also, sometimes to go to the desk. On the evening of the 23rd July, witness saw the prisoner dressed in the uni- form above described, with white waistcoat and pantaloons, new boots and cocked hat, and white feather. He had also a sash on him, and was armed with a sword and case of pistols. The prisoner called for a big coat, but did not get it, to dis- guise his uniform, as he said, until he went to the party that was to attack the Castle. Quigley and a person named Staf- ford had uniforms like that of Emmet, but had only one epaulet. Quigley had a white feather, and Stafford a green one. Stafford was a baker in Thomas-street. About nine o’clock, the prisoner drew his sword, and called out to ‘ Come on, my boys.’ He sallied out of the Depot, accompanied by Quigley and Stafford and about fifty men, as well as he could judge, armed with pikes, blunderbusses, pistols, &c. They entered Dirty-lane, and went from thence into Thomas-street The prisoner was in the centre of the party. They began tc fire in Dirty-lane, and also when they got into Thomas-street MEMOfS OF ROBERT EMM El. 17$ The witness was with the party. The prisoner went into the stores by the name of Ellis. He was considered by all of them as the general and head of the business ; the witness heard him called by the title of general. In and out' of the Depot it was said that they were preparing to assist the 1 French when they should land. Quigley went into the Depot, by the name of Graham. “Terence Colgan, the tailor named in the foregoing evi- dence, being sworn, deposed that on the Sunday previous to> the insurrection, he came to town from Lucan, where he lived;; having met with a friend, they went to Dillon’s, the White- Bull Inn, in Thomas-street, and drank, until the witness, over- come with liquor, fell asleep, when he was conveyed in this state of insensibility into the Depot in Marshal-lane ; and when he awoke the next morning, he was set to work making green jackets and white pantaloons. He saw the prisoner there, by whose directions everything was done, and who he understood was the chief. He recollected seeing the last wit- ness frequently in the Depot while he was there. He also saw tfye prisoner often at the desk writing. The witness cor- roborated the general preparations of arms, ammunition, &c., for the insurrection. “ Patrick Farrell sworn : deposed that as he was passing through Marshal-lane, between the hours of nine and ten ten o’clock on the evening of Friday, the 22nd of July, he stopped before the malt stores or Depot on hearing a noise therein, which surprised him, as he considered it a waste house. Immediately the door opened, and a man came forth, who caught him, and asked him what he was doing there ? The witness was then brought into the Depot, and again asked what brought him there, or had he been ever there before 1 He said he had not. They asked him did he know Graham ! He replied he did not. One of the persons then said that wit- ness was a spy, and called out to ‘ drop him immediately,’ which the witness understood that they meant to shoot him. They brought him up stairs, and, after some consultation, they agreed to wait for some person to come in who would decide what should be done with him. That person having arrived, he asked the witness if he knew Graham ? He replied that he did not. A light was brought in at the same time, and the witness having looked about, was asked if he knew any on*; 180 MEMOIR OP ROBERT EMMEt. there ? He replied he knew Quigley. He was asked where f He replied that he knew him live or six years ago, in the Col lege of Maynooth, as a bricklayer or mason. The witness un derstood that Quigley was the person who went by the name of Graham. Here witness identified the prisoner as the per- son who came in and decided he should not be killed, but he should be taken care of and not let out. The witness was de- tained there that night, and the whole of the next day, Satur- day, the 23rd, and was made to assist at the different kinds of work. “ He assisted in taking boards from off a car ; the boards, he said, were made into cases, and pikes put into them. These cases the witness described as being made of the outside slabs of a long beam, taken off about an inch or more thick ; four or five inches at each end of the beam was cut off ; the slabs were nailed together, and these pieces put in at the ends — so that it appeared like a rough plank or beam of timber. He saw several such cases, filled with pikes, sent out. The witness stated that on the evening of the 23rd he saw three men dress- ed in green uniforms, richly laced ; one of whom was the pris- oner, who wore two gold epaulets, but the other two only one each. The prisoner had also a cocked hat, sword, and pistols. When the witness was helping out one of the beams prepared for explosion, he contrived to make his escape. “ On his cross-examination, in which the interrogatories were suggested by the prisoner, the only thing remarkable in the evidence of the witness was, that he heard a printed paper read, part of which was, “ that nineteen counties were ready at the same time, to second the attempt in Dublin.” The witness also heard them say, ‘ that they had no idea as to the French relief, but would make it good themselves.’ In answer to a question from the Court, the witness said that he gave information of the circumstances deposed in his evidence, next morning, to Mr. Ormsby, in Thomas-street, to whom he was steward. “ Sergeant Thomas Rice proved the proclamation of the Provisional Government, found in the Depot. ! ‘ Colonel Spencer Thomas Vassal being sworn, deposed that he was field officer of the day on the 23rd of July ; that having gone to the Depot in Marshal-lane, he found there several small proclamations, addressed to the citizens of Dublin, and which MfeMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 181 were quite wet. Tie identified one of them. The witness also identified the d^sk which the prisoner used in the Depot. Hav- ing remained about a quarter of an hour in the Depot, he com mitted to Major Grerille the care of its contents. “ Questioned by the Court — The witness said, that he visit- ed the Depot between three and four o’clock on Sunday morn- ing, it having been much advanced in daylight before he was suffered to go his rounds. “ Alderman Frederick Darley, sworn — Proved having found in the Depot, a paper directed to * Robert Ellis, Butterfield ; ’ also a paper entitled, ‘ A Treatise on the Art of War.’ The latter had been handed at the time to Captain Evelyn. “ Captain Henry Evelyn sworn — Deposed having been at the rebel Depot the morning of Sunday, the 24th of July, to see the tilings removed to the barracks, and that he found a paper there (which, being shown to him, he identified.) This paper was a manuscript draft of the greater part of the pro- clamation of the Provisional Government, altered and inter- lined in a great many places. “ Robert Lindsay, a soldier, and Michael Clement Frayne, quartermaster-sergeant of the 38th Regiment, proved the con- veyance of the desk (then in court) to the barracks ; and the latter identified a letter which he found therein. The letter was signed, ‘ Thomas Addis Emmet/ and directed to ‘ Mrs. Emmet, Miltown, near Dublin/ and began with * My dearest Robert.’ It bore a foreign post-mark. “ Edward Wilson, Esq., recollected the explosion of gun- powder which took place in Patrick-street, previous to the 23rd of July ; it took place on the 16th. He went there, and found an apparatus for making gunpowder ; was certain that it was gunpowder exploded. Proved the existence of a rebel- lious insurrection ; as did also Lieutenant Brady. The latter added, that on an examination of the pikes, which he found in Thomas-street, four were stained with blood on the iron part, and on one or two of them, the blood extended half way up the handle. " John Doyle, a farmer, being sworn, deposed to the follow- ing effect — That on the morning of the 26th of July last, about two o’clock, a party of people came to his house at Bally- mack, in the parish of Tallaght, seven miles from Dublin. Ha had been after drinking, and was heavy asleep ; they came tc 182 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. his bedside, and stirred and called him, but he did not awake at once ; when he did, and looked up, he lay closer than be- fore ; they desired him to take some spirits, which he refused ; they then moved him to the middle of the bed ; and two of them lay down, one on each side of him. One of them said, ‘ You have a French general and a French colonel beside you, what you never had before.’ For some hours the witness lay between them asleep and awake. When he found his com- panions asleep, he stole out of bed, and found in the room some blunderbusses, a gun, and some pistols. The number of blunderbusses, he believed, was equal to the number of per- sons, who, on being collected at breakfast, amounted to four- teen. (Here he identified the prisoner as one of those who were in bed with him.) “ The witness then further stated, that the prisoner, on going away in the evening, put on a coat with a great deal of lace and tassels (as he expressed it). There was another person in a similiar dress : they wore on their departure great coats over these. The party left his house between eight and nine o’clock in the evening, and proceeded up the hill. The next morning, the witness found under the table, on which they breakfasted, one of the small printed proclamations, which he gave to John Robinson, the barony constable. “ Rose Bagnal, residing at Ballynascorney, about a mile farther up the hill from Doyle’s, proved, that, a party of men, fifteen in number, and whom she described similar to that of the preceding witness, came to her house on the night of the Tuesday immediately after the insurrection. Three of them wore green clothes, ornamented with something yellow : she was so frightened, she could not distinguish exactly. One of them was called a general. She was not enabled to identify any of them. They left her house about nine o’clock the fol- lowing night. “ John Robinson, constable of the barony of Upper Cross, corroborated the testimony of the witness Doyle, relative to the small proclamation which he identified. “ Joseph PoMer sworn — Deposed that he was clerk to Mr. Colville, and lodged at his mother’s house, Harold’s Cross. He recollected the apprehension of the prisoner at his mother’s house, by Major Sirr ; and that he did lodge there the pre- ceding spring, at which time, and when he was arrested, he MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 183 rent by the name of Hewitt. The prisoner came to lodge there the second time, about three weeks before this last time, aud was habited in a brown coat, white waistcoat, white pan- taloons, Hessian boots, and a black frock. Those who visited the prisoner inquired for him by the name of Hewitt. At the time he was arrested, there was a label on the door of the house, expressive of its inhabitants ; it was written by the witness, but the name of the prisoner was omitted, at his re- quest, because he said he was afraid government would take him up. “The prisoner, in different conversations with the witness, explained why he feared to be taken up. He acknowledged that he had been in Thomas-street on the night of the 23rd of July, and described the dress he wore on that occasion, part of which was the waistcoat, pantaloons, and boots already mentioned, and particularly his coat, which, he said, was a very handsome uniform. The prisoner had also a conversation with the witness about a magazine, and expressed much regret at the loss of the powder in the Depot. The proclamations were likewise mentioned by the prisoner ; and he planned a mode of escape, in the event of any attempt to arrest him, by going through the parlour window into the back house, and from thence into the fields. Here the witness was shown a paper, found upon a chair in the room in which the prisoner lodged, and asked if he knew whose hand-writing it was ? He replied that he did not know ; but was certain that it had not been written by any of his family, and there was no lodger in his house besides the prisoner. “ The examination of this witness being closed, extracts from the proclamation addressed to the citizens of Dublin, were read. “ Major Henry Charles Sirr sworn and examined — Deposed to the arrest of the prisoner, on the evening of the 25th of August, in the house of Palmer, in Harold’s Cross. “ Mr. M‘Nally said, as Mr. Emmet did not intend to call any witness, or to take up the time of the Court by his coun- sel stating any case, or making any observations on the evi- dence. He presumed the trial was now closed on both sides “ Mr. Plunket stood up and said — ‘ It is with extreme re luctance that, under such circumstances, I do not feel myself 184 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. at liberty to follow the example which has been set me by the counsel for the prisoner. “ The Attorney-General said — ‘ As the prisoner’s declining to go into any case wore the impression that the case on the part of the crown required no answer, it was at his particular desire that Mr. Plunket rose to address the Court. “ Mr. Plunket made a speech, exceeding in length that of the Attorney-General, the former occupying twelve pages of the printed report, the latter only nine. The learned gentle- man commented on the evidence with extraordinary skill and precision, and brought home, at every sentence of it, guilt enough to have convicted twenty men, in the awful situation of the prisoner. He said, ‘ With regard to this mass of ac- cumulated evidence, forming irrefragable proof of the guilt of the prisoner, I conceive no man, capable of putting together two ideas, can have a doubt.’ “ In observing upon the conduct of the prisoner at the bar, and bringing home the evidence of his guilt, Mr. Plunket said, ‘ I am bringing home guilt to a person, who, I say, is the cen- tre, the life, blood, and soul of this atrocious conspiracy.’ The prisoner’s aim was, not to reform the abuses of the gov- ernment, but * to sever the connection between Great Britain and Ireland.’ “Gentlemen, I should feel it a waste of words and of pub- lic time, were I to address you, or any person within the limits of my voice, were I to talk of the frantic desperation of the plan of any man who speculates upon the dissolution of that empire, whose glory and whose happiness depends upon its in- dissoluble connection. But were it practicable to sever that connection, to untie the links which bind us to the British constitution, and to turn us adrift upon the turbulent ocean of revolution, who could answer for the existence of this country, as an independent country, for a year ? God and nature have made the two countries essential to each other. Let them ding to each other to the end of time ; and then, united affec- tion and loyalty will be proof against the machinations of the world.”* • The eloquence of this passage is, perhaps, only inferior to that of one in a speech of Mr. Plunket, delivered in the Irish House of Com- mons, in a debate on the Union, on the 16th January, 1800, (from the “Parliamentary Debates,” p. 89. Moore, Dublin.) MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 185 Mr. Pluuket, in his speech on Emmet’s trial, truly said, “ If the wisest head that ever lived had framed the wisest system of laws which human ingenuity could devise ; if he were satisfied that the system were exactly fitted to the dis- position of the people for whom he intended it, and that a great portion of the people were anxious for its adoption, he would take leave to say, that under all these circumstances of fitness and disposition, a well-judging mind and a humane heart , would pause awhile, and stop upon the brink of his purpose, be- fore he would hazard the peace of his. country, by resorting to force for the establishment of his system “There are principles of repulsion,” said Mr. Plunket; “yes, but there are principles of attraction ; and from these, the enlightened statesman extracts the principle by which the countries are to be har- moniously governed. As soon would I listen to the shallow observer of nature who should say, there is a centrifugal force impressed on our globe, and, therefore, lest she should be hurried into the void of space, let us rush into the centre to be consumed there. JSo; I say to this rash arraigner of the dispensations of the Almighty, there are impul- ses, from whose wholesome opposition Eternal Wisdom has declared the law by which we revolve in our proper sphere, and at our proper distance. So I say to the political visionary, from the opposite system which you object to, I see the wholesome law of imperial connection derived; I see the two countries preserving their due distance from each other, generating and imparting heat, and light, and life, and health, and vigour ; and I will abide by the wisdom and experience of the ages which are past, in preference to the speculations of any modern philosophy. See, I warn the ministers of this country against persever- ing in their present system. Let them not proceed to offer violence to the settled principles, or to shake the settled loyalty of the country. Let them not persist in the wicked and desperate doctrine which places British connection in contradistinction to Irish freedom. I revere them both : it has been the habit of my life to do so. For the present con- stitution I am ready to make any sacrifice. I have proved it. For British connection I am ready to lay down my life. My actions have proved it. Why have I done so? Because I consider that connection essential to the freedom of Ireland. Do not, therefore, tear asunder, to oppose each other, these principles which are identified in the minds of loyal Irishmen. For me, I do not hesitate to declare, that if the madness of the revolutionist should tell me, you must sacrifice British connection, I would adhere to that connection in preference to the in- dependence of my country; but I 'have as little hesitation in saying, that if the wanton ambition of a minister should assault the freedom of Ireland, and compel me to the alternative, I would fling the con- nection to the winds, and I would. clasp the independence of my coun try to my heart. I trust the virtue and wisdom of the Irish parlia 186 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. Would to God that wise and truly Christian sentiment had tempered the ardour and controlled the enthusiasm of that noble-minded being, whose youth and inexperience had been thrown on such bad times, and were so unfitted to contend with the villany in high places that predominated in them. “ The proclamation,” Mr. Plunket said, “ told the people of Ireland, ‘ the effort was to be entirely their own, independent of foreign aid.’ But out of that proclamation he would con- vict the prisoner of duplicity ; for he tells the government, if they put down the present effort, ‘ they would have to crush a greater effort, rendered still greater by foreign alliance.’ But while they were introducing their new-fangled French principles, they forget to tell the people whom they address, that they have been enjoying the benefit of equal laws, by which the property, the person, and constitutional rights and privileges of every man were abundantly protected. They have not pointed out a single instance of oppression Did any man presume to invade another in the enjoyment of his property ? If he did, was not the punishment of the law brought down upon him ? What did he want ? What is it that any rational freedom could expect, and that this country were not fully and amply in the possession of ?” Three years and six months had passed over since the one thing needful to the happiness of Ireland was to have been clasped to the heart. It had been torn away ; and lo, and behold ! there was not a single instance of oppression, nothing of rational freedom, that the country was not fully and amply in possession of ! ment and people will prevent that dreadful alternative from arising. If it should come, be the guilt of it on the heads of those who make it necessary.” “ The dreadful alternative ” came in a few weeks after the delivery of Mr. Plunket’s able speech, and the indignant orator “clasped his” hands with astonishment, outlived the Union, and in three years and a half after its accomplishment, poor Robert Emmet very foolish- ly thought Mr. Plunket had been in earnest in what he so eloquently threatened to do — he unfortunately “flung the connection to the winds” in realit y ; and Mr. Plunket was one of his prosecutors, who, In the necessary discharge of his duty, had to call on a jury to con- demn the young man, who had done what he himself had vowed to do hypothetically and metaphorically in his place in parliament. Mr. Plunket’s appointment to the office of Solicitor-General, was gazetted the 17th of [November. 1803. MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 18 r t " When the prisoner reflected,” said Mr. Plunket, “ that he had stooped from the honourable situation in which his birth, talents, and education placed him, to debauch the minds of the lower orders of ignorant men, with the phantoms of liberty and equality, he must feel that it was an unworthy use of his talents,” &c “It was not for him,” Mr. Plunket, “ to say, what were the limits of the mercy of God, what a sincere repentance of those crimes might effect ; but he did say, that if this unfortunate young gentleman retained any of the seeds of humanity in his heart, or possessed any of those qualities which a virtuous education, in a liberal seminary, must have planted in his bosom, he will make an atonement to his God and his country, by employing whatever time remains to him, in warning his deluded countrymen from persevering in their schemes. “ Much blood has been shed, and he, the prisoner, would, perhaps, have been immolated by his followers, if he had suc- ceeded. They were a blood-thirsty crew, incapable of listen- ing to the voice of reason, and equally incapable of obtaining rational freedom, if it were wanting in this country, as they are of enjoying it. They imbrue their hands in the most sacred blood of the country ; and yet, they call upon God to prosper their cause, as it is just.” Mr. Plunket ended by saying, “ But as it is atrocious, wicked, and abominable, I most de- voutly invoke that God to confound and overwhelm it.” Lord Norbury then charged the jury ; and it ought in fair- ness, I will not say to that much injured, but much reprobated man, to be stated, that his speech was as free from rancour, as it was in the nature of things for any speech of Lord Nor- bury’s to be, addressed to a prisoner on his trial, or to a plain- tiff in a cause that came before him. The jury, without retiring from the box, brought in a ver- dict of Guilty. The Attorney-General prayed the judgment of the Court. Mr. M‘Nally, on the part of the prisoner, stated a request, which, probably, ought to be addressed to the Attorney General, that judgment might not be made until the following day. The Attorney-General, Mr. Standish O’Grady, said, “ It was impossible to comply with the request.” The Clerk of the Crown then, in the usual form, addressed 188 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. the prisoner, concluding in these words, — “ What have yon, therefore, now to say, why judgment of death and execution should not be awarded against you, according to law ?” Mr. Emmet, standing forward in the dock, in front of the bench, said, — “ My lords, as to why judgment of death and execution should not be passed upon me, according to law, I have nothing to say ; but as to why my character should not be relieved from the imputations and calumnies thrown out against it, I have much to say. I do not imagine that your lordships will give credit to what I am going to utter ; I have no hopes that I can anchor my character in the breast of the court, I only wish your lordships may suffer it to float down your memories until it has found some more hospitable harbour to shelter it from the storms with which it is at present buffet- ed. Was I to suffer only death, after being adjudged guilty, I should bow in silence to the fate which awaits me ; but the sentence of the law which delivers over my body to the execu- tioner, consigns my character to obloquy. A man in my situa- tion has not only to encounter the difficulties of fortune, but also the difficulties of prejudice. Whilst the man dies, his ,‘memory lives ; and that mine may not forfeit all claim to the respect of my countrymen, I seize upon this opportunity to vindicate myself from some of the charges alleged against me. I am charged with being an emissary of France : it is false — I am no emissary. I did not wish to deliver up my country to a foreign power, and least of all, to France. Never did I entertain the remotest idea of establishing French power in Ireland. From the introductory paragraph of the address of the Provisional Government, it is evident that every hazard attending an independent effort, was deemed preferable, to the more fatal risk of introducing a French army into this country. Small, indeed, would be our claim to patriotism and to sense, and palpable our affectation of the love of liberty, if we were to sell our country to a people, who are not only slaves them- selves, but the unprincipled and abandoned instruments of im- posing slavery on others. And my lords, let me here observe, that 1 am not the head and life’s blood of this rebellion. When I came to Ireland, I found the business ripe for execu- tion. I was asked to join in it. I took time to consider ; and after mature deliberation, I became one of the Provisional Government ; and there then was, my lords, an agent from MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET 189 the United Irishmen and Provisional Government of Ireland at Paris, negotiating with the French Government, to obtain from them an aid sufficient to accomplish the separation of Ireland from Great Britain, the preliminary to which assist- ance has been a guarantee to Ireland similar to that which Franklin obtained for America ; but the intimation that I, or the rest of the Provisional Government, meditated to put our country under the dominion of a power which has been the enemy of freedom in every part of the globe, is utterly false and unfounded. Did we entertain any such ideas, how could we speak of giving freedom to our countrymen ? how could we assume such an exalted motive ? If such an inference is drawn from any part of the proclamation of the provisional government, it calumniates their views, and is not warranted by the fact. “ Connection with France was, indeed, intended, but only as far as mutual interest would sanction or require. Were they to assume any authority inconsistent with the purest independ- ence, it would be the signal for their destruction. We sought aid, and we sought it — 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, unin- vited by the wishes of the people, I should oppose them to the utmost of my strength. Yes ! my countrymen, I should ad- vise you to meet them upon the beach, with a sword in one hand, and a torch in the other. I would meet them with all the destructive fury of war. I would animate my countrymen 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 intrenchment 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 : because I should feel con- scious that life, any more than death, is unprofitable, when a foreign nation holds my country in subjection. “ Reviewing the conduct of France to other countries, could we expect better towards us ? No ; let not then any man attaint my memory by believing that I could have hoped to give freedom to my country, by betraying the sacred cause of liberty, and committing it to the power of her most determined 190 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET foe. Had I done so, I had not deserved to live ; and, dying with such a weight upon my character, I had merited the hon- est execration of that country which gave me birth, and to which I would give freedom. What has been the conduct of the French towards other countries ? they promised them liberty, and when they got them into their power, they en- slaved them. What has been their conduct towards Switzer- land, where it has been stated that I have been ? had the peo- ple there been desirous of French assistance, I would have sided with the people, I would have stood between them and the French, whose aid they called in, and, to the utmost of my ability, I would have protected them from every attempt at subjugation ; I would, in such case, have fought against the French, and, in the dignity of freedom, I would have ex- pired on the threshold of that country, and they should have entered it only by passing over my lifeless corpse. Is it then to be supposed that I would be slow in making the same sacri- fices for my native land ; and I, who lived but to be of ser- vice to my country, and who would subject myself to the bondage of the grave to give her freedom and independence, am I to be loaded with the foul and grievous calumny of being an emissary of French tyranny and French despotism ? My Lords, it may be part of the system of angry justice, to bow a man’s mind by humiliation to meet the ignominy of the scaffold, but worse to me than the scaffold’s shame, or the scaffold’s terrors, would be the imputation of having been the agent of the despotism and ambition of France ; and, whilst I have breath, I will call upon my countrymen not to believe me guilty of so foul a crime against their liberties, and against their happiness. I would do with the people of Ireland as I would have done with the people of Switzerland, could I be called upon at any future period of time so to do. My ob- ject, and that of the rest of the provisional government, was, to effect a total separation between Great Britain and Ireland, to make Ireland totally independent of Great Britain, but not to let her become a dependant of France. A “ When my spirit shall have joined those bands of martyred heroes, who have shed their blood on the scaffold, and in the field, in defence of their country, this is my hope, that my memory and name may serve to animate those who survive MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. 191 “ While the destruction of that government which upholds its dominion by impiety against the Most High, which dis- plays its power over man as over the beasts of the field, which sets man upon his brother, and lifts his hands, in religion’s name, against the throat of his fellow, who, believes a little more or less than the government standard, which reigns amidst the cries of the orphans and of the widows it has made.” (Here Mr. Emmet was interrupted by Lord Nor- bury.) After a few words on the subject of his objects, purposes, and the final prospect of success, he was again interrupted, when he said — “ What I have spoken was not intended for your lordships, whose situation I commiserate rather than envy ; my expres* sions were for my countrymen. If there be a true Irishman present, let my last words cheer him in the hour of affliction.” Lord Nor bury interrupted the prisoner. “ 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 human- ity ; to exhort the victim of the laws, and to offer, with ten- der benignity, his opinions of the motives by which he was ac- tuated, in 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, clemency, and mildness of your courts of justice, if an unfortunate prisoner, whom your policy, and not justice, is about to deliver into the hands of the executioner, is not suffered to explain his motives, sincerely and truly, and to vindicate the principles by which he was ac- tuated ? “ My Lords, it may be a part of the system of angry jus- tice, to bow a man’s mind by humiliation, to the purposed ignominy of the scaffold ; but worse to me than the purposed shame, or the scaffold’s terrors, would be the tame endurance of such foul and unfounded imputations as have been laid against me in this court. You, my Lord, are a judge. I am the supposed culprit. I am a man — 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 thii 192 MEMOIR OF ROBERT EMMET. court, and dare not vindicate my character, w'^x c farce is your justice! If I stand at this bar, and dare zki indicate my character, how dare you calumniate it ? Does fi*. ^.nteuce . of death, which your unhallowed policy inflicts or r j body, condemn my tongue to silence, and my reputation tc ncroach ? Tour executioner may abridge the period of my exiF.£:.*? 254 APPENDIX. wards Ireland, you cannot hope to do so as tranquilly as you have done towards America : for in the exasperated state to which you have roused the minds of the Irish people — a peo- ple whom you profess to have left in a state of barbarism and ignorance, with what confidence can you say to that people, ‘ While the advantage of cruelty lay upon our side, we slaugh- tered you without mercy, but the measure of your own blood is beginning to preponderate.’ It is no longer our interest that this bloody system should continue, show us then that for- bearance which we never taught you by precept or example, lay aside your resentment ; give quarter to us, and let us mu- tually forget we never gave quarter to you. Cease then, we entreat you, uselessly to violate humanity, by resorting to a system inefficacious as a mode of defence ; inefficacious as a mode of conviction ; ruinous to the future relations of the two countries in case of our success ; and destructive of those in- struments of defence which you will then find it doubly neces- sary to have preserved unimpaired. But if your determination be otherwise, hear ours. We will not imitate you in cruelty ; we will put no man to death in cold blood ; the prisoners which first fall into our hands shall be treated with the respect due to the unfortunate, but if the life of a single unfortunate Irish soldier is taken after the battle is over, the orders thence- forth to be delivered to the, Irish army is, neither to give nor to take quarter. Countrymen, if a cruel necessity force us to retaliate, we will bury our resentment in the field of battle ; ’if we fall, we will fall where we fight for our country. Fully impressed with this determination, of the necessity of adhering to which past experience has but too fatally convinced us ; fully impressed with the justice of our cause, which we now put to issue, we make our last and solemn appeal to the sword, and to heaven ; and, as the cause of Ireland deserves to pros- per, may God give us the victory.” 11 Conformably to the above Proclamation, the Provisional Government of Ireland — decree that as follows : — 1 “ p r om the date, and promulgation hereof, tithes are forever abolished, and church lands are the property of the nation. 2. “ Prom the same date, all transfers of landed property are prohibited, each person paying his rent until the National APPENDIX. 255 Government is established ; the national will declared, and the courts of justice be organized. 3. “ From the same date, all transfer of bonds, debentures, and all public securities, are in like manner forbidden, and declared void for the same time, and for the same reason. 4. “ The Irish Generals, commanding districts, shall seize such of the partisans of England as may serve as hostages, and shall apprise the English Commanders, opposed to them, that a strict retaliation shall take place, if any outrages contrary to the laws of war shall be committed by the troops under com- mand of each ; or by the partisans of England in the District which he occupies. 5. “ That the Irish Generals are to treat, (except where retaliation makes it necessaryj, the English troops who may fall into their hands, or such Irish as serve in the Regular Forces of England, and who shall have acted conformably to the laws of war, shall be treated as Prisioners of War ; but all Irish Militia, Yeomen, or Volunteer Corps, or bodies of Irish, or individuals, who fourteen days after the promulgation and date hereof shall be found in arms, shall be considered as Rebels, committed for trial, and their properties confiscated. 6. “ The Generals are to assemble Court-Martials, who are to be sworn to administer Justice : who are not to condemn without sufficient evidence, and before whom all Military Of- fenders are to be sent instantly for trial. 7. “ No man is to suffer death by their sentence but for mutiny ; the sentence of such others as are judged worthy of death, shall not be put into execution until the Provisional Government declares its will * nor are Court-Martials on any pretence or sentence, nor is any officer to suffer the punishment of flogging, or any species of torture to be inflicted. 8. “ The Generals are to enforce the strictest discipline, and to send offenders immediately to the Court-Martial ; and are enjoined to chase away from ,the Irish armies, all such as shall disgrace themselves by being drunk in the nresence of the enemy. 