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MEMOIR 
 
 OF 
 
 THOMAS ADDIS EMMET, 
 
 BY 
 
 V 
 CHARLES GLIBDEN HAINES; 
 
 WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 OF 
 
 MR. HAINES. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 G, & C. & H. CARVILL. 
 
 1829. 
 
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 ■: D% ■■., < i ■■/ -n ■' 1 lark, §t . 
 Be it remembered, That on the 23d daj ol May, A. D. 1829, ii« 
 the 53d year of the Independence of the United States of America. 
 Sleight & Robinson, of the said District, have deposited in this office 
 the title of a hook, the right whereof they claim as Proprietors, in 
 the words following, to wit: "Memoir of Thomas Addis Emmet, by 
 Charles Glidden Haines ; with a Biographical notice of Mr. Haines." 
 In conformity to the Act of Congress of the United States, entitled 
 " An Act for the encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies 
 of Maps, Charts, and Books, to the authors and proprietors of such 
 copies, during the time therein mentioned." And also to an Act, 
 entitled " An Act, supplementary to an Act, entitled an Act for the 
 encouragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, 
 arid Books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the 
 times therein mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the 
 ^ its of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints." 
 
 FRED. J. BETTS, 
 Clerk of the Southern District of iWew York. 
 
 Sleight & Robinson, Printers' 
 
J> :.t 
 
 «/ 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 The Memoir of Mr. Emmet, which is contained ifi 
 this little volume, is probably the best memento which 
 now remains of its author, excepting only the remem- 
 brance which is treasured up by his friends of the noble 
 features of his character. This renders it but a just tri- 
 bute to the memory of General Haines, to allow those 
 pages to meet the public eye, which, of all that he pro- 
 duced in the hour of his short and hurried life, are per- 
 haps the most creditable to his powers of mind. It will 
 also be no small gratification to those who loved and es- 
 teemed him, to find his name thus associated with one, 
 whom, living, he delighted to honour, and who was so 
 eminently the pride and ornament of the profession in 
 which General Haines was himself enrolled. Nor can it 
 be doubted that any sketch of the life of Mr. Emmet, 
 drawn by one so competent to the task, however want- 
 ing in those minute details of event and circumstance 
 on which the eye of friendship loves to dwell, will never- 
 theless be an acceptable tribute to his memory. The cir- 
 cumstances too, under which the memoir was drawn up, 
 were such as to stamp it with a peculiar value ; for it 
 was at Washington, during the winter of 1824, while 
 both were attending the Supreme Court of the United 
 
States, that Mr. Haines obtained the facts of his narra- 
 tive from Mr. Emmet himself, at that time lodging in the 
 same house. With his wonted promptness, Mr. Haines 
 immediately committed them to writing, and as he sup- 
 posed, with the knowledge, or strong suspicion of Mr. 
 Emmet, who did not, as Mr. Haines remarked, on that 
 account, assume the more reserve, but rather the greater 
 freedom. Thus the authenticity of the memoir is placed 
 beyond question ; every circumstance it contains being 
 derived from the best possible source, 
 
BIOGRAPHICAL KOTICK 
 
 OF 
 
 MR. HAINES. 
 
 Charles Glidden Haines, was born at Can- 
 terbury, in the state of New Hampshire, about 
 the year 1793. His father, who is still living, is 
 a respectable farmer, in humble circumstances, 
 but endowed with a remarkably strong mind, 
 improved by the common school education of 
 New England. His just and energetic habits of 
 thought doubtless exerted great influence on the 
 the mind of his son, by calling its powers into ac- 
 tivity at an early age, and thus in some measure 
 compensated for the absence of those opportuni- 
 ties of education, which the limited means of the 
 family put out of their reach. Charles passed 
 the years of his boyhood in his father's house, 
 working on the farm in summer, and attending 
 the village school in winter. Tt is probable that 
 
(> BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 this mode of life did not please him, and that while 
 yet a boy some visitings of an ambitious spirit 
 made him seek other employment of a less humble 
 character; for about the age of fourteen, we find 
 that he had obtained the situation of a clerk in 
 the office of Col. Philip Carrigain, at that time 
 Secretary of the State of New Hampshire. While 
 a mere copyist in the office of this gentleman, his 
 desire to be distinguished in every occupation in 
 which he was engaged showed itself in the ac- 
 quisition of a beautiful hand-writing. It was al- 
 so at this period, that the first evidence appears 
 of any interest in military affairs ; for on the for- 
 mation of a military company of young lads, 
 Charles was chosen captain. 
 
 Beyond this, it is not known to the writer of 
 this notice, what were the amusements in which 
 young Haines indulged himself, or by what stud- 
 ies if any, he sought to improve a portion of his time 
 while in the office of Col. Carrigain. It is pro- 
 bable that the confinement and duties of a copy- 
 ist were enough to engross all the hours which a 
 lad would willingly devote to serious pursuits. 
 That he acquired no disinclination for study is 
 evident ; for on the appointment of Col. Carri- 
 
OF CHARLES 6. HAINES. ( 
 
 gain to prepare a map of the state, and his con- 
 sequent resignation of his office of Secretary, 
 young Haines partly by his own exertions, and 
 partly by the assistance of his friends, prepared 
 himself for college, and was admitted at MkW 
 bury, Vermont, in 1812. He passed through f he 
 usual routine of academic study with credit, and 
 was graduated in 181G.* 
 
 In consequence of unremitted application, his 
 health had become feeble, and it was recom- 
 mended to him to take a journey on horseback. 
 It was on this occasion that he first visited the city 
 of New York. He brought letters of introduc- 
 tion to Sylvanus Miller, Esq. who at that time 
 filled the office of Surrogate. This gentleman 
 received the young invalid with hospitality, and 
 was charmed with the frankness and enthusiasm 
 
 * Col. Carrigain was a gentleman of fortune and libe- 
 ral education. He was a distinguished patron of youths 
 of talent. Among the fellow-clerks with young Haines, 
 was one who is now the successor of Col. Carrigain in 
 the office of Secretary ; a second, a distinguished literary 
 gentleman of this city, who not long since published his 
 Letters from Europe, and the third is a merchant of re- 
 spectability in Boston. 
 
8 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 of his character. Mr. Haines continued his jour- 
 ney as far as Pittsburg in Pensylvania. 
 
 He returned to Vermont much recruited by his 
 excursion, and began the study of the law in the 
 town of Middlebury under the direction of Hon. 
 Horatio Seymour, now of the Senate of the Uni- 
 ted States. He did not confine himself, even at 
 this period, exclusively to professional pursuits, 
 but was an assistant editor of the leading journal 
 of the state of Vermont, then published in Mid- 
 dlebury. It is probable that he would not have 
 resorted to this employment so soon after the com- 
 mencement of his legal studies, if he had pos- 
 sessed other means of subsistence ; and who can 
 say, that his whole subsequent life did not receive 
 its colouring from this early introduction upon 
 the arena of political warfare ? Nor did he shun 
 military office ; for he was appointed at this pe- 
 riod an aid-de-camp of the governor of Vermont. 
 
 The year 1818 brought Mr. Haines to the city 
 of New York, and thenceforward we find him mov- 
 ing in that sphere in which he seemed to centre 
 his pleasure and his ambition. What were the 
 immediate motives for his selection of this metro- 
 polis ns his place of residence, is not discovera- 
 
OF CHARLES G. HAINES. U 
 
 ble. But the general reason is sufficiently obvi- 
 ous. It was a wider sphere of action than was af- 
 forded by any other city in the Union ; and all 
 who knew the aspiring temper and restless am- 
 bition of Mr. Haines, will ask no other reason 
 for his choice. On coming to this city he again 
 visited Judge Miller, who had treated him with 
 kindness and hospitality on his former journey, 
 and through the introduction of that gentleman 
 he entered the office of Pierre C. Van Wyck, 
 Esquire, as a student at law. 
 
 If the circumstances among which Mr. Haines 
 was previously thrown had given his mind a bias 
 towards political life, much more did his associa- 
 tion with Judge Miller and Mr. Van Wyck tend to 
 that result. At the time we speak of, the two 
 great political parties in New York were the sup- 
 porters of Tompkins and those of Clinton. The 
 kind patrons of Mr. Haines were the warm per- 
 sonal friends of the latter. Mr. Haines had long 
 admired the character of Gov. Clinton, and had 
 now the opportunity of becoming personally ac- 
 quainted with him. The impression made upon 
 the mind of Gov. Clinton, was much in favour 
 of his young friend, for Mr. Haines was soon after 
 
10 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 appointed to the confidential station of private 
 secretary to the Governor. The duties attached 
 to this office made it necessary for Mr. Haines to 
 pass the winter at Albany. Here he necessarily 
 became involved in the schemes and contentions 
 and anxieties of political life. Yet so great was his 
 address, or so happy his temper, that he was be- 
 loved by both parties for his generous feelings and 
 polite deportment. In his political strifes there 
 was no malice or hatred. Independent himself, 
 he admired a firm and manly character in others, 
 Mr. Haines now took an active part in the local 
 politics of the state. He wrote much for the news- 
 papers on various topics, chiefly those of immedi- 
 ate interest. This occupation of course inter- 
 fered in no small degree with his legal studies. 
 At the expiration of his clerkship, in the spring 
 of 1821, he was admitted to the bar, and then be- 
 gan sensibly to feel his want of that legal science 
 which can only be obtained by close and long 
 continued application. 
 
 Few men have their minds under a discipline 
 sufficiently rigid, to prevent the political excite- 
 ment they have greatly contributed to raise from 
 disqualifying them, at least for a time, for severe 
 
OF CHARLES G. HAINES. 11 
 
 legal study. And Mr. Haines was never wholly 
 free from interruptions arising from his political 
 connexions. However deeply he might at times 
 feel his want of greater stores of professional 
 knowledge, occasions were perpetually occurring, 
 where other claims were of more pressing and ur- 
 gent interest. 
 