9. “ The Generals are to apprize their respective armies that all military stores and ammunition, belonging to the Eng- lish Government, be the property of the captors, and the value • equally divided, without respect of rank, between them, except that the widows, orphans, parents, or other heirs of those 256 APPENDIX. who gloriously fall in the attack, shall be entitled to a double share. 10. “ As the English nation has made war on Ireland, all English property in ships or otherwise, is subject to the same rule, and all transfer of them forbidden, and declared void in like manner as is expressed in No. 2, and 3. 11. “The Generals of the different districts are hereby em- powered to confer rank up to Colonels inclusive, on such as they conceive merit it from the nation, but are not to make more Colonels than one for fifteen hundred men, nor more Lieutenant Colonels than one for every thousand men. 12. “ The General shall seize on all sums of public money in the Custom houses, in their districts, or in the hands of the different Collectors, County Treasurers, or other Revenue Officers, whom they shall render responsible for the sums in their hands The Generals shall pass receipts for the amount, and account to the Provisional Government for the same. 13. “ When the people elect their officers up to the Colo- nels, the General is bound to confirm it, no officer can be broke but by sentence of a Court-Martial. 14. “The Generals shall correspond with the Provisional Government, to whom they shall give details of all their opera- tions ; they are to correspond with the neighbouring Generals, to whom they are to transmit all necessary intelligence and to co-operate with them. 15. “ The General commanding in each county shall as soon as it is cleared of the enemy, assemble the County Committee, who shall be elected conformably to the constitution of United Irishmen. All the requisitions necessary for the army shall be made in writing, by the Generals, to the Committee, who are hereby empowered, and enjoined, to pass receipts for each ar- ticle to the owners, to the end that they may receive their full value from the Nation. 16. “ The County Committee is charged with the civil direc- tion of the County, the care of the national property, and the preservation of order and justice in the county, for which pur- pose the County Committee are to appoint a High Sheriff, and one or more Sub-Sheriffs, to execute their orders ; a sufficient number of Justices of the peace for the County ; a high and a sufficient u umber of Petty Constables in each Barony, who are APPENDIX. 251 respectively charged with the duties now performed by those magistrates. 17. “ The county of Cork, on account of its extent is to be divided, conformably to the boundaries for raising Militia, into the counties of North and South Cork ; for each of which a County Constable, High Sheriff, and all Magistrates above directed are to be appointed. 18. The County Committee are hereby empowered and en- joined to issue warrants to apprehend such persons as it shall ap- pear, on sufficient evidence, perpetrated murder, torture, and other breaches of the acknowledged articles of war and morality on the people, to the end that they may be tried for these of- fences so soon as the competent courts of justice are established by the nation. 19. The County Committee shall cause the sheriff, or his officers, to seize on all the personal property of such, to put seals on their effects, to appoint proper persons to preserve all such property until the national courts of justice shall have decided on the fate of the proprietors. 20. The County Committee shall act in like manner with all state and church lands, parochial estates, and all public lands and edifices. 21. The County Committee shall, in the interim, receive all the rents and debts of such persons, and estates, and give re- ceipts for the same ; shall transmit to the government an exact account of their value, extent, and amount, and receive the directions of the provisional government thereon. 22. They shall appoint some proper house in the counties where the sheriff is permanently to reside, and where the County Committee shall assemble ; they shall cause all the records and papers of the county to be there transmitted, ar- ranged, and kept, and the orders of the government to be there transmitted and received. 23. The County Committee is hereby empowered to pay out of these effects, or by assessment, reasonable salaries for themselves, the sheriffs, justices, and other magistrates, whom they shall appoint. 24. They shall keep a written journal of all their pro- eedings, signed each day by members of the committee, or a sufficient number of them, for the inspection of government. “ 25. The County Committee shall correspond with govern- 258 APPENDIX. ment on all subjects with which they are charged, and trans- mit to the general of the district such information as they shall conceive useful to the public. “26. The County Committee shall take care that all state prisoners, however great their offences, shall be treated with humanity, and allow them sufficient support, to the end that all the world may know that the Irish nation is not actuated by a spirit of revenge, but of justice. “ 21. The provisional government wishing to commit, as soon as possible, the sovereign authority to the people, direct that each county and city shall elect, agreeably to the consti- tution of United Irishmen, representatives to meet in Dublin, to whom, the moment they assemble, the provisional govern- ment will resign its functions, and, without presuming to dic- tate to the people, they beg leave to suggest, that for the important purpose to which these electors are called, integrity of character should be the first object. “ 28 The number of representatives being arbitrary, the pro- visional government have adopted that of the late House of Commons, 300, and, according to the best returns of the popu- lation of the cities and counties, the following number are to be returned from each : — Antrim, 13 ; Armagh, 9 ; Belfast Town, 1 ; Carlow, 3 ; Cavan, 1 ; Clare, 8 ; Cork County, north, 14 ; Cork county, south, 14 ; Cork city, 6 ; Donegal, 10 ; Down, 16 ; Drogheda, 1 ; Dublin county, 4 ; Dublin city, 14 ; Fermanagh, 5 ; Galway, 10 j Kerry, 9 ; Kildare, 14 ; Kilkenny, 7 ; King’s county, 6 ; Leitrim, 5 ; Limerick county, 10 ; Limerick city, 3 ; Londonderry, 9 ; Longford, 4 ; Louth, 4 ; Mayo, 12 ; Meath, 9 ; Monaghan, 9 ; Queen’s county, 6 ; Roscommon, 8 ; Sligo, 6 ; Tipperary*, 13 ; Tyrone, 14 ; Water- ford county, 6 ; Waterford city, 2 ; Westmeath, 5 ; Wick- low, 5. “ 29. In the cities the same regulations as in the counties shall be adopted ; the city committees shall appoint one or more sheriffs, as they think proper, and shall take possession of all the public and corporation properties in their jurisdic- tion, in like manner as is directed in counties. “ 30. The provisional government strictly exhort and enjoin all magistrates, officers, civil and military, and the whole of the nation, to cause the law of morality to be enforced and respected, and to execute, as far as in them lies, justice with APPENDIX. 25£ mercy, by which liberty alone can be estabished, and the bless- ings of divine Providence secured.” Another printed document, purporting to be a proclama- tion, was likewise found in the Depot olf Thomas-street.* « CITIZENS OF DUBLIN. u A band of patriots mindful of their oath, and faithful to their engagements as United Irishmen, have determined to give freedom to their country, and a period to the long oppres- sion of England. In this endeavour they are now successfully engaged, and their efforts are seconded by complete and uni- versal co-operation from the country, every part of which, from the north to the south, pours forth its warriors in support of our hallowed cause. “ Citizens of Dublin, we require your aid ; necessary secrecy has prevented to many a knowledge of our plan, but the erec tion of the national standard, the sacred, though long degrad- ed green, will be found a sufficient call to arms, and rally round it, every man in whose breast exists a spark of patriotism, or sense of duty ; avail yourselves of local advantages, in a city each street becomes a defile, and each house a battery ; impede the march of your oppressors, charge them with the arms of the brave, the pike, and from your windows hurl stones, bricks, bottles, and all other convenient instruments on the heads of the satellites of your tyrant, the mercenary and sanguinary soldiery of England. “ Orangemen, add not to the catalogue of your follies and crimes ; already have you been duped, to the ruin of your country, in the legislative union with its . Attempt not an opposition which will carry with it your inevitable de- struction, return from the paths of delusion, return to the arms of your countrymen, who will receive and hail your re- - pentance. “ Countrymen, of all descriptions, let us act with union and concert ; all sects, Catholic, Protestant, Presbyterian, are in- discriminately embraced in the benevolence of our object ; re- press, prevent, and discourage excesses, pillage, and intoxica tion ; let each man do his duty, and remember that during * This proclamation was written by Mr. Long. APPENDIX. 260 public agitation, inaction becomes a crime : be no other com petition known but that of doing good ; remember against whom you fight, your oppressors for six hundred years, remem- ber their massacres, their tortures, remember your murdered friends, your burned houses, your violated females, keep in mind your country, to whom you are now giving her high rank among nations, and, in the honest terror of feeling, let us all exclaim, that as in the hour of her trial we serve this country, so may God serve us in that which shall be our last” MEMOIR THOMAS ADDIS EMMET MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET The following memoir of Thomas Addis Emmet is chiefly compiled from the biographies of Haines and Madden, with occasional notes and additions from other sources Thomas Addis Emmet was the second son of an eminent physician, Dr. Robert Emmet, who held for many years in Dublin . the appointment of State Physician. He had three sons Temple, Thomas Addis, and Robert. Temple the eldest, was born in Cork in 1161, was educated at the school of Mr Kerr, and entered College in 1775 at the age of fourteen, under Mr. Hales. He was called to the bar in 1781, and during his short professional career, a period not exceeding seven years, (for he died in 1788,) his brilliant talents and emi- nent legal attainments acquired for him a character that in the same brief space was probably never gained at the Irish bar. Mr. Grattan in his memoirs of his father, gives the follow- ing account of Temple Emmet : “ Temple Emmet before he came to the bar, knew more law than any of the Judges on the bench ; and if he had been placed on one side, and the whole bench opposed to him, he could have been examined against them, and would have answered better both in Law and Divinity than any Judge or Bishop in the land.” Mr Grattan speaks of his eloquence as abounding in imagery, which gave to much of a poetic character to his oratory. The few, however, of his contemporaries who were living within the author’s recollection entertained a different opinion of it* 264 MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. merits, and amongst them were some of the most highly gifted of their countrymen. He was the ornament and support of the first Historical Society of Trinity College. Thomas Addis was accustomed to speak of him as one of the foremost men in point of talent that Ireland ever produced.” Thomas Addis Emmet was born in Cork the 24th of April, 1734. He was placed at the same school as Temple, and at the age of fourteen entered Trinity College, in 1778, under the same tutor as his brother, Mr. Hale’s. His career at College, if less brilliant than that of his brother Temple, was such as gave ample promise of his future eminence. His qualities were not of the same shining character. The power of his imagina- tion were less remarkable than the solidity of his judgment and the logical precision and acumen of his reasoning faculties. His physical conformation was not robust, he was small of stature, measured in his gait, and retiring and unobtrusive in his deportment. His head and features were finely formed ; all the compactness that a phrenologist would look for in the head of a man of profound thought, and the precision in out- line that a physiognomist would expect in the features of a man of fixed principles and decided character. A slight cast in his eyes, accompanied or caused by a habit of closing his eyelid, incidental to what is called “ nearness of sight,” gave a kind of peering expression to his regard. The predominant expression of his countenance was benevolence. In his dress he was careless — almost negligent ; he bestowed no attention on personal appearance. Thomas Addis Emmet being destined for the medical pro- fession was sent to Edinburgh in 1788 to pursue his studies. He devoted himself to them with uncommon ardor, and his popularity with his fellow students was so great that at one time he was president of no less than five societies, some of them connected with literary, some with scientific, some with medical subjects Having visited the principle continental schools of medicine, travelled through Germany, France, and Italy, he returned to Ireland about 1788, the period of the lamented death of his elder brother, which sad event changed his destiny, for he relinguished his profession and decided on going to the bar. He was admitted in 1790. The earliest notice I find of the efforts of T. A. Emmet at MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDTS EMMET. 265 the bar, is in the singular case in which James Napper Tandy instituted an action against the Viceroy, the Earl of West- moreland. The result was what might be expected. The case is interesting for the report of Emmet’s speech, the first of his on record, and the longest of any that have reached us. Before the alteration in the constitution of the United Irish- men in 1795, a case occurred before Prime Sergeant Fitz gerald, in which a conviction was obtained on a charge of ad ministering the United Irishmen’s oath then a capital offence. Emmet appeared for the prisoner on a motion in arrest of judgment. He took up the pleadings in which the words of the .oath were recited, and read them in a very deliberate man- ner, and with all the gravity of a man who felt that he was binding his soul with the obligations of a solemn oath. The words were to the following effect : — I A. B., 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 the es- tablishment of this chief good of Ireland, I will endeavour, as much as lies in my ability, to forward a brotherhood of affec- tion, an identity of interests, a communion of rights, and aa mion of power, among Irishmen of all religious persuasions, vithout which, every reform in parliament must be partial, aot national, inadequate to the wants, delusive to the wishes, and insufficient to the freedom and happiness of this country.” Having read the test — defended its obligations with a power of reasoning and a display of legal knowledge, in reference to Jie subject of the distinction between legal and illegal oaths, which the counsel for the prosecution described as producing an extraordinary impression, he addressed the court in the fol- lowing terms : — “ My Lords — Here, in the presence of this legal court, this crowded auditory — in the presence of the Being that sees and witnesses, and directs this judicial tribunal, — here, my lords, I, myself, in the presence of God, declare, I take the oath.” He then took the book that was on the table, kissed it, and sat down. No steps were taken by the court against the newly- sworn United Irishman, the amazement of its functionaries left them in no fit state of mind either for remonstrance or reproval The prisoners received a very lenient sentence. 266 MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. It was on very rare occasions that T. A. Emmet appeared as counsel for the United Irishmen, at the trials of 1797 and 1198. An understanding had been entered into with their leaders that he should take no prominent part in their behalf, from the time that he became intimately connected with their proceedings in 1796. He acted in the capacity of Chamber Lawyer to their Committees, and there were few events of im- portance to their interests on which he was not consulted by them. The first mention made of Emmet’s taking any active part in politics is in Tone’s Journal, where Emmet’s introduction to the Sub-Committee of the Roman Catholics, the 15th October, 1792, is recorded. Tone states, that he was well received' by the members, and “ richly deserved their admiration.” 11 He was the best of all the friends to Catholic Emancipation, al- ways excepting Mr. Hutton” (himself). From this time Emmet, behind the scenes of Catholic agitation, continued to give his pen to their cause, and with his usual heedlessness of self, allowed others to take the merit of his services. At this time he was not a member of the Society of United Irishmen, but long be- fore he joined it he was the person in every emergency con- sulted by the leaders. When Tone, in the spring of 1795, was about to quit the country for America, he and Russell had an interview with Emmet, at his country seat at Rathfarnham. Tone’s account of this interview as given in simple and expressive language. “ A short time before my departure,” says he, “ my friend Russell being in town he and I walked out together to see Emmet, who has a charming villa there. He showed us a little study, of an elliptical form, which he was building at the bottom of the lawn, and which he said he would consecrate to our meetings, if ever he lived to see our country emancipat- ed. I begged of him, if he intended Russell to be of the party, in addition to the books and maps it would naturally con- tain, to fit up a small cellaret, capable of containing a few dozen of his best claret. He showed me that he had not omit- ted that circumstance, which he acknowledged to be essential, and we both rallied Russell with considerable success.* As * Tone’s passion for raillery and grave irony as displayed in his jour- nals. and in his references to ^is most intimate friends, has led to th« MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. 