 It is well known that the canal policy of the state 
 of New York is identified with the name and in- 
 fluence of Gov. Clinton. Mr. Haines was natu- 
 rally friendly to the same policy, and during the 
 first year of his residence in New York produced 
 a pamphlet, in which he took an elaborate review 
 of the probable expense and advantages of the 
 great Western Canal.* Shortly after his admis- 
 sion to the bar he prepared a larger work on the 
 New York Canals, consisting chiefly of the most 
 importment public documents on the subject, and 
 
 * This was entitled, "Considerations on the Great 
 Western Canal, from the Hudson to Lake Erie, with a 
 view of its expense, advantages and progress. It was 
 afterwards twice within a few months republished by 
 the New York Corresponding Association for the Pro- 
 motion of Internal Improvements, 1818 — 19. 
 
12 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 prefaced by an introduction, in which he displayed 
 great industry and research.* 
 
 After this he secluded himself almost entirely 
 from society, and applied himself closely to pro- 
 fessional studies. Few men labour more assidu- 
 ously than did Mr. Haines for three years after 
 his admission to the bar, and until attacked by the 
 complaint that proved fatal to him. Entirely free 
 from all avaricious views, he did not seek profes- 
 sional business as a a source of emolument, but 
 rather as a means of exercising his talents. Yet 
 although above every little art, he had from the 
 first a good share of business as a lawyer. Be- 
 sides attending to this, he uniformly made it a 
 point to read law three hours a day, and spent his 
 evenings and nights, to a very late hour, in the 
 study of history and political science. It was his 
 habit to make copious abstracts of the books he 
 read, adding his own remarks ; and the amount 
 of what he accomplished in a few years is truly 
 surprising. 
 
 * This work was also published by direction of the 
 same Association, and is entitled, " Public Documents re- 
 lating to the New York Canals," &c. 1821. . 
 
OF CHARLES G. HAINES. 13 
 
 Mr. Haines was not an exact practical lawyer. 
 He did not covet that character ; but while he was 
 familiar with the general doctrines of the law, he 
 devoted his earnest attention to questions, involv- 
 ing the principles of our federal and state constitu- 
 tions. It was therefore in the courts of the United 
 States, where all the important doctrines regard- 
 ing our national compact are agitated and deter- 
 mined, that Mr. Haines desired to appear and be- 
 come eminent. His studies had a constant tend- 
 ency to this object. Among the manuscript pa- 
 pers he has left behind, there is a minute abstract 
 of the " Federalist," beside several volumes filled 
 with quotations, and occasionally with complete 
 abstracts, of works on kindred subjects. In the 
 unusually short space of three years from his ad- 
 mission to the New York bar, he was admitted as 
 a counsellor of the Supreme Court at Washington. 
 
 He probably procured admission at that time, in 
 consequence of having been retained as counsel 
 in the important case of Ogden versus Saunders, 
 which involved the constitutionality of the state 
 bankrupt laws. On its decision, of course, de- 
 pended the fortune of thousands of individuals, 
 and the title to millions of property. Messrs. 
 
14 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 Clay and D. B. Ogden were his senior counsel in 
 that cause, and Mr. Webster and Mr. Wheaton 
 were the opposing counsel. Such a topic and 
 such a competition were well adapted to call forth 
 the full energies of a man less ambitious than Mr. 
 Haines. He did not fall below the sanguine ex- 
 pectations of his friends. The impression he 
 made on his learned auditors was favourable. His 
 argument for the constitutionality of the state 
 bankrupt laws was the fruit of long and laborious 
 preparation. It was afterwards printed, and does 
 credit equally to his industry, his learning, and 
 his good sense. It is throughout vigorous and man- 
 ly, and in a great degree free from that loose and 
 declamatory style of thought and expression, 
 which, from great haste in composition, is too often 
 discernible in his other productions. 
 
 That Mr. Haines had no distaste for pursuits ex- 
 clusively professional, is evinced by the interest he 
 took in a periodical work, called the "United States 
 Law Journal", which was published in 1822 and 
 1823. He not only assisted in superintending its 
 publication, procuring articles from his friends, 
 and examining those which were contributed, but 
 himself wrote several valuable essays. The prin- 
 
OF CHARLES G. HAINES. 15 
 
 cipal articles from his pen are on " Penal Juris- 
 prudence", and " Equity Jurisprudence in the state 
 of New York." 
 
 From the short period of time that he lived after 
 entering the practice of the law, it would be dif- 
 ficult if not unjust to draw any decided inference 
 as to his legal talents. They were never fully 
 tested. And it is impossible to estimate the effect 
 which might have been produced upon a mind so 
 aspiring and indefatigable as his, by long con- 
 tinued practice at the bar. His early education 
 had been hurried and deficient. His powers of 
 thought had not been tasked by rigorous trains of 
 mathematical and metaphysical reasoning. Thus 
 his mind had never been disciplined to that seve- 
 rity and exactness of thought, which go to form 
 a truly able lawyer. Yet his mental processes 
 were just, rapid and vigorous, and even when com- 
 peting with men of the highest legal attainments, 
 his previous diligent preparation made Mr. Haines 
 always respectable.* 
 
 * In professional business Mr. Haines was successively 
 the partner of Sylvanus Miller, Richard J. Wells, and 
 Andrew S. Garr, Esquires.. 
 
16 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 From his first residence in New York till his 
 death, Mr. Haines courted every suitable occasion 
 to exert his talents as a speaker. He doubtless 
 considered eloquence as a mighty engine of use. 
 fulness and power, and in this view coveted its 
 possession, rather than from any peculiar impulse 
 of his genius towards the art.* 
 
 He often spoke in the " Forum", a society of 
 young lawyers who met at the City Hotel for pub- 
 lic debate ; and that he took a prominent part in 
 the society appears from the fact of his having 
 been chosen to deliver the valedictory address at 
 a suspension of their meetings in the spring of 
 1819. He was also frequently called upon to ad- 
 dress public assemblies upon various topics which 
 for the moment interested the community. He free- 
 
 * His speeches were in general well received, yet Mr. 
 Haines was not remarkable for the grace of his manner, 
 or the excellence of his voice. But he was animated and 
 manly, and had an uncommon fluency of expression. His 
 style was popular and declamatory, rather than purely fo- 
 rensic, and he was of course better fitted to address the 
 passions and feelings of a mixed assembly, than to argue 
 a dry question of law before a learned court. 
 
OF CHARLES G. HAINES. 17 
 
 ly lent his aid to the various institutions of charity 
 and reform, giving without reserve to many of 
 them his time, his labour, and his money. Bene- 
 volence, morality, and good order found in him a 
 ready champion. He did not merely accede to a 
 request that he would make an address, and satis- 
 fy himself with a slight preparation, or the utter- 
 ance of a few extemporaneous remarks ; but he 
 retired to his chamber, and spared himself neither 
 time nor pains in the investigation of his subject. 
 
 In general he wrote out the substance of his in- 
 tended speech at length. As the views he took 
 of his subject were large, his efforts of this kind 
 never disappointed expectation, and were fre- 
 quently honourable to his talents as well as to his 
 good feelings. Among the topics of this nature 
 on which he wrote and spoke with effect, maj 
 be particularly mentioned " Pauperism", and the 
 " Penitentiary System. " His useful exertions for 
 the cause of humanity in relation to these subjects 
 will be long rememberd by those who witnessed 
 them. 
 
 Whatever had for its object the improvement 
 and prosperity of his adopted city or state, found 
 in Mr. Haines a. zealous supporter. His valua- 
 
18 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 ble writings on the New York canals have already- 
 been mentioned. He was a trustee of the Free 
 School Society, and an efficient labourer for the 
 New York Agricultural Society, of which he was 
 a manager. He took an active part in the efforts 
 made in New York in 1823, for the regulation of 
 the Auction System by congress. A very large 
 meeting was convened at the City Hotel, embrac- 
 ing nearly three thousand persons, and Mr. Haines, 
 at the request of a committee of merchants, made 
 an address, which was published in all the daily 
 papers, and afterwards in a pamphlet, and was 
 considered as giving a brief, clear, and compre- 
 hensive view of the subject. 
 
 Although Mr. Haines shared in the public feel- 
 ing on topics of practical interest, yet they did not 
 call forth from him that ardent zeal, that untiring 
 industry, which he devoted to political affairs. It 
 has been seen that even before he came to New 
 York, he was engaged in publishing a political 
 journal, and that immediately on taking up his re- 
 sidence in that city, he became closely connect- 
 ed with the party which supported Gov. Clinton. 
 
 That gentleman, after having ably administered 
 the government of the state for five years, found 
 
OF CHARLES G. HAINES. 19 
 
 it expedient to decline a contest for the office of 
 governor in the fall of 1822. So complete was the 
 triumph of the opposite party, that it seemed to 
 many cool observers of the times, that Mr. Clin- 
 ton's star had set, never to rise again. The ma- 
 jority which the opposite party could command 
 was for eighteen months overwhelming. This pe- 
 riod of darkness and despondency, when all the 
 summer friends of Mr. Clinton deserted him, was 
 honourable to the constancy and uprightness of 
 Mr. Haines. Never forsaking his friends, but pre- 
 ferring, as he often remarked, to fall that he might 
 rise with them, no man more thoroughly than him- 
 self and his friend Mr. Van Wyck despised the 
 conduct of those, who shaped their language and 
 principles to suit the political changes of the day. 
 It is but justice to affirm, that in honesty, firm- 
 ness, independence and unchanging friendship, 
 Pierre C. Van Wyck was not surpassed by any 
 of ancient or modern times. He found a kindred 
 spirit in Mr. Haines. Unawed by the storm of 
 temporary unpopularity which assailed Mr. Clin- 
 ton, they boldly declared, that a man of his genius 
 and ability, although for a season thrown into ob- 
 scurity by party strife and change, would sooner 
 
20 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 or later be again called into public life and public 
 favour. The event justified the sagacity of their 
 prediction. 
 
 But the success of the Clintonian party was not 
 achieved without an arduous struggle. Mr. Haines, 
 encouraged and aided by a few ardent and deter- 
 mined spirits, carefully observed the progress of 
 events, ready to take advantage of every favour- 
 able occurrence. Early in 1824, the party in 
 power thought themselves sufficiently strong to 
 be able to remove Mr. Clinton entirely out of 
 public employment, and accordingly ventured to 
 deprive him of the office of Canal Commissioner. 
 