261 we walked together towards town, I opened my plan to them both. I told them I considered my compromise with govern- ment to extend no farther than the banks of the Delaware, and the moment I landed 1 was to follow any plan that might suggest itself for the emancipation of my country, I then pro- ceeded to tell them, that my intention was, immediately on my arrival in Philadelphia, to wait on the French Minister, to de- tail to him fully the situation of affairs in Ireland, and endea- vour to obtain a recommendation to the French government, and having succeeded so far, to leave my family in America, set off immediately for Paris, and apply in the name of my country, for the assistance of France to enable us to assert our independence. It is unnecessary, I believe, to say, that this plan met with the warmest approbation and support, both from Russell and Emmet ; we shook hands, and having repeated our profession of unalterable regard and esteem for each other, we parted ; and this was the last interview which I was so happy as to have with these invaluable friends together. I remember it was in a little triangular field that this conversation took place, and Emmet remarked, that it was in one like it, in Switzerland, where William Tell and his associates planned the downfall of the tyranny of Austria. On Tone’s departure from Dublin, to embark at Belfast, Thomas Addis Emmet addressed the following letter to him : — “ My dear friend, — I have just this instant heard from Simon M’Gruire that you leave town to-night. I can scarcely believe that you would entirely break yourself away from this country, and from me amongst the rest, without calling on me, or even writing a line. You know, and I trust will always consider, formation of very erroneous opinions respecting them. In his exuber- ance of vivacity, Russell figures in his Journals as P. P. parish priest, a profane person swearing occasionally, frequently “ drunk,” “ glori- ously drunk,” and disorderly. But when Tone, in France, hears of the arrest of his friend, he thus speaks of him, in allusion to the man- ner in which he had made mention of him in his Journals. — “ My heart smites me, when I think of the levity with which I have spoken of my poor friend Russell, under the name of P. P.” The fact was, Russell’s well known gravity of deportment and demeanor, his strong sense of the importance and value of religion, his habitual decorum .and propriety in social intercourse, were made the subject of ironical jocularity io Tone’s diaries. — Life of T. Russell. — Madden's United Irishmen. 268 MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. that my friendship and affectionate regard for you is most undimiuished. It is not of that nature to shake by adversity, which God knows how soon it may by my lot to undergo Wherever you are you shall always command a steady friend in this country as long as I reside here. Write to me at least when you reach your destination, and as often as it may suit your convenience. Perhaps your letters may be useful to me for regulating my future settlement in life. Gpd bless you. Give my most affectionate compliments to Mrs. Tone, and believe me, sincerely,” &c. The organization of the Union was intended to be a com- plete representative system. It underwent two important changes. In 1794 the Society having been forcibly dissolved, became a secret one the beginning of 1795. The objects ex- tended beyond reform and emancipation, and members, on admission were required to take an oath. In 1796, the military . organization was engrafted on the civil. All officers, to the rank of colonel, were elected by the committees ; those of a higher grade, by the executive ; and with the concurrence of that body, the colonels had the nomination of an adjutant- general for each county. The commander-in-chief was nomi- nated by the Leinster directory, and that officer was Lord Edward Fitzgerald. The Northern directory was the first founded. Arthur O’Connor and Lord Edward Fitzgerald esta- blished the Leinster, and were for some time its only mem- bers. Bond, Macneven, M’Cormick, and Jackson, came in at a later period. Emmet, who had been a member of the society from 1796, became one of the directory ; n 1797. He had been previously solicited to join it by O’Connor, and had declined ; but on O’Connor’s arrest and imprisonment in the Tower, about the middle of 1797, when the interests of the Union were deprived of the services of its chief leader, he took his post. It is a matter of notoriety, that the councils of the United Irishmen were distracted and divided on the most important of all questions to their cause, namely, the question of risking an attempt on their own resources, or deferring that attempt till the assistance they had demanded from France, had been given to them. In favour of the former proceedings, Lord Ed- ward Fitzgerald, Arthur O’Connor, and Henry Jackson, not MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. 268 once or twice, but on several occasions, expressed tueir opin nions strongly, while at various times, Emmet, M’Cormick, and Macneven, as Strenuously opposed them. The application to France had been made by the directory, before Emmet joined it, and was determined on at a meeting in 1796, in consequence of a letter from Tone, who was then in Paris, stating that the French government, on representations made to it, were favourably disposed towards the objects of the Society. On this intimation, an application was made for assistance to the French directory, and a positive assurance was returned that it would be granted. The garden scene in 1795 can leave no doubt of Emmet’s concurrence in the views on which Tone acted. The dependence in French assistance ultimately proved fatal to the TJnion. This was the opinion of T. A. Emmet commu- nicated to his brother barrister, the distinguished Charles Glidden Haines, in 1812, (both attending the Supreme Court at Washington) when an outline of his early career and the progress of the struggle he had embarked in was given to that gentleman. From the opinions he expressed on this sub- ject, Haines concluded that had Ireland never relied at all on France, her prospects of success might have been better ; the French, however, having once promised, it was reasonable to place reliance on that promise, and as it turned out, the re- liance thus placed, embarrassed everything. With respect to Napoleon, Emmet pronounced him the worst foe that Ireland ever had. The Government having allowed the plans of the United Irishmen to come to a sufficient degree of maturity for their purposes, availed themselves of the services of a man, whose very name sounds in one’s ears like a calamity. Reynolds the informer. The deputies were arrested on his information at Bond’s, the 12th of March, 1798, Emmet, Macneven, Jackson, and Sweet- man were taken the same day at their several abodes, brought to the Castle, examined there, and committed to Newgate. Against Emmet there was no specific charge, no overt act of treason brought against him. From the time of O’Connor’s arrest, he was looked upon as the prime mover in the con- spiracy, the head-piece of the Union, and in that opinion there was no mistake. 270 MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. There were twenty of the leaders men of the Union, from various parts of the country, particularly from the North, then confined in Newgate. • The wife of Emmet at that period had an opportunity of displaying that heroic devotion to her husband which she was destined to be called on to exhibit for upwards of four years in the several prisons he was immured in. Soon after his con- finement she obtained permission to visit him. The cell in which he was confined was about twelve feet square. She managed to secret herself in this wretched abode for some days, one of the turnkeys who had charge of Emmet’s cell be- ing privy to her concealment. Her husband shared his scanty allowance with her ; and there a lady, bred in the lap of lux- uary, accustomed to all the accommodations that are possessed by one in her sphere in life, shared the gloom and privations of a dungeon. The gaoler at length discovered that Mrs. Emmet was an inmate of her husband’s cell. She was immediately ordered to quit the place, but to the astonishment of the officers of the prison who were not accustomed to have their orders disobey- ed, she told them, “her mind was made up to remain with her husband and she would not leave the prison.” The gaoler, whom Emmet speaks of as “ a man of unfeeling and ruffianly deportment,” stood awe-stricken before a feeble, helpless creature, whom he had only to order one of his mir- midons to tear from the arms of her husband to be obeyed. He retired, and Emmet was given to understand that orders had been given to the man by his employees not to use force, but the first time Mrs. Emmet left the prison she was not to be permitted to return. No such opportunity for her exclu- sion was afforded by that lady. She continued to share her husband’s captivity for upwards of twelve months. But once in that time she left the prison, and then only to visit her sick child, when she appealed to the wife of the gaoler, “ as the mother of a family,” to take pity on her wretch- edness, struggling as she was, between her duty to her hus- band, and the yearnings of nature towards her sick child. It cheers one to find that even such an appeal as this was not made in vain. At midnight this woman conducted Mrs. Em- met through the apartments of the gaoler to the street. The following night, after remaining with her child at the house of MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. 271 Dr. Emmet during the day, she returned to the gaol, gained admittance by the same means, and was on the point of enter- ing her husband’s cell when one of the keepers discovered her, but too late to exclude her from the prison. From that time she availed herself no more of the same facility for leaving or entering the prison. Shortly after this occurrence Emmet and Macneven were removed to Kilmainham gaol, and Mrs. Em met was allowed to accompany her husband. In the month of July, 1798, negotiations were entered into by the state prisoners with the Irish government. The orgi- nal draught of a paper on this subject, unpublished, drawn up chiefly by Emmet, exists in the handwriting of himself, Sweet- man and Macneven. It was drawn up by them on their arri- val in France, after their liberation from Fort George, and remained in the possession of John Sweeetman. The following part of the statement is in the handwriting of T. A. Emmet : — ‘ We, the undersigned, until this day state prisoners and in ilose custody, feel that the first purpose to which we should apply our liberty is to give the world a short account of a transaction which has been grossly misrepresented and falsified, but respecting which we ’nave been compelled to silence for nearly the last three years. The transaction alluded to, is the agreement entered into by us and other state prisoners, with the Irish Government, at the close of the month Q f July, 1798, and we take this step without hesitation, because it can in no wise injure any of our friends and former fellow-prisoners, w( being among the last victims of perfidy and breach of faith. From the event of the battles of Antrim and Ballinahinch early in June, it was manifest that the northern insurrection had failed of consolidating itself. The severe battle of Vinegar- Hill, on the 21st of the same month, led to its termination in Leinster, and the capitulation of Ovid’s-town* on the 12th of July, may be understood as the last public appearance in the field of any body capable of serving as a rallying point. In short, the insurrection, for every useful purpose that could be expected from it, was at an end , but blood still continued to * The event preceding the massacre, of the capitulated body of the United Irishmen, on the Rath of the Curragh of Kildare, by the com- mand of Major General Sir James Duff, executed chiefly by the yeo» manry cavalry of Captain Bagot, and the Fox-hunter's corps, com manded by Lord Roden. 272 MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. flow, courts-martial, special commissions, and above all san- guinary Orangemen, now rendered doubly revengeful and malevo- lent from their recent terror, desolated the country, and devoted to death the most virtuous of our countrymen. These were lost to liberty while she was gaining nothing by the sacrifice. Such was the situation of affairs when the idea of entering into a compact with Government was conceived by one of the undersigned, and communicated to the rest of us, conjointly with the other prisoners confined in the Dublin prison, by the terms of which compact it was intended that as much might be saved, and as little given up as possible. It was the more urgently pressed upon our minds, %nd the more quickly matured by the impending fate of two worthy men.* Accordingly, on the 24th of J uly, the state prisoners began a negotiation with Government, and an agreement was finally concluded, by the persons named by their fellow-prisoners, at the Castle of Dublin, and was finally ratified by the Lord Chancellor, Lord Castlereagh, and Mr. Cooke, three of the King’s ministers. In no part of this paper were details or perfect accuracy deemed necessary, because the ministers, and particularly Lord Castle- reagh, frequently and solemnly declared that it should in every part be construed by Government with the utmost liberality and good faith, and particularly the last clause was worded in this loose manner, to comply with the express desire of the ministers, who insisted upon retaining to Government the en- tire popularity of the measure ; but it was clearly and expressly understood, and positively engaged that every leading man not guilty of deliberate murder , should be included in the agree- ment, who should choose to avail himself of it, in as full and ample a manner as the contracting parties themselves, and that there should be a general amnesty, with the same excep- tions, for the body of the people. We entered into this agreement the more readily, because it appeared to us that by it the public cause lost nothing. We knew, from the different examinations of the state prisoner before the Privy Council, and from conversation with ministeis, that Government was already in possesion of all the important * Michael Byrne who was hanged pending the negociatious, and Oliver Bond who was found outside the door of his cell, dead from apoplexy, the government asserted. MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET 27a knowledge which they could obtain from us. From whence the) obtained their information was not entirely known to us, but it was now manifest that Reynolds , M’Ginn, and Hughes, not to speak of the minor informers, had put them in possession of every important fact respecting the internal state of the Union, and it was from particular circumstances well known to one of us, and entirely believed by the rest, that its external relations had been betrayed to the English Cabinet through the agency of a foreigner with whom we negotiated. * * * * Nevertheless, those with whom we negotiated* seemed ex- tremely anxious for our communications. Their reasons for this anxiety may have been many, but two particularly suggested themselves to our minds ; they obviously wished to give proof to the enemies of an Irish Republic and of Irish independence, of the facts with which they were themselves acquainted, while at the same time, they concealed from the world, their real sources of intelligence. Nor do we believe we are uncharitable in at- tributing to them the hope and wish of rendering unpopular and suspected men, in whom the United Irishmen had been accustomed to place an almost unbounded confidence. The injurious consequences of Government succeeding in both these objects were merely personal, and as they were no more, though they were revolting and hateful to the last degree, we did not hesitate to devote ourselves that we might make terms for our country. What were those terms ? That it should be rescued from civil and military executions ; that a truce should be ob- tained for liberty, which she so much required. * * * If our country has not actually benefited to the extent of our wishes and of our stipulations, let it be remembered that this has not been owing to the compact , but to the breach of the compact , the gross and flagrant breach of it, both as to the let- ter and the spirit, in violation of every principle of plighted faith and honour. * * * The Irish parliament thought fit, about the month of Sep- tember, in the same year, to pass an act, to be founded expressly on this agreement. To the provisions of that law we do not think it worth while to allude, because their severity and injus- tice are lost in comparison with the enormous falsehood of its preamble. In answer to that, we most distinctly and formally deny that any of us did ever publicly or privately, directly, or indir * Th» Irish Government. 214 MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET rectly, acknowledge crimes , retract opinions or implore pardon , as is therein most falsely stated. A full and explicit declara tion to this effect would have been made public at the time, had it not been prevented by a message from Lord Cornwallis, delivered to one of the subscribers, on the 12th of that month. Notwithstanding we had expressly stipulated at the time of the negotiation for the entire liberty of publication, in case we should find our conduct or motives misrepresented, yet this perfidious and inhuman message threatened that such a decla- ration would be considered as a breach of the agreement on our part, and in that case the executions in general should go on as formerly . Thus was the truth stifled at the^time, and we firmly believe that to prevent its publication has been one of the principal reasons why, in violation of the most solemn engagements, we were kept in custody ever since, and transported from our na- tive country against our consent.” * * * In consequence of the compact with the Government on the 10th of August, T. A. Emmet was examined before the Secret Committee of the House of Lords. A very small portion- of this examination was given in the parliamentary report, pur- porting to contain the examinations of the state prisoners. On their liberation from Fort George, Emmet, O’Connor, and Macneven, published in London a pamphlet, containing a me- moir of the origin and progress of the Union, which they had delivered to the Irish Government, and an account of their examinations, in which the suppressed portion of their evidence were given. The pamphlet is now rarely to be met with, and from it the following account of the examination of T. A. Em- met is taken, after having compared it with the original docu- ment in the possession of one of the parties to the compact. EXAMINATION. BUBSTANCE OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET’S EXAMINATION, BEFORI THE SECRET COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS, ON FRIDAY AUGUST 10th, 1798. Committee — Were you a United Irishman ? Emmet. — My Lords, I am one. Com . — Were you a member of the Executive ? MEMOIR OP TI<6$As' EMMET. 