 This was a fatal step. However easy it might 
 be for the ruling party to justify measures of a 
 general nature, differing from the policy before 
 pursued by Mr. Clinton, it was impossible not to 
 perceive in this instance an act of personal injus- 
 tice to that distinguished man. If any one had 
 been a zealous and consistent and persevering 
 advocate of the great western and northern ca- 
 nals, under all circumstances, through evil report 
 and good report, it was De Witt Clinton. He 
 had for several years been one of the Canal Com- 
 missioners, and had most laboriously and faith- 
 
OF CHARLES G. HAINES. 21 
 
 fully discharged its duties, without any pecunia- 
 ry compensation. It was natural, therefore, that 
 there should be a universal ontcry at the injustice 
 of his removal. A meeting of the citizens of New 
 York was called on this occasion, which from the 
 vast concourse that assembled was obliged to 
 leave the City Hall, and hold their proceedings in 
 the park. Mr. Haines addressed this audience 
 for about half an hour, and was heard with great 
 applause. It is also worthy of note, that he was 
 the only speaker on that occasion who could com- 
 mand the attention of the people. 
 
 Another very unpopular measure, of a general 
 character, was adopted by the ruling party in 
 refusing to alter the law regulating the choice of 
 electors of President, when the alteration was 
 loudly called for by the voice of public opinion. 
 
 This refusal deprived the people at large of the 
 privilege of choosing electors, and retained it in 
 the legislature. Mr. Clinton was known to have 
 been uniformly the supporter of the district sys- 
 tem, by which the choice is thrown upon the peo- 
 ple. 
 
 The friends of Mr. Clinton did not fail to take 
 advantage of these and other impolitic measures 
 
22 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 of the opposite party and to vindicate the policy 
 of their own leader. Mr. Haines was indefatiga- 
 ble in the pursuit of this object. He wrote in- 
 cessantly for the newspapers, collected meetings, 
 for which he prepared resolutions, and supported 
 them by speeches, and in short, by a continued 
 series of efforts was an efficient agent in producing 
 and guiding a reaction of the public mind in favour 
 of De Witt Clinton. He was among the first to 
 propose, and the most strenuous to advocate the 
 meeting of a convention at Utica for the purpose 
 of recommending Mr. Clinton's re-election as go- 
 vernor, in opposition to the nomination of Col. 
 Young, by a legislative caucus at Albany. 
 
 This convention met on the 21st of September, 
 1824. The Anti-Clintonians having succeeded 
 in excluding Mr. Haines from the delegation of 
 New York city, he obtained a seat in the conven- 
 tion as delegate from the adjoining county of Rich- 
 mond. In this body Mr. Haines appeared to feel 
 himself in his proper element. He had been main- 
 ly instrumental in procuring the meeting, and he 
 now had the happiness to find himself seconded 
 by a highly respectable assembly in which every 
 part of the state was represented. When it is re^ 
 
OP CHARLES G. HAINES. 23 
 
 membered that this convention was chiefly com- 
 posed of men of mature years and long experi- 
 ence in affairs, the personal influence which Mr. 
 Haines exerted is surprising. That a man so 
 young, and who had only been an inhabitant of 
 the state for about six years, should take so pro- 
 minent a part as he did on that occasion, is no 
 small proof of political talent and address. A vio- 
 lent effort was made to induce the majority to a- 
 bandon Mr. Clinton. This occasioned a zealous 
 defence of that gentleman by several members, 
 and by none more warmly than Mr. Haines, who 
 made two speeches of some length, in which he 
 maintained the claims of his favourite candidate 
 to public support with no little vigour and elo- 
 quence.* 
 
 * These speeches were shortly afterwards published by 
 the friends of Mr. Clinton. The following short extract 
 is a favourable specimen of Mr. Haines' style on such oc- 
 casions. 
 
 "It was not every man who could preside over the af- 
 fairs of a great commonwealth with competent ability. 
 To guide the fortunes of a state filled with nearly two 
 millons of people, animated by intelligence, and borne on 
 by enterprise ; to concentrate and direct, her energies to 
 
24 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 Opposition was silenced, and the result of the 
 meeting was a unanimous recommendation of 
 De Witt Clinton as the next governor of the 
 state. The confidence of the convention in Mr. 
 Haines was manifested in placing him on two 
 committees appointed to carry their views into 
 effect. 
 
 Mr. Haines had the gratification to see his ef- 
 forts in behalf of Mr. Clinton crowned with tri- 
 umphant success. That gentleman was elected 
 
 specific and salutary objects; to kindle her emulation, ex- 
 pand her views, and reveal her resources, and at the same 
 moment to improve her civil institutions, cultivate her mo- 
 ral and social relations, and preserve her integrity and in- 
 fluence in the union, fell not to the powers of an ordinary 
 individual. There was a great statesman in retirement. 
 His character was untarnished, his spirit bold, his ener- 
 gies unbroken. His mind preceded the march of the age, 
 and anticipated the views, the wishes, and the wants of 
 posterity. His fame filled a great space, and would fill a 
 greater one as prejudice lost its perverted vision, and en- 
 vy and selfishness ceased to prosecute a vindictive war on 
 worth and glory. The convention, by an informal vote, 
 and by a large majority, had fixed its wishes on this states- 
 man, and De Witt Clinton would be recommended as a 
 suitable man to govern the state of New York." page IB- 
 
OF CHARLES G. HAINES. 25 
 
 governor in November, 1824, by a majority of 
 thirty thousand. At the same election, his par- 
 ty in New York city and the numerous personal 
 friends of Mr. Haines nominated the latter as re- 
 presentative to congress. Three tickets were in 
 nomination at that time, and that which contained 
 the name of Mr. Haines was not successful. 
 
 In January, 1825, Governor Clinton conferred 
 on Mr. Haines the appointment of Adjutant Gene- 
 ral of the state, for which office he was well qua- 
 lifted by his knowledge of military law. But he 
 was not destined to enter upon the discharge of 
 its duties. 
 
 However engrossed Mr. Haines might be in lo- 
 cal politics or professional business, he felt a warm 
 and constant interest in the extension of correct 
 principles of government and civil liberty. Prompt- 
 ed by this feeling, he commenced not long before 
 this period a work explanatory of the nature and 
 form of our government. This he intended prin- 
 cipally as a political text-book for the statesmen of 
 the nascent republics of our own continent, and, by 
 the permission of General Lafayette the work was 
 to be dedicated to him. He investigated the theo- 
 ry, and traced the practical operation of the fed- 
 1 
 
26 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 eral and state governments. To make his work 
 the more complete, he had obtained the promise 
 of assistance from some of the most eminent men 
 in our country. His own taste and course of 
 reading were well suited to a work of this na- 
 ture, and he pursued it with his accustomed 
 zeal.* 
 
 But the labours in which he engaged were too 
 severe for his physical strength. Intense study 
 and continued sedentary habits were gradually but 
 sensibly making fatal inroads upon a constitution 
 originally good, and which had been sustained 
 thus far by a life of the strictest temperance. His 
 friends often warned him against the effects of 
 midnight study and neglect of bodily exercise, but 
 he used to reply that he did not require any re- 
 laxation. Their fears were too soon realized. 
 In November, 1824, his whole system had 
 become quite enfeebled, and he ruptured a 
 
 * As early as 1819, Mr. Haines had shown a leaning 
 to investigations of this nature. At that time he pub- 
 lished an " Appeal to the People of the State of New York, 
 on the Expediency of abolishing the Council of Appoint- 
 ment." The Council of Appointment was abolished by 
 the convention which met not long after. 
 
OF CHARLES G. HAINES. 27 
 
 blood vessel. He did not think himself in a dan- 
 gerous condition, and continued to write and read 
 with his usual industry. Even with his pulse at 
 120, he would devote hours to his book, which he 
 was very desirous to finish. 
 
 By the mingled courtesy and independence of 
 his conduct, Mr. Haines had attached to himself 
 a large circle of friends ; and now that he was 
 confined to his room by sickness, he reaped the 
 reward of a life of generosity, kindness and regu- 
 lar morals in their delicate attentions. Perhaps 
 no man at his age has obtained such fast hold on 
 the affections of this community. Offers of voy- 
 ages to all parts of the world were made to him 
 by our first merchants. But he declined them, 
 flattering himself, as is so often the case with the 
 victims of consumption, with delusive hopes of 
 speedy restoration to health. So passed the win- 
 ter, and continuing to decline in strength, he con- 
 sented in the spring to make the experiment of a 
 short voyage. In company with a friend, he sailed 
 to Charleston, South Carolina, where many of the 
 most distinguished inhabitants expressed their 
 sympathy, and proffered their assistance. But the 
 remedies and the relaxation, which seasonably re- 
 
28 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 sorted to, might have recruited his feeble frame, 
 had been too long neglected to afford him any re- 
 lief, and he returned to New York weakened ra- 
 ther than improved by his voyage. He lingered 
 till the 3d of July, 1825, when he expired, at the 
 age of thirty two years. His funeral took place 
 on the 6th, and was attended by an immense con- 
 course of citizens. Military honours were paid 
 to his remains, a respect due to the office to which 
 he had been recently appointed. 
 
 Thus brief was the span of life allotted to 
 Charles Glidden Haines. Too soon for the af- 
 fection of his friends, too soon for his own fame, 
 he has fallen on the field of honourable ambition. 
 Some have supposed, that it was well for him to 
 die so early, since they imagine that he would 
 not have risen higher than he did had his life 
 been prolonged. But it is not the usual fortune 
 of industry like his, to let years go by unproduc- 
 tive of improvement and of honour. He might 
 not have advanced with so rapid a pace as at 
 first, but collision with others would gradually 
 have removed any unpleasing points of charac- 
 ter, experience would have given maturity to 
 judgment, and persevering industry would have 
 
OF CHARLES G. HAINES. 29 
 
 overleaped obstacles which, to common men, 
 seem insurmountable. 
 