275 Emmet. I was of the Executive from the mcfttfi of Jana- *ry to tne month of May, 1797, and afterwards from Decem- ber, 1797, till I was arrested. I was then asked, as to the military organization, which I detailed. They then asked, when the returns included fire* arms and ammunition. Emmet. After the Insurrection and Indemnity Acts had been passed, when the people were led to think on resistance, and after 4,000 persons had been driven from the county of Armagh by the Orangemen. Com. Was not the name of Orangeman used to terrify the people into the United system? Emmet. I do not know what groundless fears may have been propagated by ignorant people, but I am sure no unfair advantage was taken by the executive. The Orange princi- ples were fairly discussed, as far as they were known, and we always found, that wherever it was attempted to establish a lodge, the United Irish increased very much. Lord Dillon. Why, where was it endeavoured to introduce them, except in the North and the city of Dublin ? Emmet. My Lord, I cannot tell you all the places in which it was endeavoured, but I will name one in the county of Ros- common, where, I am told, it made many United Irishmen. Lord Dillon. Well, but that was but very lately, and I endeavoured to resist it. Committee. When where the first communications with France ? Emmet . — The first I heard of were after the Insurrection and Indemnity Acts had been carried ; the next I heard of was after the French fleet had left Bantry Bay, and after it was manifest the effort for reform would not succeed ; and per- mit me to add, on my oath, it was my intention to propose to, and from conversations I had with some of the executive di- rectory, I am sure it would have been carried then, that if there had been any reasonable hope of reform being adopted, to send one more messenger to France, anji he should have told them, the difference between the people and the Government was adjusted, and nOt to attempt a second invasion. They then took me into detail through the whole of the negotiations and messages • stated that the demand on our part was from five to ten thousand men, and 40,000 stand of 476 MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. arms, by the first agent ; that the instructions to the second agent differed by requesting more arms in consequence of the disarming the north, which had intervened, and that the French had promised we should be at perfect liberty to choose our own form of government. It was expressly stipulated with them that they should condu 't themselves so. Lord Chancellor. — As they did in Holland ? Emmet. — As Rochambeau did in America, my lords. They then entered into the subject of the separation. Lord Chancellor . — How is it possible, Mr. Emmet ? Just look on the map, and tell how you can suppose that Ireland could exist independent of England or France ? Emmet. — My lords, if I had any doubt on that subject, I should have never attempted to effect a separation, but I have given it as much consideration as my faculties would permit, and I have not a shadow of doubt, that if Ireland were once independent, she might defy the combined efforts of France and England. Archbishop of Cashel. — My God ! her trade would be de- stroyed ! Emmet . — Pardon me, my lord ; her trade would be infinitely increased. One hundred and fifty years ago, when Ireland contained not more than one million and a half of men, and America was nothing, the connection might be said to be neces- sary to Ireland, but now that she contains five millions, and America is the best market in the world, and Ireland the best situated country in Europe to trade with that market, she has outgrown the connection. Lord Chancellor. — Yes, I remember talking to a gentleman of your acquaintance, and I believe one of your body and way of thinking, who told me that Ireland had nothing to com- plain of from England, but that she was strong enough to set up for herself. Emmet . — I beg, my lords, that may not bo considered my opinion. I think Ireland has a great many things to complain of against England. * I am sure she is strong enough to set up for herself ; and give me leave to tell you, my lords, that if the government of this country be not regulated so that the control may be wholly Irish, and that the commercial arrange- ments between the two countries be not put on the footing of perfect equality, the connection cannot last. MEMOIR OP THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. 277 Lord Ck incdlor. — What would yon do for coals ? Emmet. — In every revolution, and in every war, the people must submit to some privations, but* I must observe to your lordships, that there is a reciprocity between the buyer and seller, and that England would suffer as much as Ireland if we did not buy her coals. However, I will grant our fuel would become dearer for a time, but b,y paying a higher price we could have a full and sufficient abundance from our own coal mines, and from bogs, by means of our canals. Archbishop of Cashel. — Why, twelve frigates would stop up all our ports. Emmet. — My lord, you must have taken a very imperfect survey of the ports on the western coasts of this kiugdom, if you suppose that twelve frigates would block them up ; and I must observe to you, that if Ireland was for three months sepa- rated from England, the latter would cease to be such a formi- dable naval power. Lord Chancellor. — Well, I cannot conceive the separation could last twelve hours. Emmet. — I declare it to God, I think that if Ireland were separated from England, she would be the happiest spot on the face of the globe. * At which they all seemed astonished. Lord Chancellor. — But how could you rely on France that she would keep her promise of not interfering with your gov- ernment ? Emmet . — My reliance, my lords, was more on Irish power than on French promises ; for I was convinced that, though she could not easily set up the standard herself, yet, when it was once raised, a very powerful army would flock to it, which, organized under its own officers, would have no reason to fear 100,000 Frenchmen,, and we only stipulated for a tenth part of that number. Lord Kilwarden . — You seem averse to insurrections, I sup- pose it was because you thought it impolitic ? Emmet. — Unquestionably : for if I imagined an insurrection could not have succeeded without a great waste of blood and time, I should have preferred it to invasion, as it would not have exposed us to the chance of contributions being required by a foreign force ; but as I did not think so, and as I was certain an invasion would succeed speedily, and without much 2?8 MEMOIR OP TFlOMAS ADDIS EMMET. struggle, I preferred it even at the hazard of that inconve nience, which we took every pains to prevent. Lord Dillon . — Mr. Emmet, you have stated the views cf the executive to be very liberal and enlightened, and I believe yours were so, but let me ask you, whether ft was not intend ed to cut off, in the beginning of the contest, the leaders cf the opposition party by a summary mode, such as assassina- tion ? my reason for asking you is, John Sheares’s proclama- tion, the most terrible paper that ever appeared in any country, it says, that “ many of your tyrants have bled, and others must bleed,” &c. Emmet . — My lords, as to Mr. Sheares’s proclamation, he was not of the executive when I was. Lord Chancellor . — He was of the new executive. Emmet . — I do not know that he was of any executive, ex- cept from what your lordship says, but I believe he was joined with some others in framing a particular plan of insurrection for Dublin and its neighbourhood, neither do I know what value he annexed to those words in his proclamation, but I can answer, that while I was of the executive there was no such design, but the contrary, for we conceived when one of you lost your lives we lost a hostage Our intention was to seize you all, and keep you as hostages for the conduct of England, and after the revolution was over, if you would not live under the new government, to send you out of the coun- try. I will add one thing more, which though not an answer to your question, you may have a curiosity to hear. In such a struggle it was natural to expect confiscations ; our inten- tion was, that every wife who had not instigated her husband to resistance should be provided for out of the property, notwithstanding confiscation, and every child who was too young to be his own master, or form his own opinions, was to have a child’s portion. Your lordships will now judge how far we intended to be cruel. Lord Chancellor. —Pray, Mr. Emmet, what caused the late insurrection ? Emmet . — The free quarters, the house burnings, the tortures, and the military executions in the counties of Kildare, Carlow, and Wicklow. Lord Chancellor. — Don’t you think the arrests of the 12th of March caused it ? MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. 279 Emmet. — No, but I believe if it had not been for those ar rests it would not have taken place, for the people, irritated by what they suffered, had been long pressing the executive to consent to an insurrection, but they had resisted or eluded it, and even determined to persevere in the same line. After these arrests, however, other persons came forward, who were irritated and thought differently, who consented to let the par- tial insurrection take place. Lord Chancellor . — Were all the executive arrested or put to flight by the arrests on the 12th of March ? Emmet . — Your lordship’s will excuse my answering to that question, as it would point out individuals. Lord Chancellor . — Did you not think the Government very foolish to let you proceed so long as they did ? Emmet. — No, my lord. Whatever I imputed to Govern- ment, I did not accuse them of folly. I knew we were very attentively watched, but I thought they were right in letting us proceed. I have often said, laughing among ourselves, that if they did right they would pay us for conducting the revolu- tion, conceiving as I then did, and as I still do, that a revolu- tion is inevitable, unless speedily prevented by very large mea- sures of conciliation. It seemed to me an object with them that it should be conducted by moderate men, of good moral characters, liberal education, and some talents ; rather than by intemperate men of bad characters, ignorant and foolish, and into the hands of one or other of those classes it undoubt- edly will fall. I also imagined the members of Government might be sensible of the difference between the change of their situation, being effected by a sudden and violent convulsion or by the more gradual measures of a well conducted revolution, if it were effected suddenly by an insurrection ; and I need not tell your lordship’s that if there had been a general plan of acting, and the North had co-operated with Leinster, the last insurrection would have infallibly and rapidly succeeded, in such case you would be tumbled at once from your pinnacle ; but if a revolution were gradually accomplished, you would have had time to accomodate and habituate yourselves to your new situations. For these reasons I imagined Government did not wish to irritate and push things forward. Lord Chancellor. — Pray, do you think Catholic emancipation and parliamentary reform any objects with the common people ? /so MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. Emmet. — As to Catholic emancipation, I do not think it matters a feather, or that the poor think of it. As to parli- mentary reform, I do not think the common people ever thought of it until it was inculcated into them, that a reform would cause a removal of those grievances which they actually do feel. From that time I believe they have become very much attached to the measure. Lord Chancellor. — And do you think that idea has been suc- cessfully inculcated into the common people ? Emmet. — It has not been my fortune to communicate much with them on the subject, so that I cannot undertake to say how far it has been successfully inculcated into them ; but of this I am certain, that since the establishment of the United Irish system it has been inculcated into all the middling classes, and much more among the common people, than ever it was before. Lord Chancellor. — And what grievances would such a re- formed legislature remove ? Emmet. — In the first place it would cause a complete aboli- tion of tithes ; in the next, by giving the common people an increased value in the democracy, it would better their situ- ation, and make them more respected by their superiors ; the condition of the poor would be ameliorated ; and what is per- haps of more consequence than all the rest, a system of national education would be established. Lord Dillon. — The abolition of tithes would be a very good thing, but do not you think it would be more beneficial to the landlords than the tenants ? Archbishop of Cashel. — Ay, it is they who would benefit by it Lmmet. — My Lords, I am ready to grant that if tithes were now abolished, without a reform, there are landlords who would raise the rent on their tenants, when they were making new leases, the full value of the tithes, and, if they could, more ; but if a reform succeeded the abolition of tithes, such a reformed legislature would very badly know, or very badly perform its duty, if it did not establish such a system of landed leases as would prevent landlords from doing so ; and, let me tell your lordships, that if a revolution ever takes place, a very different system of political economy will be established from what has hitherto prevailed here MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. 281 Lord Glentworth. — Then your intention was to destroy the church ? Emmett — Pardon me, my Lord, my intention never was tc destroy the church. My wish decidedly was to overturn the Establishment. Lord Dillon. — I understand you — and have it as it is in France ? Emmet. — As it is in many parts of America, my Lord. Lord Kilwarden. — Pray, Mr. Emmet, do you know of any communications with France since your arrest ? Emmet. — I do, my Lord ; Mr. Cooke told me of one. Lord Kilwarden. — But do you not know in any other way whether communications are still going on between this coun- try and France ? Emmet. — No ; but I have no doubt that even after we shall have left this country, there will remain among the 500,000 and upwards, which compose the Union, many persons of suf- ficient talents, enterprise, enthusiasm, and opportunity, who will continue the old, or open a new communication with France, if it shall be necessary, and in looking over in my own mind, the persons whom I know of most talents and enterprise, I cannot help suggesting to myself persons I think most likely to do so, but I must be excused pointing at them. Thomas Addis Emmet. N. B. — I have only noted down such questions and answers as I imagine will not be inserted in the reports of the Secret Committee. SECOND EXAMINATION. THE EXAMINATION OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET, BEFORE THE SECRET COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, AUGUST 14TH, 1798. Lord Casllereagh mentioned that the minutes of my ex- amination before the Lords had been transmitted to them, and that they only wanted to ask me a few questions in explanation of those minutes. The general turn of the examination was therefore the same as that before the Upper House, but I could observe much more manifestly than before, a design out 282 MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. of my answers to draw the conclusion, that nothing would con- tent the people but such changes as would be a departure from what they choose to call the English constitution, and the Eng- lish system, and therefore I presume they meant to infer, that the popular claims must be resisted at all hazards. The speaker seemed to me to take the lead in conducting the investigation of this point. Lord Castlcreagh . — Mr. Emmet, you said in your examina- tion before the Lords, that the French had not made known the place where they intended landing ; how then will you ex- plain an address which we have here, stating that the French were shortly expected in Bantry Bay ? Emmet . — My Lord, I know nothing at present of that ad- dress, but I suppose on farther inquiry it will be found to be some mistake, as I am positive they never mentioned Bantry Bay in any communication I know, on the contrary, Galway Bay was looked on as the most probable place of their landing. N. B. — I find on inquiry, that address is without a date and was written after the French had disappeared from Bantry Bay, and were generally expected to return. Mr. Alexander — I have here some resolutions (which he read, and which, among other things, spoke of the extent of the con- fiscations which would be made in the event of a revolution, and how they should be applied) do you know anything of them ? Emmet. — I have a recollection of having read them before, and if that recollection be right, they are resolutions that have been passed by an individual society at Belfast, and were seized at the arrests of Barrett, Burnside and others. Mr. Alexander . — They are the same. Emmet — Then I hope the Committee will draw no inference from them, as to the views of the executive or of the whole body. You know the North well, and that every man there turns his mind more or less on speculative politics ; but cer- tainly the opinion of a few of the least informed among them cannot be considered as influencing the whole. Mr. J. C. Beresford.- — Ay, but would you be able to make such people give up their own opinion to follow yours ? Emmet . — I am convinced we should, because I know we have done it before, on poirts where their opinions and wishes were very strong. MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. 28 : Mr. Alexander. — How did you hope to hold the people in order and good conduct when the reins of government were loosened ? Emmet . — By other equally powerful reins. It was for this purpose I considered the promoting of organization to be a moral duty. Having no doubt that a revolution would and will take place, unless prevented by removing the national grievances, I saw in the organization the only way of prevent- ing its being such as would give the nation lasting causes of grief and shame. Whether there be organization or not, the revolution will take place, but if the people be classed and arranged for the purpose, the control which heads of their own appointment will have over them, by means of the different de- grees of representation and organs of communication, will, I hope, prevent them from committing those acts of outrage and cruelty which may be expected from a justly irritated, but igno- rant and uncontroled populace. Mr. Alexander . — But do you think there were in the TJnion such organs of communication as had an influence over the lower orders, and were at the same time fit to communicate and do business with persons of a better condition ? Emmet . — I am sure there were multitudes of extremely shrewd and sensible men, whose habits of living were with the lower orders, but who were perfectly well qualified for doing business with persons of any condition. Speaker . — You say the number of United Irishmen is five hundred thousand — do you look upon them all as fighting men ? Emmet . — There are undoubtedly some old men and some young lads among them, but I am sure I speak within bounds when I say the number of fighting men in the Union cannot be less than three hundred thousand. Speaker — I understand, according to you, the views of the United Irish went to a Republic, and separation from England, but that they would probably have compounded for a reform in Parliament. Am I not right, however, to understand that the object next their hearts was a separation and a republic ? Emmet — Pardon me, the object next their hearts was a re- dress of their grievances ; two modes of accomplishing that object presented themselves to their view, one was a reform by peaceable means, the other was a revolution and a republic. J 284 MEM0TR OF TTTOMAS ADDIS EMMET. hare no doubt that if they could flatter themselves that the object next their hearts would be accomplished peaceably by a reform, they would prefer it infinitely to a revolution and re- public, which must be more bloody in their operation, but I am also convinced, when they saw they could not accomplish the object next their hearts, a redress of their grievances, by a re- form, they determined in despair to procure it by a revolution, which I am persuaded is inevitable, unless a reform be granted. Speaker. — You say that a revolution is inevitable unless a reform be granted ; what would be the consequences of such a reform in redressing what you call the grievances of the people ? Emmet.- — In the first place I look to the abolition of tithes. I think a reformed legislature would also produce an ameliora- tion of the state of the poor, and a diminution of the rents of lands would establish a system of national education, and would regulate the commercial intercourse between Great Britain and Ireland, on the footing of perfect equality, and correct the bloody nature of your criminal code. Speaker. — You speak of the abolition of tithes, do you in- clude in that the destruction of the Establishment ? Emmet. — I have myself no doubt of the Establishment’s be- ing injurious, and I look to its destruction, but I cannot under- take to say how far the whole of that measure is contemplated by the body of the people, because I have frequently heard an acreable tax proposed as a substitute, which necessarily sup- poses the preservation of this Establishment. Speaker. — Don’t you think the Catholics peculiarly object to tithes ? Emmet. — They certainly have the best reason to complain, but I rather think they object as tenants more than as Catho- lics ; and in common with the rest of the tenantry of the king- dom ; and if any other way of paying even a Protestant Es- tablishment, which did not bear so sensibly on their industry, were to take place, I believe it would go a great way to con- tent them, though, I confess, it would not content me ; but I must add that I would (and I am sure so would many others who think of establishments like me,) consent to give the pre- sent incumbents equivalent pensions. Lord Castlereagh. — Don’t you think the Catholics look to the accomplishing the destruction of the Establishment ? Emmet. — From the declaration they made in 1792, or 1793 MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. 285 I am sure they did not then ; I cannot say how far their opin- ions may have altered since, but from many among them pro- posing a substitute for tithes, I am led to believe they are not yet gone so far, Lord Gastlereagh. — But don’t you think they will look to its destruction ? Emmet. — I cannot pay so bad a compliment to the reasons which have convinced myself, as not to suppose they will con- vince others. As the human mind grows philosophic, it will, I think, wish for the destruction of all religious establishments, and therefore, in proportion as the Catholic mind becomes philosophic , it will of course entertain the same wishes — but I consider that as the result of its philosophy , and not of its reli- gion. Lord Castlereagh. — Don’t you think the Catholics would wish to set up a Catholic Establishment, in lieu of the Protest- ant one ? Emmet. — Indeed I don’t ; even at the present day, perhaps some old priests, who have long groaned under the penal laws ; might wish for a retribution to themselves, but I don’t think the young priests would wish for it, and I am convinced the laity would not submit to it, and that the objections to it will be every day gaining strength. Speaker. — You also mention that a reform would diminish the rents of lands ; how do you think that would be done ? Emmet. — I am convinced rack-rents can only take place in a country otherwise essentially oppressed, if the value of the people was raised in the state, their importance would induce the landlords to consult their interests, and therefore to better their condition. Thus I think it would take place, even with- out any law bearing upon the matter. Mr. Alexander. — Mr. Emmet, you have gone, the circuit for many years ; now have you not observed that the condition of the people has been gradually bettering ? Emmet. — Admitting that the face of the country has assum- ed a better appearance ; if you attribute it to the operations of any laws you have passed. I must only declare my opinion, that it is post hoc sed non et hoe. As far as the situation of the lower orders may have been bettered in Ireland, it results from the increased knowledge, commerce, and intercourse of the dif- ferent states of Europe with one another, and is enjoyed in this 286 MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. country* only in common with the rest of civilized Europe and America. I believe the lower orders in all these countries have been improved in their condition within these twenty years, but I doubt whether the poor of this country have been bettered in a greater proportion than the poor in the despotic states of Germany. Speaker . — You mention an improved system of national education, are there not as many schools in Ireland as in Eng- land ? Emmet . — I believe there are, and that therfe is in propor- tion as great a fund in Ireland as in England, if it were fairly applied ; but there is this great difference, the schools are Pro- testant schools, which answer very well in England, but do little good among the Catholic peasantry of Ireland. Another thing to be considered is, that stronger measures are immedi- ately necessary for educating the Irish people than are neces- sary in England ; in the latter country no steps were taken to counteract the progress of knowledge, it had fair play, and was gradually advancing, but in Ireland you have brutalized the public mind, by long-continued operation of the Popery laws, which, though they have been repealed, have left an effect that will not cease these fifty years. It is incumbent then on you to counteract that effect by measures which are not equally ne- cessary in England. Speaker . — You mentioned criminal code ; in what does that differ from the English ? Emmet . — It seems to me that it would be more advisable, in reviewing one criminal law, to compare the crime with the punishment, than the Irish code with the English, there is, however, one difference that occurs to me on the instant, ad- ministering unlawful oaths is in Ireland punished with death. Lord Gastlereagh . — That is a law connected with the secu- rity of the state. Emmet — If it is intended to keep up the ferment of the pub- lic mind, such laws may be necessary, but if it be intended to allay that ferment, such laws are perfectly useless. Speaker . — Would putting the commercial intercourse on the footing of equality satisfy the people ? Emmet— 1 think that equality of situations would go nearer satisfying the people than any of the other equalities that hav« been alluded to. MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. 281 Speaker. — Then your opinion is that we cannot avoid a re- volution, unless we abandon the English constitution, and the English system in our establishment education, and criminal laws? j Emmet. — I have already touched on the latter subject, and as to the English constitution, I cannot conceive how a reform in Parliament can be said to destroy that. Speaker. — Why, in what way does the representation differ in Ireland from that in England ; are there not in England close boroughs, and is not the right of suffrage there confined to 405. freeholders? Emmet. — If I were an Englishman I should be discontented, and therefore cannot suppose that putting Ireland on a footing with England would content the people of this country ; if, however, you have a mind to try a partial experiment, for the success of which I would not answer, you must consider how many are the close boroughs and large towns which con- tribute to the appointment of 558, and diminish in the same proportion the number of the close boroughs and towns which contribute to the appointment of our 300 ; even that would be a gain to Ireland ; but that there should not be mistake or confusion of terms, let us drop the equivocal words, English constitution , and then I answer, I would not be understood to say, that the government of king, lords, and commons, would be destroyed by a reform of the lower house. Lord Castlereagh. — And do you not think that such a house could not co-exist with the government of king and lords ? Emmet. — If it would not, my lord, the eulogies that have been passed on the British constitution have been very much mis- placed ; but I think they could all exist together, if the king and lords meant fairly by the people ; if they should persist in designs hostile to the people, I do believe they would be over- thrown. (It was then intimated, that they had got into a theoretical discussion, and that what they wished to enquire into was facts.) Sir J. Parnel. — Mr. Emmet, while you and the executive were phifosophizing, Lord Edward Fitzgerald was arming and disciplining the people ? Emmet . — Lord Edward was a military man, and if he was do- ing so, he probably thought that was the way in which he could be most useful to his country, but I am sure, that if those with 288 MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMKT. whom he acted were convinced that the grievances of the peo pie were redressed, and that force was become unnecessary, he would have been persuaded to drop all arming and disciplining. Mr. J. C. Beresford . — I knew Lord Edward well, and always found him very obstinate. Emmet . — I knew Lord Edward right well, and have done a great deal of business with him, and have always found, when he had a reliance on the integrity and talents of the person he acted with, he was one of the most persuadable men alive, bu* if he thought a man meant dishonestly or unfairly by him, ht was as obstinate as a mule. (Many questions were then put to me relative to different papers and proceedings of the United Irish ; among the rest, John Sheares’s proclamation was men- tioned with considerable severity. I took that opportunity of declaring, that neither the execution of John Sheares, nor the obloquy that was endeavoured to be cast on his memory should prevent my declaring that I considered John Shares a very honourable and humane man.) Mr. French. — Mr. Emmet, can you point out any way of in- ducing the people to give up their arms. Emmet . — Redressing their grievances, and no other. Lard Castlereagh. — Mr. Emmet, we are unwillingly obliged to close this examination by the sitting of the House. Emmet . — My Lord, if it be the wish of the Committee, I will attend it at any other time. Lord Castlereagh. — If we want you, then we shall send for you. After the regular examination was closed, I was asked by many of the members whether there were many persons of pro- perty in the Union, I answered that there was immense pro- perty in it. They acknowledged there was great personal property in it, but wished to know was there much lauded property, I answered there was. They asked me was it in fee simple, to that I could give no answer. The Attorney-Gene- ral said there was in it many landlords who had large tracts of land, and felt their landlords to be great grievances. I ad- mitted that to be the fact. They asked me had we* provided any form of government. I told them we had a provisional government for the instaut, which we retained in memory, but as to any permanent form of government, we thought that, and • many other matters relating to the changes which would bo MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. 289 come necessary, were not proper objects for our discussion, but should be referred to a committee chosen by the people. They did not ask me what the provisional government was. Thomas Addis Emmet On the 18th of March, 1799, after a year’s imprisonment, Emmet received notice to prepare for embarkation the follow ing morniug. The place of his destination was kept a profound secret, and this circumstance caused the most serious appre- hensions to his relatives. His sister, at a late hour that even- ing, on hearing of the order that had been given, proceeded immediately to the Castle, and demanded an interview with the Viceroy, for the purpose of ascertaining the fate that was destined for her brother. She presented herself to the Vice- roy with the spirit that seemed to be characteristic of her race, Lord Cornwallis was moved even to tears, at the earnestness of her supplication, the anxiety exhibited in her looks, the strength of feeling, and energy of character displayed in the effort she had made. He treated her with kindness, and as- sured her that “ no harm should happen to her brother that the apprehension of a meditated descent on Ireland had ren- dered it necessary to remove the state prisoners to a place of security, that place he was not at liberty to name, but that the treatment of her brother and his companions should be all his friends or theirs could wish. Miss Emmet returned to her family, and the intelligence she brought, little as it was, re- lieved the minds of her parents of much of their alarm. At daybreak the following morning, Thomas Addis Emmet bid a last farewell to his country. He never more set his foot upon its soil. The evening before his departure he was visited by his sister, he parted with her for the last time. Father, mother, sister, and brother, in the brief space of four or five years were laid in the grave, within which period the last but one of the race of Emmet that was left in the land of his birth perished on the scaffold. On the 9th of April, 1799, Emmet and his companions arrived at Fort George. Lieutenant-Colonel Stuart, a bro- ther of the Earl of Murray, descended from a royal race, then far advanced in years, filled the office of Lieutenant-G overnoi C Fort George. His name and memory will always be re . -«mbered in Ireland with respect and honour, for his human* 290 MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. and generous conduct to Emmet, his wife, and their com panions. It seemed to be, from the beginning of their confinement at Fort George, the object of the Irish Government, of which Lord Castlereagh was virtually the head, to render their situation as painful as possible, by means of representations made of their conduct and designs to the English Minister ; on the contrary, the Duke of Portland did not seem inclined to act towards them with the wished-for severity, and the officer in whose charge they were placed endeavoured to miti- gate the rigor of every order that he received in relation to them, so far as a due regard to his duty allowed him. He told Emmet at the commencement of their acquaintance, “ He looked upon him, and the other State prisoners, as gentlemen, and as such he was disposed to treat them. ,, He kept his word. During the first year of their confinement, several orders, very absurd and of very unnecessary severity, had been wrung from the Duke of Portland by the malignity of the representations made by the Irish Minister. The prisoners were forbidden the use of pen and ink, for the purpose of writing to their friends, “ except in the presence of a keeper,” on account “ of the great abuse of that privilege by the Dub- lin prisoners.” “ The reason assigned for this last restriction makes it plain that the brain from which it originated was that of the Irish Minister or his clerk, and the source his heart.”* Verbal communication was prohibited except in the presence of a sentinel, the time allowed for exercise was re- stricted to about an hour in the day for each individual ; their allowance was reduced, and their correspondence with their friends encumbered with formalities, which could serve no use- ful purpose. All these severities were gradually mitigated by the Lieutenant-Governor, and at length the restrictions existed only in name. Mrs. Emmet, who was not permitted to ac- company her husband to Fort George, had made repeated applications to Lord Castlereagh, from the time of the re- moval of Emmet, to be allowed to visit him. The answers -etnrned to the poor lady were couched in terms of frigid jurtesy refusing her request. Mrs. Emmet informed her iiusnand, in a letter which he received the 19th of November, 1800, that after making application at the Castle during nine * Dr. Dickson’s Narrative, p. 136. MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. 