 In person General Haines was tall, erect, and 
 commanding. His features were large and re- 
 gular, his forehead high, and his large blue eyes 
 shone with the natural mildness and benevolence 
 of his character. The principal feature of his 
 mind was a restless ambition, which, however, 
 aimed at noble objects, and by honourable means. 
 His devotion to politics was almost a passion, 
 and if talent may be estimated by success, he 
 was well adapted for political life. Certain it is, 
 that he seized with uncommon tact upon those 
 circumstances which industry and zeal could 
 render favourable ; and as he conciliated every 
 man whom he approached, he accomplished as 
 much by his personal influence as by his wri- 
 tings. There was, besides, in him, an enthu- 
 siasm which believed nothing impossible ; and 
 to such a one obstacles are toys, and victory a 
 pastime. More than all, and united with all, he 
 possessed an indefatigable, systematic industry, 
 which is the master key of all great acquisitions. 
 All the operations of his mind were rapid, and 
 he had a rare facility in embodying his thoughts 
 
30 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE 
 
 on paper. He was bold, prompt, and decisive 
 in action. Those who have the originality to 
 conceive great designs, are not in general found 
 to possess the practical talent of developing their 
 utility, and of carrying them into execution. Mr. 
 Haines had the sagacity to seize on the best 
 conceptions of other men, the diligence to gather 
 important facts and circumstances in their sup- 
 port, and the activity and energy to turn them to 
 practical account. His talents were eminently 
 popular, and the qualities of his heart, as well as 
 of his head, were calculated to make him a gene- 
 ral favourite. For Mr. Haines was warm and 
 constant in his friendship ; tenderly mindful of 
 the claims of his parents on his affection and 
 assistance ; generous to a fault, he was insensi- 
 ble to the wants of no one but himself; polite 
 and magnanimous, he never forgot what was due 
 to the feelings of others. If he sometimes gave 
 way to a momentary petulance, it arose rather 
 from the hurry of affairs, and the impatience of 
 a restless mind, than from any wish to inflict 
 pain ; and if his carelessness of pecuniary mat- 
 ters was reprehensible, no one ever for a mo- 
 ment suspected him of being actuated by mean 
 
OF CHARLES G. HAINES. 31 
 
 or dishonourable motives. His frankness was 
 not without vanity, and his zeal was not always 
 tempered by judgment. But his integrity was 
 beyond reproach, his independence of mind 
 made him incapable of dissimulation, and his en- 
 thusiasm was devoted to worthy and honourable 
 ends. If he did not rise far above ordinary men 
 by the splendour of his genius, there was at 
 least something uncommon in the loftiness and 
 constancy of his purposes, to which he sacrificed 
 the vulgar considerations of appetite and inte- 
 rest, and, finally, his health and his life. 
 
 Gen. Haines is a remarkable instance of what 
 the unaided efforts of one man may accomplish. 
 He came to the city of New-York a poor and 
 friendless stranger, and in the short space of 
 seven years he surrounded himself with nume- 
 rous and valuable friends, acquired a distinguish- 
 ed reputation as a scholar, a politician, and a 
 writer, and rose to one of the highest offices in 
 the gift of the state government. Happy were 
 it for the cause of benevolence, of education, of 
 morals, and of civil liberty, if many were stimu- 
 lated by the example he has given. He has 
 been compelled to abandon to the competition 
 
32 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE, &C. 
 
 of others, a field in which he was preparing to 
 reap the rewards of a youth consumed in unre- 
 posing industry. But he has not lived in vain ; 
 he would himself have thought that he had not 
 lived in vain, if the recollection of what he was 
 should have the effect upon others to quicken 
 diligence, and heighten enthusiasm, in honoura- 
 ble pursuits. The active employment, and pre- 
 mature termination of his life, furnish so striking 
 a comment upon the words of the poet, that they 
 might, not unaptly, be chosen for his epitaph : 
 
 Fame is the spur that the clear spirit doth raise, 
 (That last infirmity of noble minds,) 
 To scorn delights, and live laborious days ; 
 But the fair guerdon when we hope to find, 
 And think to burst out into sudden blaze, 
 Comes the blind fury with the abhorred shears. 
 And slits the thin-spun life ; — but not the praise 
 
MEMOIR 
 
 THOMAS ADDIS EMMET, 
 
 As the name of Thomas Addis Emmet will 
 hereafter be found in history, as he was inti- 
 mately and very efficiently connected with the 
 contemplated revolution of Ireland, and as he 
 has told me many things about this interesting 
 period of his life, during our residence at Wash- 
 ington in the same house, while attending the 
 Supreme Court, I will reduce some things thus 
 told, to form and shape — apprehensive that time 
 and the pressure of other recollections of a more 
 recent date may destroy them in my memory. 
 
 Thomas Addis Emmet is now (April, 1824,) 
 fifty -nine years of age, as he informed me a few 
 davs since. He is at the bar, in the possession 
 
34 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 of all his intellectual vigour ; ardent, enthusiastic, 
 and overwhelming. 
 
 Mr. Emmet was born in Ireland, I think in 
 Cork, about 1765 — ten years before the revolu- 
 tion which separated this country from the Bri- 
 tish dominion. I wish I could also say, by the 
 permission of historical facts, ten years before 
 the separation of Ireland from the British throne, 
 and her liberation from British tyranny. He 
 was educated at the university of Dublin at an 
 early period of life, and designed by his father 
 for the profession of medicine. He was accord- 
 ingly educated with this view, and entered on 
 his medical studies in Edinburgh, Scotland.* 
 Here he was the fellow-student of Dr. Samuel 
 
 * Mr. Emmet's father was Robert Emmet, Esq. of 
 Cork. This gentleman and his lady were both very 
 competent to guide and develope the young mind of their 
 son. They had it in their power to bestow upon him 
 every advantage of education, and he was therefore in- 
 structed in the usual accomplishments of a gentleman, 
 as well as in graver studies. He was quite fond of hun- 
 ting, and was a very expert horseman. He used to say 
 of himself, that he was an idle boy. Yet while at the 
 University of Dublin, he cultivated the mathematics with 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 35 
 
 L. Mitchill, our distinguished fellow-citizen, who, 
 as Mr. Emmet informs me, began then to dis- 
 play his eccentricities upon a small scale, though 
 esteemed as a learned young man. Several 
 other Americans were there at the same time, 
 among whom were Dr. Rogers of New-York, 
 and Gaspar Wisner of Philadelphia. In com- 
 pleting his medical studies, Mr. Emmet visited 
 many of the most celebrated schools on the con- 
 tinent, and travelled into Italy, to the banks of 
 the Tiber, and the city of the seven hills, and 
 
 some success, and appears to have made still greater pro- 
 ficiency in the classics. His time at Edinburgh was 
 very industriously employed. He wrote a medical thesis 
 in Latin at the time of taking his degree, which was 
 published, and received high praise. He formed many 
 interesting friendships at this period of his life. Among 
 others, he became well acquainted with Mr. (now Sir 
 James) Mackintosh, who was also a member of the Uni- 
 versity. This acquaintance was afterwards continued in 
 London, when Mr. Emmet was a student in the Temple. 
 A single fact puts Mr. Emmet's popularity with his fel- 
 low-students in a strong light, and that is, that he was at 
 one time the President of no less than five Societies 
 amomg them. Ed. 
 
#6 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 passed through Germany. At the termination 
 of his studies, a desolating misfortune occurred 
 to his family, by the death of his elder brother, 
 a member of the Irish bar and a person of whom 
 Mr. Emmet always speaks as one of the first 
 men that Ireland ever produced.* This calami- 
 ty changed the mind of Mr. Emmet's father as 
 to the course of life previously designed for his 
 son ; and being determined to have one lawyer 
 in his family he desired Thomas Addis to go to 
 the bar, to which he cheerfully consented. He 
 then went to London and read two years in the 
 Temple, occasionally attended the courts at 
 Westminster, and often heard Erskine in the 
 noblest displays of his eloquence. From thence 
 he returned to his native land, was admitted to 
 the Bar, and commenced his practice in Dublin, 
 the future scene of his fame and his sufferings.f 
 Mr. Emmet very soon rose to distinction at 
 
 f The name of this brother was Christopher Temple 
 Emmet. Ed. 
 
 t Shortly after his admission to the bar, in 1791, Mr. 
 Emmet married the lady of whom mention is made in a 
 subsequent page of this memoir. Eb. 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 37 
 
 the Irish bar. He rode the Circuit, and com- 
 manded a full share of business and confidence. 
 He was the Circuit and term companion of Cur- 
 ran, and even in Ireland, if I may credit the in- 
 formation of several Irish gentlemen, was his 
 superior in talents, legal attainments and gen- 
 eral information. But while fame and wealth 
 were attending his ardent efforts at the bar, and 
 the proudest seats of office and honour seemed not 
 too high for his capacity and his aspirations, the 
 gloom that overclouded his country — her long 
 past sufferings- — the dark and cheerless prospect 
 that opened upon her destinies, engrossed the 
 constant thoughts of all her patriots, and com- 
 manded the intense contemplation of every in- 
 telligent friend of his native soil. The French 
 Revolution had burst forth on Europe like a vol- 
 cano. It rent asunder the political relations 
 which had endured for ages, tore up ancient in- 
 stitutions by the roots, and overturned the most 
 arbitrary throne on the Continent, if we except 
 that of the Emperor of all the Russias. It was 
 hailed in Ireland as the day-spring of hope and 
 freedom, and diffused over that green and beauti- 
 ful Island, a, silent but enthusiastic expectation of 
 
38 
 
 MEMOIR OF EMMET, 
 
 deliverance. The keen hostility which subsist- 
 ed between France and Great Britain, induced 
 the former to cast her eyes on Ireland, although 
 before and about this time many Irish agents of 
 great talents and influence, had no doubt pass- 
 ed over to France, and urged her fluctuating 
 Government to give countenance and aid to an 
 entire Revolution in their country. Every pledge 
 of support was made by the Government of 
 France. The Irish patriots acted with great in- 
 dependence and prudence. They would not 
 consent that France should have any control 
 over, or any participation in, the future Govern- 
 ment of Ireland. A certain number of troops 
 were to land on the Irish coast and to be united 
 with the patriot forces. The first man who 
 opened negotiations with France appears to have 
 been the unfortunate Jackson who was after- 
 wards betrayed by Cockayne, the spy of the 
 British government, and the pretended friend of 
 Jackson. He wound his way into the unsus- 
 pecting heart of the latter, became his daily 
 companion, went with him from London to Dub- 
 lin, and finally convicted him of high treason the 
 23d April, 1795. His name will be detested 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 39 
 
 while an honourable feeling remains in the hu- 
 man bosom. Jackson was never executed. He 
 took arsenic and fell down in the dock while the 
 Ld. Chief Justice was pronouncing the sentence 
 of death that followed his conviction. Mr. Em- 
 met describes him as an amiable and excellent 
 man; "a man," to use his own words, "possess- 
 ed of distinguished talents and acquirements, 
 and a high sense of honour." In illustration of 
 this character for honour, Mr. Emmet informs 
 me, that while Jackson was preparing for his 
 trial, and while his fate was more than probable, 
 a friend was admitted to his room in prison, 
 and remained there on business till a late hour 
 at night. Dr. Jackson, (for he was a Clergy, 
 man) conducted him to the outside door of the 
 jail — expecting there to find the jailer, ready to 
 turn the key. The key was in the door and the 
 jailer in a profound sleep, probably intoxicated. 
 His escape was now in his own hands. He first 
 looked at his friend, then at the jailer, with an 
 intense gaze. He became agitated and pale as 
 he looked. After a pause of a moment, he said 
 " No ; I will not abuse the poor fellow's confi- 
 dence in me!" he turned the key, opened the 
 
40 MEMOIR OP EMMET. 
 
 door, resisted the advice of his friend, closed the 
 door after him, awoke the jailer, and retired to 
 his cell. Dr. Jackson's funeral was attended by 
 a great concourse of respectable people, and his 
 trial revived the hopes of Ireland which had re- 
 cently been somewhat depressed in consequence 
 of the internal dissensions in France. I say re- 
 vived the hopes of Ireland — because it brought 
 to light the fact, that France was determined to 
 aid her in her comtemplated struggle for free- 
 dom. 
 
 The next man who acted a conspicuous part 
 as an agent for Ireland in France was Theobald 
 Wolfe Tone. In 1792 he wrote a pamphlet un- 
 der the signature of the "Northern Whig." This 
 production was levelled against the popery laws, 
 and was written to convince both Catholics and 
 Protestants that the regeneration of Ireland must, 
 be preceded by religious toleration, and the re- 
 lease of the Catholics from oppression. Tone 
 was a Protestant. His appeal spread through 
 Ireland, and sunk deep in the heart of the Na- 
 tion, and from that moment Mr. Tone became 
 an object of tender regard to the Catholics, and 
 though not of their religion he was again and 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 41 
 
 again selected by them to represent them in their 
 Meetings and Conventions. Tone went to France, 
 and in 1796 presented a Memorial to the French 
 Directory. He had an interview with Carnot 
 and Generals Clarke and Hoche at the Palace 
 of the Luxembourg, and the aid of France to Ire« 
 land was agreed on. The pledges which I have 
 mentioned, were then given, and the condition, 
 the feelings, and the hopes of Ireland at that 
 moment, will hereafter be swelled into a history, 
 perhaps the most interesting of any in modern 
 times. A great moral picture will yet be drawn 
 by some master hand, and attract the contempla- 
 tion of the world when enlightened by philoso- 
 phy, and made free by the diffusion of light and 
 knowledge. 
 
 When Theobald Wolfe Tone, and other dis- 
 tinguished embassadors from the Irish people 
 appealed to the aid of the French government, 
 Ireland was well prepared for a complete politi- 
 cal change and an introduction of a new gov- 
 ernment. Her condition, in this respect, pre- 
 sented a most auspicious and cheering state of 
 tings. It had been produced by a long chain of 
 bpressions, and by a series of internal struggles. 
 
4£ MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 too numerous to be recounted here. The revo- 
 lution in Ireland was to have turned on the or- 
 ganization that grew out of the Societies of Uni- 
 ted Irishmen. There are various modes of ori- 
 ginating and conducting a great revolution. 
 Some revolutions may succeed without much 
 previous system : the people rise up in a mass, 
 and the work is done. Others again require long 
 and patient antecedent arrangements. A plan, 
 perfect in all its parts, is requisite. So it was in 
 Ireland. Her oppressors were always present. 
 Standing armies and the machinery of a foreign 
 government were always present. Ireland, too, 
 was torn in pieces by a thousand conflicting 
 passions. Religious feuds had existed for ages. 
 The nation was divided between Catholics and 
 Protestants, and a deep gulf was between them. 
 There were also some local prejudices, and a 
 great disparity every where existed between the 
 rich and the poor in every respect. Add to 
 this, the night of bondage had scattered moral 
 darkness over the country. Generation after 
 generation had grown up in ignorance, and been 
 urged on to fury by constant insult and oppres- 
 sion. Hence those who planned the revolution 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 43 
 
 of Ireland had much to encounter and much to 
 accomplish, and posterity will stand astonished 
 at what they did accomplish. 
 
 The Societies of United Irishmen originated 
 in the end of the year 1791. Their object was 
 the repeal of the Popery laws, and a reform, 
 particularly including an extension of the right 
 of suffrage among the Catholics. So says the 
 memoir delivered to the Irish government by 
 Messrs. Emmet, O'Connor, and McNeven, in 
 1798. These societies, it seems, did not at first 
 contemplate a separation of Ireland from Eng- 
 land ; but in 1795 they were revived, and new 
 ones formed upon a new basis. That basis was 
 not specifically reform, but REVOLUTION. 
 These societies reached all ranks of people, 
 from what were once called the defenders^ up to 
 such men as Emmet, Curran, Tone, O'Connor, 
 McNeven, and others of equal rank and talents. 
 These associations, when a revolution, with all 
 its incidents and with all its extensive relations, 
 was seriously contemplated, were organized on a 
 plan of secrecy. There was a test — an oath, 
 the most solemn and sacred. Protestants and 
 Catholics — all religious sects, forgot their preju- 
 
44 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 dices and nobly rallied under one common stan- 
 dard — the standard of the nation. All their 
 feelings, all their wishes, all their hopes, were 
 for Ireland. Her freedom, her honour, her glo- 
 ry, and her prosperity, claimed all their thoughts 
 and all their devotions. Gold was nothing — ti- 
 tles were nothing ; — Ireland, Republican Ireland 
 was every thing. It was necessary to bring 
 these Societies to act on any one point that 
 might be thought essential. The spies of the 
 British government watched and reported every 
 thing that met their view. Great circumspec- 
 tion was therefore requisite. The leaders of 
 the intended revolution therefore produced a 
 complete organized system among these associ- 
 ations. This system consisted of committees, 
 going from grade to grade. There were four 
 orders of committees — the baronial, county, pro- 
 vincial, and national committees. Ireland, as 
 a nation, may be said to have a religious dispo- 
 sition. When the solemnities of religion were 
 therefore resorted to secure secrecy, it was a 
 resort that proved effectual. Neither Catholic 
 nor Protestant forgot the declaration that ap- 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 45 
 
 pealed to an approving God, and to the retribu- 
 tions of a future world. 
 
 Towards the latter end of the year 1796, the 
 societies of United Irishmen had spread over 
 Ireland, and then exhibited, in addition to the 
 divisions already mentioned, two departments — 
 the civil and the military ; although these two 
 departments were very much blended in appear, 
 ance, to prevent the communication of alarm 
 and suspicion. In 1798, there was appointed a 
 military committee to prepare a plan of military 
 operations. 
 
 The civil department consisted of the four 
 grades or classes of committees already sta- 
 ted ; the baronial, county, provincial and na- 
 tional. Secrecy and concert being essentially 
 requisite to success, large assemblies were 
 avoided. No society could exceed the number 
 of thirty-six. When it amounted to this number, 
 it was divided into two societies of eighteen mem- 
 bers each. These again went on until they a- 
 mounted in number to thirty-six, and were then 
 again divided. Each Society had its delegates, 
 consisting of three. When any district or baro- 
 ny had three or more societies, three delegates 
 
46 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 from each society met together and constituted 
 a barony. When any county embraced three 
 or more baronies, there was a county commit- 
 tee ; and when two or more counties had com- 
 mittees within the boundaries of any one pro- 
 vince, there was a provincial committee. Last 
 of all, five delegates from each province compo- 
 sed the national committee. After all this or- 
 ganization, and at the head of it, there was an 
 Executive Committee. All these several com- 
 mittees, excepting the last, were elected once in 
 three months, and by ballot. What was done 
 in the most subordinate committee, was commu- 
 nicated to the next highest, and that committee 
 again reported to the next in the ascending line, 
 and so the communication went on until it 
 reached the national committee ; but informa- 
 tion seldom went down ; secrecy and despatch 
 condemned such a policy. Here, as Mr. Emmet 
 has often remarked, there was a complete re- 
 presentative system. In all these societies, the 
 Irish people, to the amount of half a million, or 
 more, were constantly brought together in small 
 bodies, to discuss, to vote, and to deliberate. 
 The whole presented one grand system of order 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 47 
 
 and subordination, in which the people, Catho- 
 lics and Protestants, acted together, regardless 
 of ancient feuds and prejudices. The funds of 
 the societies throughout Ireland were raised by 
 monthly subscriptions, and there was a national 
 treasury. 
 
 The military department was organized about 
 the year 1796, and was in its structure a gov- 
 ernment somewhat like the civil department. 
 Those United Irishmen who composed the one, 
 of course composed the other. All officers to 
 the rank of a colonel, inclusive, were elected ; 
 all above, appointed by the executive. Thus 
 the several societies were erected into an im- 
 mense military force, and each man was direct- 
 ed to furnish himself, as far as possible, with 
 arms, ammunition, and every species of articles 
 necessary to offensive or defensive war. 
 
 The executive committee acted an important 
 part, and appointed a military committee to pre- 
 pare a system for defence and attack, and trans- 
 mitted intelligence and recommendations down 
 through the various societies whenever it thought 
 proper, and constantly received reports from the 
 civil and military departments. 
 