291 months, Lord Castlereagh at length had consented to her visit ing her husband, but under conditions which amounted to a prohibition, and that she was then about to apply in person to the Duke of Portland. Previously, however, to her making this personal applica- tion, she had applied to his Grace by letter. The influence that was exerted to defeat her object may be gathered from the conditions on which the British Minister was willing to comply with her request. There is no transaction of those times with which Lord Castlereagh was connected which ex- hibits more unmanliness of character than the representations made by him to the British Minister with regard to a lady of exalted worth, a wife devoted to her husband, the mother of five children, a lady, in fine, in the unfortunate circumstances of Mrs. Emmet, as being a person undeserving the merciful consideration of government. “ Suspected of having imbibed the principles’’ of her husband, and on that account to be de- barred from his society, except under circumstances that were an outrage on her feelings. The following is a copy of the Duke of Portland’s order, in consequence of the application then made by her. “ Sir, — Mrs. Emmet, wife of Mr. Emmet, one of the prison- ers at Fort George, has obtained my permission to see her husband, but as she is suspected of having imbibed his princi- ples, you will take particular care that she shall not be the means of communication between him and the disaffected in Ireland. She is only to see him in the presence of a proper person, and you are to take such steps as that she may not carry any letters or papers in or out of the Fort. “ I have the honour to be, Sir, “ Your most obedient humble servant, Portland. “ The Hon. Lieutenant-Governor Stuart .” In the month of July following, she proceeded to London, obtained a personal interview with the Duke of Portland, and the result was such as might be expected, permission was granted her, not only to visit her husband, but to take her children and reside with him, and she attributed the indulgence, in a great measure to the favorable reputation of her husband’i 292 MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. character and conduct, which had been made by Lieutenant- Governor Stuart. From the time of Mrs. Emmet’s arrival in Fort George, till the liberation of the prisoners, the conduct of the good old governor to Mrs. Emmet was more like that of a father than the guardian of a prison, (for such the fortress uuder his command had been made.) His kindness to her children was unceasing, and his respectful attention to her hus- band plainly showed in what light “ the rebel-leader” was re- garded by him. On one occasion a fire broke out at night in the fortress. The governor was called up and on ascertaining that no dan- ger was to be apprehended, he instantly ran to Emmet’s apart- ment to remove his apprehensions for himself and family, and the next day the following note was addressed to Emmet : — The Lieutenant-Governor’s compliments to Mr. Emmet. He hopes Mrs. Emmet suffered no inconvenience from the alarm of fire which was given last night. As the idea of being locked in, may occasion a disagreeable sensation to a lady’s mind, in case of any sudden occurrence, (though the Lieutenant- Governor flatters himself that none in future will arise), he will give directions that the passage door leading to Mr Emmet’s apartments shall not in future be locked, being con- vinced that Mr. Emmet would make no improper use of all the doors being left open. — To Thomas Addis Emmet Esq” In November, 1800, Emmet received a letter from his fel- low student, Home, the Lord Advocate of Scotland, informing him that “ all his applications were fruitless, and his expecta- tions vain notwithstanding his most earnest interference in his favour.” Mrs. Emmet, in the mean time, was permitted to make ex- cursions in the neighborhood, wherever she thought proper, she was visited by some of the families in the vicinity of the Fort, and visited them in turn. The Lieutenant-Governor sent a message to her husband, informing the latter that he might accompany his wife whenever he thought proper to escort her. Emmet returned a written reply, expressing his gratitude for the Governor’s kindness on all occasions, but begging respectfully to decline the indulgence offered, in the event of its coming from the British Government, but if it came from the Lieutenant-Governor he would willingly and MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. 293 thankfully accept his offer. Stuart wrote in reply that the offer had been his own spontaneous act, and as such it was ac- cepted. During Mrs. Emmet’s residence at Fort George she was col fined. The child was called Jane Erin Emmet. After a confinement of one year in the Dublin prisons and ol three years in Fort George, in violation of a solemn engage ment, the Government determined on the liberation of the pri- soners. But when the list of pardoned persons came to the Lieutenant-Governor from the Home-Office, it was ascertained that Emmet’s name was not specified. The Lieutenant-Gov- ernor sent for Emmet, and with visible emotion told him there was no order for his liberation or removal. The cause of the omission of his name, and of making him an exception to the lenity of Government, as the liberation of the prisoners was then absurdly called could not be imagined. Stuart turning to him as he was about to leave the room, said, “ Mr. Emmet, you shall go, I will take all hazards and all responsibility. You shall go to-morrow with the rest of the prisoners, and I will stand between you and the Government.” The Emmets parted with the good old man who had acted with so much kindness towards them as with an old friend. They embarked with the other state prisoners for Cuxhaven, on the 30th of June, 1802, and landed in Holland, on the 4th of July. Emmet and his family proceeded to Hamburgh. They spent some time at Amsterdam and Rotterdam, and passed the winter of 1802 in Brussels ; there Emmet received intel- ligence of his father’s death.* During his stay at Amsterdam, in 1802, he was visited by his brother Robert, about six months before the return of the latter to Ireland.-)* The par- ticulars of that meeting, and the circumstances which grew out of it, appertain more especially to the memoir of Robert Emmet, and are given in it. It may be sufficient to state that Emmet, in the beginning of 1803, went to France, and in the autumn of the same year took place those negotiations with Napoleon which are fully detailed in the memoir of Robert Emmet. * Dr. Emmet was buried in the Church-yard of St. Anne’s, in Daw- son street, Dublin. f Dr. Madden mistakes in this particular. Judge Emmet says, that T. A. Emmet’s last meeting vith his brother Robert took place in Brussels. 294 MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. In October, 1804, lie embarked with his family at Bor- deaux for America, and arrived in New York on the 1 7th of November same year. Emmet’s career in America has been traced by one of his professional friends in that country, Charles Glidden Haines, a gentleman distinguishe 1 at the bar, and one of the counsel- lors of the Supreme Court at Washington. This gentleman’s eminence in his profession, his talents, and his close intimacy with Emmet, render him fully competent to the task under- taken by him. In 1812, while he and Mr. Emmet were attending the Su- preme Court of the United States, they lived together in the same house, and Emmet was prevailed on by his friend to give him a sketch of his career, which was committed to writing by the latter. It remained with him during his life unpub- lished, but after his decease it was given to the public along with a biographical memoir of himself in 1829. The following extracts are taken verbatim from Mr. Haines’s narrative : “ In 1804, we find Thomas Addis Emmet a resident of our own country. He now moves on a new theatre, and occupies a wide space in the consideration of a people to whom he was hitherto a stranger. He is no longer embarked in the trou- bled scenes of Europe. He commenced his career in the ser- vice of his country to aid in conducting a most important revo- lution to a successful issue, and he failed in his attempt. About six years of the most valuable part of his life has been lost by imprisonment and the calamities attendant on the part which he acted. He now commences a new career, and with what success, this narrative may present some slight proof. “ When Mr. Emmet came to the United States, he was about forty years of age. His fortune had been broken, and he had a family to sustain and educate. For some time' he doubted which profession he would pursue — medicine or law. He was competent to undertake either. His friends advised him to go to the bar, and a great loss would have occurred to this country had he not done so. He then concluded to re- move to the Western country — to the State of Ohio. He had landed in New York, and had soon after made a visit to some parts of the Southern country, and Walter Jones, Esq., a most eminent counsellor and advocate in the District of Co- MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. 295 Inmbia, had procured Mr. Emmet’s admission to the bar at Alexandria. A slave population prevented his residence at the South. He had selected Ohio as a future residence for many reasons. Land was cheap and the country new ; he had a rising and increasing family, which he wished to plant about him, the competition was not so closely waged at the bar as in some other places, and every thing was young and new in polity and laws. “ The venerable George Clinton was then Governor of the State of New York, and the most popular and powerful man in the State. He was a plain, stern, ardent Republican, and of Irish blood. lie sent for Mr. Emmet, and told him to re- main in the city of New York. He said that Mr. Emmet’s great talents would command patronage. General Hamilton, one of the brightest ornaments of the age in which he lived, had fallen in a private quarrel, and there was a great opening at the bar, which Mr. Emmet could occupy. As to the western country, Governor Clinton said it was a wilderness, and no place for a great lawyer. Mr. Emmet replied that he would gladly remain in New York, but he could not practise without a previous study of three years or perhaps six, in order to become a counsellor and advocate, such were the rules of Court adopted in New York, and while he was studying law his family would want bread. Governor Clinton told him, in answer, not to be discouraged, if the Supreme Court de- clined giving him a license, the Legislature would give him one by an express statute. George Clinton no doubt could have effected this offer. He was the idol of the people, and the guardian spirit which presided over the Republican party. De Witt Clinton was then Mayor of the city of New York, an office at that time attended with an income of twenty thousand dollars a-year. He was then a great leader in the Republican ranks, a statesman of uncommon promise, and had recently resigned his seat in the Senate of the United States. He also sent for Mr. Emmet, advised him to remain in New York, and tendered him his utmost services and influence. He thought with George Clinton, his uncle, as to the Supreme Court, and as to what could be done with the Legislature. Under these auspices, Mr. Emmet changed his plans of future life, and concluded to pursue fortune and fame in the city ol New York. George and De Witt Clinton then made a formal 296 MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. application to the Judges of the Supreme Court. Chief- Justice Spencer was then on the bench as a puisne Judge, Judge Thompson and Vice-President Tompkins were alsc there. Chancellor Kent was the Chief Justice. Spencer, Thompson, and Tompkins were found friendly, Kent pecu- liarly hostile. Judge Spencer was strong and decided, and Mr. Emmet always mentions the kindness, the friendship, and the effective aid of Vice-President Tompkins with many expres- sions of gratitude. Within the last two years he argued a most important cause for the Vice-President, without fee or reward, and obtained a verdict of 130,000 dollars, it being a suit with the United States. He said he did it with great pleasure, in remembrance of former friendship. Chancellor Kent was a warm, and I may almost say a violent Federalist. He execrated all Republican principles in Europe, and was the disciple of Edmund Burke as to the French revolution. He looked on Mr. Emmet with an unkind eye, and raised his voice against his appearing in the forums of our State. To the honour of the Chancellor, however, let it now be said, that he has more than once expressed joy to Mr. Emmet that the other judges overruled his illiberal objections. Mr. Emmet was admitted to the bar of New York without a resort to the Legislature. It was a violation of the rules of Court that his great talents and his sufferings palliated and excused. “ Mr. Emmet now commenced that splendid career at the American bar, that has not only elevated the character of the profession, but reflected back a lustre on his native land. The Irish bar have reason to be proud of the exile who has so essentially aided in giving immortality to Irish genius. Very soon after Mr. Emmet appeared at our bar, he was employed in a case peculiarly well calculated for the display of his extra- ordinary powers. Several slaves had escaped from a neigh- bouring State and found a refuge here. Their masters seized them, and the rights of their masters became a matter of con- troversy.. Mr. Emmet, I have been informed, was retained by the Society of Friends — the real, steady, ardent and per- severing friends of humanity and justice, and of course es- poused the cause of the slaves. His effort is said to have been overwhelming. The novelty of his manner, the enthusi- asm which he exhibited, his broad Irish accent, his pathos and violence of gesture, created a variety of sensations in the MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. 291 audience His Republican friends said that his fortune was made, and they were right. “ Mr. Emmet’s strong and decided attachment to Demo- cratic principles was known even before he reached the Ame- rican shore. Coming to a country where he could breathe and speak freely, he did not find it necessary to repress those bold and ardent sentiments which had animated his bosom while toiling for the emancipation of Ireland. He mingled in the ranks of the Republican party. Transatlantic politics it is well known had extended their agitations and influence to this country. The federal party hated France, hated Ireland in her revolutionary character, and hated Charles James Fox and his Whig party in England. The line drawn in this country is still visible. Mr. Emmet was viewed by the oppo- nents of Mr. Jefferson’s administration as a fugitive Jacobin. Hence he was doomed to some little persecution even in this country. The great men of the New York bar were federal- ists. They therefore turned their faces against Mr. Emmet. They formed a combination, and agreed to decline all profes- sional union and consultation with him. Mr. Emmet has told me the names of this shameful league, but as they are now his warmest friends and admirers, and as I respect and esteem them, their names shall not go from me. One man’s name, however, I shall mention ; for although a firm federalist, and an eminent man, he nobly denounced the combination, and all its objects. I speak of Cadwallader D. Colden. He and Mrs. Colden, an amiable and excellent lady, have paid Mr. and Mrs. Emmet the highest marks of respect and civility, ever since they became inhabitants of the United States. When Mr. Emmet ascertained the existence of the league, he did not hesitate what to do. His native boldness and decision of character governed his conduct. He determined to carry the war into the enemy’s country. He did not wait for an attack. He proved the assailant. Wherever he met any of the league at the bar, he assumed the attitude of professional war. and he lost nothing by contact. If Mr. Emmet has any one extraordinary power, it is the ready talent of successful and over-awing reply. His spirit is always dauntless, fear he never knew. Hence he generally came off victorious in the wars against the combination. The league was soon dissolved. Business flowed in, and Mr 298 MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. Emmet assumed a standing, and was able to maintain it, that put all opposition at defiance. It was not long after his ar rival and settlement at New York, that his profession pro* duced him ten thousand dollars a year. During some years, within a more recent period, it has amounted to an annual in- come of fifteen thousand dollars. In 1807, Mr. Emmet appeared before the American public in a controversy with tlufus King. Mr. King was the federal candidate for Governor of the State of New York. Mr. Em- met, on political and personal grounds, was opposed to his election. At a meeting of the Hibernian Society, he broke out into an eloquent appeal to his countrymen, and urged them to rally and embody against Mr. King. This roused the temper of Mr. King’s friends, and the federal papers, especially the New York Evening Post , poured a torrent of invective on the head of Mr. Emmet. Severe epithets and hard names were applied to him. He had seen political war before, and was not to have his lips sealed this time. He addressed two letters to Mr. King, and the last was long and severe, As this will probably reach posterity, I will barely notice its tenor and al- legations. Mr. Emmet always considered Mr. King as instru- mental in preventing the emigration of Irish patriots to the United States, previous to their imprisonment in Fort George. Mr. King belonged to the federal school in politics. Among other distinctions in the country, there was what was termed the French party and the British party. The federal party generally sided with the British Government, in all controver- cies connected with continental politics. The Irish patriots had sought aid from France, and encountered the general aversion of the federalists of this country. Mr. King naturally set his countenance against the contemplated revolution in Ire- land, and was not favourably disposed to the emigration of what were termed Irish rebels by the Court of St. James. How far he enterfered, or how far the British Government feigned his interference, I cannot say, but it was used as a pretext, if not well-founded. It will be recollected, that there was a treaty between the Anglo-Irish Government and Mr. Emmet, Mr. O’Connor, and Dr. Macneven. Among other proffered advantages, was the liberation of the prisoners for a residence in the United States. That liberation was subsequently de- nied, in violation of the treaty. Mr. Emmet in his letter tc MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDTS EMMET. 