48 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 Mr. Emmet acted a conspicuous part in this 
 grand organization, which may well be termed 
 a national political system. He acted as one ot 
 the Executive until the period of his arrest and 
 imprisonment. He calculates that the different 
 societies of United Irishmen consisted of at least 
 five hundred thousand men, and that Ireland could 
 have sent forth three hundred thousand warriors 
 for the advancement and security of Irish freedom. 
 
 The fidelity of the Irish people in the organi- 
 zation and in all the transactions of this provin- 
 cial system of government, was most astonish- 
 ing. Perfect faith every where prevailed. Men 
 died on the rack and expired beneath the pains 
 of torture, and still they would not reveal se- 
 crets to the spies and ruffians of government. 
 And yet many of these men were of the lowest 
 order of Irish. Take the humblest ranks of 
 Irish society, and they are the most intemperate 
 people of Europe ; and yet on a single recom- 
 mendation of the Executive Committee, they 
 suddenly abstained from the use of ardent spi- 
 rits throughout all Ireland. 
 
 I have already alluded to the prudence of the 
 Irish patriots in not calling a large number of 
 
MEMOIR OP EMMET. 49 
 
 French troops. Ten thousand men, forty thou- 
 sand stands of arms, and a loan of five hundred 
 thousand pounds, constituted the requisition on 
 the French government. 
 
 Considering all things — the moral and physi- 
 cal strength of Ireland — the extensive organiza- 
 tion alluded to — the union of the Irish people 
 without regard to creeds or faith — can we won- 
 der when full representations were made to the 
 new government of France, that the cause of 
 Ireland should have commanded promises of 
 support? And can we wonder at the feelings, 
 the calm ardour and determined firmness of the 
 Irish nation ? The melancholy fortunes of their 
 country continually passed before their eyes in 
 gloomy retrospect. For seven hundred years 
 their beautiful isle had been the victim of ruf- 
 fian violence and ceaseless oppression. Age 
 after age had rolled on, and darkness and bon- 
 dage covered her face. Other nations had sha- 
 ken off their chains and marched forward to in- 
 dependence, to wealth, and to happiness. Great 
 and general revolutions had shaken the world ; 
 the reformation, which swept away what Mr. 
 Burke eloquently called "the vast structure of 
 
t)0 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 superstition and tyranny, which had been for 
 ages in rearing, and which was combined with 
 the interest of the great and of the many ; 
 which was moulded into the laws, the manners, 
 and civil institutions of nations, and blended 
 with the frame and policy of states,"* brought 
 home no regenerating principles to Ireland. 
 America, unknown when Ireland was first a 
 colony, had nobly erected her standard and 
 fought her way to freedom ; England had un- 
 dergone more than one revolution, and materi- 
 ally changed the constitution of her govern- 
 ment ;* France had now roused trom her long 
 slumbers and proclaimed freedom among the 
 nations of the continent, and extended the hand 
 of friendship and the proffer of deliverance to 
 the people of Ireland. Is it to be wondered at, 
 then, that an enthusiastic desire to assume a 
 station in the society of nations should have an- 
 imated her daring and gallant sons ? They cast 
 their eyes over their country, containing more 
 than five millions of population, blessed with a 
 genial climate and a fruitful soil — with noble 
 
 * Vide Speech on the Bristol Election, (1780.) 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 51 
 
 harbours, spacious rivers, rich mines, a capacity 
 for manufactures, and an extensive commerce 
 with all the world ; they called to mind her 
 poverty, her ignorance, her misery ; more than 
 forty millions of dollars wrung annually from 
 her resources by a foreign government ; a 
 church forced upon nine tenths of the people, 
 who resisted and were still constrained to pay 
 tithes to support that church ; out of three hun- 
 dred members of the Irish House of Commons, 
 to represent the whole people of Ireland, two 
 hundred elected by thirty or forty individuals; 
 popery laws, that precluded the youths of nine 
 tenths of the population from early education 
 and the halls of the universities, and the parents 
 of those children from the bar, the bench, the 
 legislature, the magistracy — from every seat of 
 power, honour and responsibility — these things 
 they called to recollection, and they were not 
 all. The genius, the valour, and the fame of 
 the great men of Ireland appealed to the pride 
 of the Irish people. They knew what Ireland 
 had been, they knew what she was, and they 
 looked forward to what she might be — elevated 
 to her proper rank in the scale of empires, a 
 
52 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 broad representative system of government in 
 full operation, great men watching over her in- 
 terests at home and in foreign courts, the legis- 
 lature open to talents and to a noble ambition ; 
 the bar presenting a splendid theatre of competi- 
 tion, and embracing the sons of the Catholic 
 and the Protestant ; her navy and her armies 
 made glorious by Irish valour exerted in the 
 cause of Ireland ; her intellectual greatness un- 
 folded by the triumphant cultivation of the arts 
 and sciences ; her physical powers and her na- 
 tural advantages fostered by enterprise and in- 
 dustry ; her wilds, her morasses, and her moun- 
 tains made glad by civilization ; and peace, se- 
 curity and comfort every where diffused. Was 
 it not natural, when they looked at all this, that 
 their souls should have panted for war against 
 their oppressors ? That they should gladly have 
 followed the example of the United States, and 
 contended with the aid of France? 
 
 Such were the views of Thomas Addis Em- 
 met. He began in the cause of Ireland as a 
 patriot, he acted in her cause as a patriot, and 
 he suffered as such. Had he chosen to pursue 
 the road to power, to wealth, and to ambition. 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 53 
 
 he would have joined that abandoned phalanx, 
 composed of such men as Lord Castlereagh, 
 Lord Clare, the Beresfords, and their associates 
 in apostacy and guilt, and sought elevation by 
 augmenting the misery and sufferings of his 
 country, to secure the smiles of the British 
 court. He was not one of them. He thought, 
 and with reason, that the day had come when 
 his country could be taken into the family of 
 nations, and run her career, rejoicing. He 
 hailed the temper and spirit of the age, and re- 
 joiced in the tone which was communicated to 
 public opinion by the French revolution. He 
 thought with Mr. Grattan, in his speech in the 
 Irish House of Commons on the Catholic ques- 
 tion, when he anticipated a change of times and 
 a regenerated state of things. "Believe me," 
 said the great orator, " you may as well plant 
 your foot on the earth, and hope by that resis- 
 tance to stop the diurnal revolution which ad- 
 vances you to that morning sun which is to 
 shine alike on the Protestant and Catholic, as 
 you can hope to arrest the progress of that other 
 light, reason and justice, which approach to lib- 
 erate the Catholic and liberalize the Protestant. 
 
54 MEMOIR OF EMMBT. 
 
 Even now the question is on its way, and ma- 
 king its destined and irresistible progress, which 
 you, with your authority, will have no power to 
 resist ; no more than any other great truth, or 
 any great ordinance of nature, or any law of 
 motion, which mankind is free to contemplate, 
 but cannot resist : there is a truth linked to their 
 cause, and a justice to set off the application."* 
 French connexion proved fatal to the revolu- 
 tion of Ireland. French fidelity and the adop- 
 tion of sound policy would have made Ireland 
 free. For my own part, my astonishment is, 
 that France should have been relied on so much. 
 Ireland, it is true, was destitute of the requisite 
 arms and funds, and her people wanted a pillar 
 to lean on — a dernier hope beyond their own 
 resources; and after promises were once ten- 
 dered by France, it is natural to suppose that 
 great reliance should be placed on her support. 
 But three hundred thousand fighting men pre- 
 sents a most formidable number, or even one hun- 
 dred and fifty thousand. [Mr. Emmet, as before 
 remarked, estimated the army of United Irish- 
 
 * Speech in Irish House of Commons, 1792. 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 55 
 
 men at three hundred thousand.] It is not 
 probable, however, that more than one third of 
 the number had arms. In addition to the sup- 
 posed military force, Mr. Emmet says that a 
 very considerable portion of the British fleet 
 would have been brought into the ports of Ire- 
 land by the Irish sailors, had the revolution been 
 once vigorously commenced. The plan was 
 concerted to effect this object. Had Ireland 
 never relied at all on France, I have always ap- 
 prehended that her prospects might have been 
 better realized. The French, however, having 
 once promised, the reliance on this promise 
 more or less embarrassed every thing. 
 
 The course pursued by France is recorded in 
 history, and well known. She held out fair 
 promises, but never acted with any system or 
 resolution. The landing at Killala was a mise- 
 rable effort. In fact, France did nothing for 
 Ireland, but leave a curse on her deserted and 
 fallen fortune on account of French alliance. 
 When Napoleon became the head of the French 
 nation, he left all beaten paths and acted for 
 himself. Whatever he might have thought of 
 Ireland, he thought more of Napoleon, and his 
 
56 3IEMOIK Ol EMMET. 
 
 expedition to Egypt carried to the banks of the 
 Nile the forces once designed by others for the 
 liberation of Ireland. So thinks Mr. Emmet. 
 He pronounces him the most overwhelming foe 
 that Ireland ever had. A great man — a man of 
 vast and comprehensive views, and every way 
 hostile to England — it is somewhat singular that 
 he should not at once have perceived the policy 
 of palsying her right arm, Ireland. But the ex- 
 pedition to Egypt, and perhaps the hope of pas- 
 sing from Africa to Asia, captivated his daring 
 and romantic ambition. From the beginning of 
 his eventful and astonishing career, he perfectly 
 understood the genius of the French people. 
 He knew their passion for show and splendour ; 
 their love of marvellous achievements ; their 
 national pride and their fondness for glory. To 
 march the armies of France to the land of Se- 
 sostris and the Ptolemies — to erect the banners 
 of France amid the ruins of Thebes — to carry 
 the eagles of the Republic to the country of the 
 Mamelukes, were exploits well calculated to de- 
 light and inflame the imagination of a bold, gal- 
 lant, and gay people, and to encircle the name 
 of Napoleon with a kind of oriental fame, not 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 57 
 
 gained in the plains of Italy. To Egypt, there- 
 fore, Bonaparte decided he would go ; and whe- 
 ther the cause of human freedom, and the in- 
 terests of civil and religious liberty gained or 
 suffered by the movement, was not to him a 
 matter of moment.* A force that might have 
 conducted Ireland to independence was led to 
 the sands of Africa, and that too without any 
 one solitary advantage of a national or general 
 character, if indeed we except the promotion 
 of the arts and sciences on a magnificent scale. 
 Ireland was left to her fate, and such men as 
 Mr. Emmet and his compatriots, to mourn over 
 her calamities. After a short struggle in the 
 
 * The author is believed to have mistaken the views 
 and wishes of Napoleon. The expedition to Egypt is 
 generally supposed not to have been urged, nor even 
 willingly acceded to by him, but to have been suggested 
 by the jealousies and fears of the French Directory. 
 His ambition had become formidable, and he was sent 
 to the banks of the Nile and to the pestilential climates 
 of the East, in order to put him out of the way. As 
 the expedition terminated, it promoted the schemes of 
 Napoleon, and hastened his elevation to the imperial 
 ihrone. — Ed, 
 
5b MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 field, and after a few scattering and ineffectual 
 insurrections, in which perished some of the no- 
 blest spirits that Ireland ever saw, the patriots 
 were vanquished, and the soul of the nation 
 sunk within her. There was the end of Ire- 
 land's hopes, at least for generations. France, 
 under the guidance of Napoleon, sought the 
 conquest of Europe, and England was left to 
 crush to powder her sister isle.* 
 
 * The plans of the revolutionists were discovered by 
 the treachery of one Thomas Reynolds, of Kilkea Castle, 
 in the county of Kildare, who had been so much in their 
 confidence as to be colonel of a regiment of United 
 Irishmen, and provincial delegate from Leinster. In 
 consequence of the information he gave, Oliver Bond, a 
 rich merchant of Dublin, and twelve others of the lead- 
 ing conspirators, were arrested at Bond's house, on the 
 12th of March, 1798. Other influential friends of the 
 revolution were arrested about the same time. In these 
 arrests were included Mr. Emmet and Dr. Macneven. 
 Shortly after, Lord Edward Fitzgerald, the young no- 
 bleman who was selected to lead the military movements 
 of the insurgents, was discovered in Dublin, and taken 
 prisoner ; but not till after a desperate struggle. In the 
 course of it, he received a wound in the shoulder, of 
 which he died in prison a few days after. 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 59 
 
 1 am not writing the history of Ireland. I 
 am merely touching the most conspicuous scenes 
 in the life of a great man. After the intended 
 rebellion was discovered and frustrated, the most 
 atrocious cruelties were perpetrated — acts well 
 
 The chiefs of the conspiracy being thus put out of the 
 way, the management of the revolutionary councils fell 
 into the hands of less competent men. British agents 
 wound themselves into the confidence of members of the 
 new directory, and before the 23d of May, the day ap- 
 pointed for the general rising, government had obtained 
 sufficient intelligence to meet and counteract the plans of 
 the revolutionists. After some partial and ill-conducted 
 efforts in the counties of Wexford and Wicklow, the 
 insurgents were utterly routed at the great battle of 
 Vinegar Hill, by the army under the command of Gen. 
 Lake. The rebellion may be said to have been com- 
 pletely crushed by the middle of July. 
 
 After the United Irishmen had abandoned in despair, 
 for a time at least, all plans of insurrection, a French 
 force, about eleven hundred strong, at length landed at 
 Killala, in the northwest of Ireland, on the 12th of Au- 
 gust. But it was too late for any purpose of aid or 
 succour, and Gen. Humbert was compelled, in less than 
 a fortnight, to surrender at discretion to Lord Cornwallis. 
 Thus ended the hopes of Irish independence. — Ed. 
 
60 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 calculated to find a parallel and precedent in the 
 bloody scenes of barbarity committed by the 
 Goths, the Vandals, and the Alemanni on the 
 fall of the Roman empire, and related in the 
 pages of Gibbon and the notes of Robertson. 
 Mr. Burke, Mr. Mcintosh, and other celebrated 
 men have racked their imaginations to find 
 terms of abhorrence commensurate with the 
 cruelties that stained the revolution of France ; 
 and yet they have not presented any thing more 
 than an adequate view of the horrors which 
 took place. But I defy any thing in the atroci- 
 ties of French history to exceed in cruelty what 
 happened in Ireland. Massacres in cold blood — 
 house burnings — military executions — whole dis- 
 tricts depopulated — tortures — flagellations, sub- 
 mersions, and imprisonments, appeared on every 
 side. Among the illustrious victims of ven- 
 geance, the name of Thomas Addis Emmet 
 maintains an exalted place. Without any spe- 
 cific allegation, or any overt act of treason, he 
 was cast into prison and never again permitted 
 to enjoy his personal freedom in his native land. 
 Mr. Emmet and several other state prisoners 
 were confined in the prison of Kilmainham, 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 61 
 
 in Dublin. He had acted throughout the 
 rebellion with extreme caution. He had ab- 
 stained from every thing that could render him 
 liable to legal consequences, and in fact was not 
 peculiarly obnoxious to government. His own 
 remark is, that in a grand revolution there must 
 be a division of labour. There must be some to 
 speak, some to write, some to plan, and many to 
 execute. Hence, Mr. Curran, though decided- 
 ly for the revolution, was never a United Irish- 
 man, and never met with any of the societies. 
 He was the speaking man. On him devolved 
 the duty of defending the patriots at the bar. 
 Mr. Sampson, now in this country, was one of 
 the writing men. Mr. Tone, Mr. Rowan, and 
 others, were employed in the same way, though 
 Mr. Tone was otherwise active. Mr. Emmet 
 was one of the executive, and much a cabinet 
 man. On my asking him why he did not ap- 
 pear conspicuous in the state trials, he answered 
 that it was thought most prudent that he should 
 avoid thus rendering himself a particular victim 
 of persecution. His agency was very active 
 and extensive, and a bold stand at the bar might 
 have produced scrutiny and detection. Mr. 
 
62 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 Curran was therefore the man fixed on. When 
 Archibald Hamilton Rowan was arrested, he 
 sent for Mr. Emmet to defend him. Mr. E. 
 declined, from motives of policy. Mr. Rowan 
 pressed him to, undertake his cause, and even 
 fell on his knees in the course of his earnest 
 solicitations. Mr. Emmet adhered to his reso- 
 lution, and who does not remember the speech 
 of Curran ! Had Irish eloquence no memorial 
 but this ; was this a solitary type on the globe, 
 she could lay a triumphant claim to immortal 
 renown. 
 
 Mr. Emmet was now a close prisoner in Dub- 
 lin, and he says that he has a perfect idea of Sir 
 Hudson Lowe as the jailer of Napoleon. He 
 so resembles his own jailer in a thousand par- 
 ticulars, that he can realize and believe all that 
 Napoleon has dictated on the unfeeling and ruf- 
 fian deportment of the governor of St. Helena, 
 Mr. Emmet relates many anecdotes of his im- 
 prisonment. Twenty of the patriots were con- 
 fined in one jail — each having a separate room. 
 They contrived to gain the confidence of one of 
 the subordinate keepers, and every night about 
 twelve o'clock he was induced to unlock the 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 63 
 
 door of each room and permit them to come to- 
 gether. They assembled in a common hall, on 
 each side of which the cells were situated, and 
 here they conversed till nearly light, when they 
 returned quietly to their rooms. Their object 
 was conversation — something to beguile the te- 
 dious hours of night. They stood up or sat 
 down on the bare floor, and felt happy in the 
 enjoyment of such a privilege. Their doors 
 were locked after them as they returned to their 
 apartments. Mr. Emmet was at this time con- 
 nected with his present wife, whose superior 
 character and ardent affections will more than 
 once appear in the narrative of her husband's 
 sufferings. Soon after his confinement to the 
 walls of the prison, she was permitted to visit 
 him. The room in which he lived was about 
 twelve feet square. She declared, when once 
 admitted, that she would never leave it but with 
 her husband. The servants of the government 
 ordered her in a peremptory manner to leave the 
 prison, but she as positively refused. Force was 
 not resorted to ; but it was ascertained that the 
 keeper had orders if she ever left the room, 
 never to permit her to return, it being natural 
 
04 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 enough to presume that an opportunity of lock- 
 ing her out would soon occur. But such a pre- 
 sumption was ill founded : she remained in the 
 room for twelve months, and left it but once, and 
 then under peculiar circumstances. Her child, 
 then at Mr. Emmet's father's, was taken sick, 
 and dangerously ill. Information was commu- 
 nicated to Mrs. Emmet ; but how was she to 
 go? She appealed to the mother of children, to 
 the jailer's wife, and at the hour of midnight 
 she let Mrs. Emmet out of her cell, and con- 
 ducted her through the jailer's apartments to 
 the street. She visited her child, remained till 
 the next night, and returned by means of the 
 same sympathy. As she was on the point of 
 entering Mr. Emmet's room, one of the keepers 
 discovered her ; but it was too late. She never 
 availed herself of the same permission again. 
 During her absence, Mr. Emmet's room was 
 frequently visited ; the curtains around the bed 
 were closed, some bundles of clothing were put 
 in the bed, and the keepers desired to step very 
 softly, and not to disturb Mrs. Emmet when af. 
 meted with the head-ache ! 
 