29? Mr. King, adverts to his interferrence with grea^ fueling and with no small indignation. * * * “ I express no opinion as to the degree of reproach which should be attached to the character of Mr. King, but I will not omit what is very honourable to himself and to his sons. The former has more than once paid the highest compliment to Mr. Emmet’s talents, and in his late argument in the great steamboat cause, left the Senate for two days, to witness and hear his stupendous efforts as an orator. Mr. King’s sons have- always paid the highest respect to Mr. Emmet, and wherever his family have appeared in private circles, been marked and particular in their civilty. These are small things, but they indicate good feelings. In August, 1812, the Counsel of Appointment conferred upon Mr. Emmet the office of Attorney-General of the State of New York. This was a post of honour, but could not add to his professional fame or emolument. He held the office but for a short time, and has never since sought or received any public appointment. * * * u Helvetius remarks, that the sun of glory shines only on the tomb of greatness. His observation is too often true, but facts and living proofs sometimes contradict it. Mr. Emmet walks on iii life, amid the eulogiums, the admiration, and the enthusiastic regard of a great and enlightened community. Without the glare and influence of public office, without titles and dignities, who fills a wider space, who commands more res- pect, than Thomas Addis Emmet ? Like a noble and simple column, he stands among us proudly pre-eminent — destitute of pretensions, destitute of vanity, and destitute of envy. In a letter which I recently received from a friend who resides in the western part of the Union, a lawyer of eminence, he speaks of the New York bar. ‘Thomas Addis Emmet/ says he, ‘ is the great luminary, whose light even crosses the western moun- tains. His name rings down the valley of the Mississippi, and we hail his efforts with a kind of locale pride.’ * * * “ The mind of Thomas Addis Emmet is of the highest order. His penetration is deep, his views comprehensive, his distinc- tions remarkably nice. His powers of investigation are vigor ous and irresistible. If there be anything in a subject he will go to the bottom. He probes boldly, reacheg the lowest depths by his researches, analyses everything, and embraces the wholf 300 MEMOtt 0E THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. ground. He may be said to have a mind well adapted to prtf found and powerful investigation. In the next place, he has great comprehension. He sees a subject in all its bearings and relations. He traces out all its various operations. He be- gins at the centre and diverges, until it becomes necessary again to return to the centre. As a reasoner, — a bare strict reasoner, Mr. Emmet would always be placed in an elevated rank. No matter how dry, how difficult, how repulsive the topic, no matter what may be its intricacies and perplexities, if any man can unfold and amplify it, he is equal to the task. “ The subject of this memoir is not less distinguished for his knowledge of the theory of the bar than he is of the practice. As a special pleader, he has great experience and precision, and whoever looks through the decisions of cases in the New York reports, and those argued in the Suprejne Court, at Washing- ton, where he has been concerned, will be convinced of the fact here asserted. It has been said, that while Erskine daz- zled, charmed, and astonished all who heard him in Westmin- ster Hall, the hard head and watchful skill of the nisi prius lawyer was always perceptible. Mr. Emmet, while he displays wonderful powers of eloquence, and indulges in bursts of lofty and noble sentiment and appeals to the great moral maxims that must govern men in this world while we have laws, morals and obedience to order, never forgets the landmarks of profes- sional watchfulness ; he is still the well-disciplined lawyer, con- tending for his client. “ I must now mention another advantage that distinguishes Mr. Emmet in his professional career. His historical illustra- tions are numerous, pertinent and happy. In this he excels any man whom I have ever heard. He was educated in Eu- rope, and was for many years not only a political man, but as- sociated on intimate terms with the first men of the age. He not only read, but has heard and saw. In addition to what we find in the volumes of history, he collected many things which floated in the atmosphere of the times, well calculated to give a clue to the character of men and of transactions lost to the ordinary historian. * * * As a classical scholar, but few men can stand before Mr. Emmet in point of attainments. He is familiar with the great writers of antiquity — the master spirits who have infused their genius and their sentiment into the popular feelings of ages which have rolled on long after th( MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. 301 poet and the orator, the statesman and the historian, have ceased to glow, to speak, to guide, or to write. He has closely con- sulted those oracles' of wisdom, those disciples of philosophy, those sons of the muses, whose opinions, sentiments, and effusions, lighten the sorrows of human existence, inspire the mind with noble ideas, and cheer the ardent and persevering devotions of the student. The man of whom I speak was more intimately acquainted with the poets of Greece and Rome, than with the prose-writers ; at least such is the fact evinced in his speeches and conversation. Virgil and Horace are always on his tongue, and Juvenal is sometimes called to his aid. There is a reason for this kind of learning in Mr. Emmet. His early education was in the schools of Europe. He had all the dis- cipline and all the primitive advantages peculiar to those schools. The Latin and the Greek tongues were introduced to his notice while yet a child, and for years they were his daily companions. The writings of the British classics he has also consulted with a delight and advantage which often appear in his arguments. Shakespeare, in particular, he often quotes. One of the greatest chains of Mr. Emmet’s eloquence, is the fancy which he continually displays. He possesses an imagin- ation boundless as the world of light, in its grandeur and beau- ty. Its flights are bold, its pictures soft, magnificent, or aw- ful, as the subject may require. This power is greater in Mr. Emmet than in any other lawyer whom I have ever heard. It enables him to shed a charm over every subject which he touches. To the most dry and meagre topic, he can impart interest and attraction. All his figures indicate taste and pro- priety. They are often bold and daring, and frequently show very great accuracy and precision of language. It falls to his province to impress on the mind of every hearer, a recollection as lasting as life, No man who ever heard him for an hour can forget his figure, his face, his manner, and a great part of his very language. Some of his peculiar figures of speech would be well remembered. “ I have already spoken of Mr. Emmet’s readiness at retort. Whoever rouses his energies by a rude assault or a stroke of satire is sure to hear of it again, and generally has good rea- son to regret the ill-timed provocation. In 1815, he made his first appearance at the Supreme Court of the United States at Washington. He and Mr. Pinckney were brought in con- 802 MEMOIR OF THOMAS aDDIS EMMET. tact. The latter closed the argument in a very important cause in which they were both engaged, and with his charac- teristic arrogance alluded to the fact of Mr. Emmet’s migra- tion to the United States. When he had concluded his argu- ment, Mr. Emmet being for the respondent in error, had no right to reply, but he nevertheless rose, and after correcting a trifling error in some of Mr. Pinckney’s statements, he took up the mode and manner in which his opponent had treated him. He said he was Mr. Pinckney’s equal in birth, in rank, in his connections, and he was not his enemy. It was true he was an Irishman. It was true that in attempting to rescue an oppressed, brave, and generous-hearted people, he had been driven front the forum in his own land. It was true that he had come to America for refuge, and sought protection beneath her constitution and her laws, and it was also true that his learned antagonist would never gather a fresh wreath of laurel, or add lustre to his well-earned fame, by alluding to those facts in a tone of malicious triumph. He knew not by what name arrogance and presumption might be called on this side of the ocean, but sure he was that Mr. Pinckney never ac- quired these manners in the polite circles of Europe, which he had long frequented as a public minister. Mr. Pinckney was not ready at retort, and he made no reply ; but a few days afterwards it so happened that he and Mr. Emmet were again opposed to each other in a cause of magnitude, and it fell to Mr. Emmet’s part to close the argument, who was determined that his antagonist should be put in mind of his former deport- ment and expressions. Mr. Pinckney was aware of the thun- derbolt in store, and took the opportunity of paying to Mr. Emmet’s genius, fame, and private worth, the highest tribute of respect. This respect was never afterwards violated. When Mr. Emmet rose out of his place as before stated, Chief-Justice Marshall indicated great uueasiness, thinking that something unpleasant might be the result. Mr. Justice Livingston reached forward his head, and remarked in a whisper, ‘ Let him go on ; I’ll answer that he says nothing rude or improper.’ With this, as well as with the result, the Chief-Justice was satisfied. Mr. Emmet’s deportment at the bar is mild, uibane, dignified, and conciliating. To the junior members of the pro- fession in particular, he is a model of obliging civility — always speaking favourably of their efforts, and kindly of their exer- MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. 303 cions, however meager and discouraging. To me he has given many sound lessons of advice. ‘ Let me see you do that again / has been his language of reprehension when condemning some particular habit or fault. “ Mr. Emmet’s appearance and manners are plain and sim- ple in the extreme. His dress is wholly unstudied. Every- thing, however, shows the utmost delicacy of feeling. Modest, unassuming, unobtrusive, and perfectly polite, he would alone attract the attention of a stranger by that amiable temper and obliging disposition that manifested themselves on all oc- casions. “ In his private character, the object of this memoir is with- out a blemish. Generous, humane, obliging, and strictly honest, a heart open, frank, and ardent. Upright in all his dealiugs ; rigid and austere in his habits, temperate and rational in all his enjoyments ; liberal and free from prejudice upon every subject, kind and affectionate as a husband, a father, and a friend, anxious to do good and diminish evil. Such a man is Mr. Emmet.” Emmet had little correspondence with his friends in Ireland from the time of his departure from Fort George. His com- munications were confined to three or four individuals, and had very little reference to political matters. The following ex- tracts from some of his letters will be read with interest. It is only to be regretted that so few documents or papers of his are in existence, or available for the purpose of drawing up a memoir of this kind. Emmet’s correspondence with Mr. Rufus King (alluded to in Mr. Haines’s memoir), in which the characteristics of his mind are exhibited in a clearer light than in any other of his letters which have fallen under the author’s observations will be found preceding his other letters. The following communication from Rufus King, when Ame- rican Minister to the Court of London, to one of the Irish state prisoners, will explain the severity of Emmet’s letter to him. “Brighton, August 23rd, 1199. “ Sir, — I ought to inform you, that I realty have no auth rity to give or refuse permission to you or any other foreign to go to the United States, the admission and resident / 304 MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. strangers in that country being a matter that, by a late law,* exclusively belongs to the President. It is true that the government of this country, in the course of the last year, in consequence of my interference , gave me assurance that a parti- cular description of persons in Ireland, who it was understood were going to the United States, should not be allowed to pro- ceed without our consent ; this restraint would doubtless be withdrawn in favour of individuals against whose emigration I should not object , and I conclude that it is upon this supposi- tion that you have taken the trouble to communicate to me 3*)ur desire to go and reside in the United States. Without presuming to form an opinion on the subject of the late dis- turbances in Ireland, I entertain a distinct one in relation to the political situation of my own country. In common with others, we have felt the influence of the changes in France, and unfortunately a portion of our inhabitants has erroneously supposed that our civil and political institutions, as well as our national policy, might be improved by a close imitation of France. This opinion, the propagation of which was made the duty and became the chief employment of the French agents residing amongst us, created a more considerable divi- sion among our people, and required a greater watchfulness and activity from the government, than could beforehand have been apprehended. I am sorry to make the remark, and shall stand in need of your candour in doing so, that a large proportion of the emi- grants from Ireland, and especially in the middle States, has, upon this occasion, arranged themselves on the side of the malcontents. I ought to except from this remark most of the enlightened and well-educated Irishmen who reside among us, and with a few exceptions, I might confine it to the indigent and illiterate, who, entertaining an attachment to freedom, are unable to appreciate those salutary restraints without which, it degenerates into anarchy. It would be injustice to say that the Irish emigrants are more national than those of other coun- tries, yet being a numerous, though very minor portion of our population, they are capable, from causes it is needless now to explain, of being generally brought to act in concert, and, uuder artful leaders, may be, as they have been, enlisted in mischiev- ous combinations agains our government. This view leads me * The Alien Law. MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. 305 to state to you without reserve, the hesitation that I have felt in your case, on the one hand we cannot object to the acquisi- tion of inhabitants from abroad, possessing capital and skill in a branch of business that, with due caution, may without risk or difficulty, and with public as well as private advantage, be established among us, but on the other hand, if the opinions of such inhabitants are likely to throw them into the class of mal- contents, their fortune, skill, aDd consequent influence would make them ten fold more dangerous, and they might become a disadvantage instead of a benefit to our country. You must be sensible that I possess no sufficient means of forming an opinion respecting your sentiments, but the motives which led me to interfere with your Government to restrain the emigra- tion of the persons above alluded to, oblige me to observe a due caution on the present occasion, at the same time, I desire not to act with illiberality, and should be unwilling to bring upon my country the slightest imputation of inhospitality. What Mr. Wilson* has written, so far as it goes is satisfactory, and on the whole, I have concluded, after this unreserved com- munication, which I hope will be received with the same candor as it is made, to inform you, authorizing you to make use of the information, that I witdraw every objection that may be supposed to stand in the way of your being permitted to go to the United States, adding only that you may carry with you an unbiassed mind, may And the state of the country, as I be- lieve you will, favorable to your views of business, and its government deserving your attachment. I must beg your excuse for the great delay which has occurred in sending you this answer, which, I assure you, has risen from other causes than the want of due respect to your letters. With great consideration, I have the honour to be, Sir, Your most obedient servant, Rufus King. To Rufus King Esq. “ Sir, — From certain paragraphs in the Evening Post , I ap- prehended that it may become necessary for me to obtrude myself on the public. As in that event 1 should wish to derive * The American Consul in Dublin. 306 MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET, some credit from the character of my adversary, I request t Alike illustrious by his Genius, his virtues, and his fate ; Consecrated to their affections By his sacrifices, his perils, And the deeper calamities Of his kindred, In a just and holy cause ; His Sympathizing Countrymen Erected this monument and Cenotaph. Bokn at Cork, 24th April, 1764* He died in this city 14th Novkmbxk, 1887. MJEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. 327 M. 8. THOMiE ADDIS EMMET. Qui Ingenio illustri, studiis altioribua, Moribus integris, Dignum Se praestabat laudibus illis, Ilia reverentia. illo Araore Quae semper eum viventem Prosequebantur ; Et subita illo erepto, morte Universae in luctum civitatia Se effuderunt. Quum raro extiterit vir STaturaeve dotibus, doctrinaeve subsidii* Omnibus illo instructior ; Turn eloquentia, alts, ilia, et vera Qualem olim mirabantur Roma Athenaeque, Praecipue alios antiebat. Gravis, varius, vebemens, ferviaus, Omnes animi motus sic regere norit, Uti eos qui audirent, quo vellet Et invitos impelleret. Hibernia natus. Dilectam sibi patriam diu subject&m Alieno, servis tantum ferendo, jugo, Ad libertatem, ad sua jura vocare Magno est ausus animo ; At praeclara et consilia et vota Fefellere fata. Turn infelicis littora Iernae Reliquit, Spe, non animo, dejectus Nobilis exsul ; MEMOIR OF THOMAS ADDIS EMMET. Et hac Americana libens Respublica Ilium excepit, civemque, sibi Gratulans adscivit ; Dein hjec civitas illi domus, Hsec patria fuit, Hsec gloriam illi auxit, hsec Spiritus ultimos Recepit. Mserentium civium voluntaa Hoc exegit monumentum. Do mhiannaich se ardmath Cum tir a breith Do tong se clu a’s fuair se moladh An deig a baia. 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