 After Mr. Emmet and his companions in a no- 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 05 
 
 ble cause, had remained in prison some months, 
 and the British government had extended the 
 work of extermination over the island and the 
 executioners became weary ; after he and Mrs. 
 Emmet had been confined in a room of twelve 
 feet square that overlooked the dock from which 
 the unhappy victims of the revolution were daily 
 taken for execution ; and after most of the 
 chiefs of the patriots had surrendered, and the 
 battles of New Ross, Arklow, and Vinegar Hill 
 had been lost, the venerable Lord Charlemont, 
 without any solicitation on the part of the priso- 
 ners, meditated a plan of retreat for those in 
 confinement, and a conciliation to arrest the 
 work of massacre and death. The intended 
 revolution was crushed, and nothing remained 
 to conquer. Mr. Francis Dobbs, a member of 
 parliament, a man of humane feelings, and a 
 friend to the government, visited the prisoners 
 in their respective rooms, and avowed his wish 
 to facilitate an arrangement equally advanta- 
 geous to the government and to the revolution- 
 ists. Every thing had failed, and hope was ex- 
 tinguished, at least for a season. The state- 
 prisoners therefore were anxious to arrest the 
 9 
 
66 MEMOIR OF EMMET, 
 
 tide of misery thai was every clay swelling, and 
 which had already overspread the country like 
 a flood. They reciprocated the wishes express- 
 ed by Mr. Dobbs, and soon after they were 
 visited by Mr. Secretary Cook. Lord Corn- 
 wallis had now assumed the government of Ire- 
 land, and much was hoped from his clemency. 
 When Mr. Secretary Cook visited Dr. McNe- 
 ven in the prison of Kilmainham, a man of 
 whom I shall particularly speak in the course of 
 this memoir, he, with a bluntness and independ- 
 ence peculiar and honourable to his character, 
 informed the secretary that he would have no- 
 thing to do with negotiation unless the prisoners 
 had the pledge of Lord Cornwallis himself. 
 When Mr. Cook retired, Mr. Emmet, Dr. Mc- 
 Neven, and Mr. Sweetman held a consultation, 
 and it was agreed to open a conference with 
 Lord Castlereagh, then the minister of Ireland. 
 In the course of these steps it had been mutual- 
 ly contemplated, that on the one hand, govern- 
 ment was to stop the effusion of blood ; on the 
 other, that the prisoners were to reveal the main 
 features of the intended revolution, and state the 
 extent and nature of the intended connexion 
 
ME3I0IR OF EMMET, 67 
 
 \\ lth France ; but names were not to be demand- 
 ed or given under any circumstances. Before 
 any interview had taken place between the pri- 
 soners and Lord Castlereagh, Mr. Dobbs again 
 visited the prisoners and stated that the govern- 
 ment would demand names ; then, said the pri- 
 soners, there's an end to the negotiation; our 
 friends shall never be exposed by any disclosure 
 of ours. 
 
 The government then gave up the hope of 
 obtaining names. The prisoners were permit- 
 ted to have some intercourse, and they unani= 
 mously appointed three agents to act on their 
 behalf— Mr. Emmet, Dr. McNeven, and Mr. 
 O'Connor — he who first distinguished himself in 
 1795, by his bold and unexpected speech in the 
 Irish House of Commons, on the Catholic ques= 
 tion. On the 29th July, 1798, Mr. Emmet, Dr. 
 McNeven, and Mr. O'Connor had their inter- 
 view in Dublin Castle with Lord Castlereagh, 
 Lord Chancellor Clare, and Mr. Secretary 
 Cook, and entered upon what is called the trea- 
 ty of 1798. Lord Castlereagh then proposed 
 that an arrangement should be made, stipulating 
 for the disclosure of names, The deputies pe- 
 
68 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 remptorily refused to accede to any such propo- 
 sal. A general amnesty, embracing all those 
 implicated in the intended revolution, excepting 
 such as were guilty of murder or conspiracy to 
 murder — a description of men never included 
 among the patriots, was then agreed on, and the 
 faith of the government plighted. It was then 
 mutually agreed that the state prisoners should 
 go to the United States. On their part, the 
 prisoners pledged themselves to make disclo- 
 sures of the intended alliance between the Uni- 
 ted Irishmen and France, and give other infor- 
 mation connected with the intended revolution 
 of Ireland. The deputies did nothing but what 
 was sanctioned by all the state prisoners in the 
 three prisons of Dublin, viz : Newgate, Bride- 
 well and Kilmainham. On the 4th August, 
 1798, Messrs. Emmet, O'Connor and McNeven 
 delivered a memoir to the government, present- 
 ing the promised disclosures. With this, Lord 
 Cornwallis was dissatisfied, as it contained, ac- 
 cording to his views, a vindication of all the 
 acts of the United Irishmen. The deputies re- 
 fused to alter it. The Anglo-Irish ministry then 
 resolved on the parol examination of the depu- 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 69 
 
 ties. This it was thought would afford an op- 
 portunity for perversion and prevarication. Mr. 
 Emmet and the other deputies were accordingly- 
 examined in connexion with other prisoners, be- 
 fore the secret committees of both houses of the 
 Irish Parliament. These examinations were 
 committed to writing, and Mr. Emmet's bears 
 all the strong features which now mark his 
 character. He boldly avowed his agency in 
 the intended revolution, and vindicated his acts. 
 He said that Ireland was driven by oppression 
 to think of revolution ; that she had all the re- 
 sources necessary to constitute her a powerful 
 and happy nation ; and that the measures of the 
 British government would, sooner or later, drive 
 her to separation. Lord Chancellor Clare re- 
 marked in the course of the conversation, that 
 Ireland could not exist free and independent, 
 and used the following words : " Well, I cannot 
 conceive the separation could last twelve hours. " 
 Mr. Emmet replied : " I declare to God, I think 
 that if Ireland were separated from England, 
 she would be the happiest spot on the face of 
 the globe." At this, says Mr. Emmet, the com- 
 mittees seemed very much astonished. a Pray, 
 
70 MEMOIR OF EMMET, 
 
 Mr. Emmet," said the Lord Chancellor, " what 
 caused the late insurrection 1" Mr. Emmet re- 
 plied, " the free quarters, the house burnings, 
 the tortures, and the military executions in the 
 counties of Kildare, Carlow and Wicklow." 
 Sir J. Parnel, one of the committee, said to 
 Mr. Emmet, " while you and the executive 
 were philosophising, Lord Edward Fitzgerald 
 was arming and disciplining the people." Mr. 
 Emmet replied, " Lord Edward was a mili- 
 tary man, and if he was doing so, he probably 
 thought that was the way in which he could be 
 most useful to the country ; but I am sure, that 
 if those with whom he acted were convinced 
 that the grievances of the people were redress- 
 ed, and that force was become unnecessary, he 
 would have been persuaded to drop all arming 
 and disciplining." Mr. J. C. Beresford said, 
 " I know Lord Edward well, and always found 
 him very obstinate." Mr. Emmet replied, " I 
 know Lord Edward right well, and have done a 
 great deal of business with him, and have al- 
 ways found when he had a reliance on the in- 
 tegrity and talents of the person he acted with, 
 he was one of the most persuadable men alive ; 
 
MLMolR 01 EMMET, 
 
 71 
 
 but if he thought a man meant to deal disho- 
 nestly or unfairly with him, he was one of the 
 most obstinate of beings." Mr. French, one of 
 the committee, asked, " Mr, Emmet, can you 
 point out any way of inducing the people to 
 give up their arms V The reply was, " by re- 
 dressing their grievances, and no other." Mr. 
 Emmet expressly stated to the committee, that a 
 complete provincial government for Ireland had 
 been prepared for instant adoption, by the 
 friends of the revolution, and that Ireland 
 would have passed from oppression to inde- 
 pendence and order. The character of Lord 
 Edward Fitzgerald, spoken of in the examina- 
 tion alluded to, will be dear to the friends of 
 Ireland while the ocean breaks around her 
 shores. He was brave, gallant, noble and ac- 
 complished — a soldier and a patriot ; a man 
 calculated to lead the armies of Ireland to vic- 
 tory and to independence. He fell a martyr to 
 her cause, and the memory of his virtues min- 
 gles in the dearest affections of his unfortunate 
 country. 
 
 After the compact was formed and sanction- 
 ed by Mr. Emmet and his coadjutors on one 
 
72 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 side, and the British government on the other, 
 the most gross and malicious falsehoods were 
 propagated on both sides of the channel by the 
 tools and implements of a tyrannical and aban- 
 doned government. It was said and published 
 in a thousand ways, that Mr. Emmet, Dr. Mc- 
 Neven, and Mr. O'Connor had betrayed their 
 associates in the revolution, and given up their 
 names. These three persons were then in 
 prison, at the mercy of the government, de- 
 fenceless and unprotected. The base calum- 
 nies put in circulation soon reached their ears 
 by means of friends beyond the prison walls, 
 and they unhesitatingly did an act that reflects 
 the highest credit on their courage, firmness 
 and independence. They wrote a palpable and 
 flat contradiction of the slanders which had 
 been fabricated. They stated that the report of 
 their examination had been distorted, and de- 
 nied ever having revealed a single name by 
 which any individual could be implicated. This 
 advertisement was signed and published on 27th 
 August, 1798, in two of the Dublin newspapers. 
 This bold and unlooked for act threw the gov- 
 ernment in a rage. The most vindictive feel- 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 73 
 
 ings were manifested towards the prisoners. 
 Mr. Emmet and his two compatriots were cast 
 into close prison, and all intercourse prohibited 
 between them and their friends. It was pro- 
 posed in the Irish House of Commons to take 
 them out and hang them on the gibbet without a 
 trial. This was the proposition of Mr. Mc- 
 Naghten, Francis Hutchinson, and Cunningham 
 Plunket. 
 
 It will be recollected that according to the 
 contract between the Irish ministry and Mr. 
 Emmet, Mr. O'Connor, and Dr. McNeven, the 
 prisoners then in confinement were to be per- 
 mitted to emigrate to the United States. On 
 the 16th September, 1798, Mr. Marsden, Under 
 Secretary for Ireland, informed Mr. Emmet and 
 his fellow-sufferers, that Mr. King, the Ameri- 
 can Minister, had remonstrated against their 
 sailing for America. Dr. McNeven boldly de- 
 nounced the whole matter, as a base subterfuge 
 to prolong their imprisonment, and excuse the 
 British government in breaking a solemn treaty. 
 Be this as it may, the British government did 
 basely break its word and forfeit its promise 
 
 made in the most solemn and sacred manner. 
 10 
 
74 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 The prisoners were not permitted to embark for 
 the United States, and did not embark until they 
 had passed through a long imprisonment in ano- 
 ther quarter of the British dominions. Perhaps 
 no spot in the annals of England is more black 
 than this. It displays a cool, determined, deli- 
 berate act of treachery, disgraceful to an indivi- 
 dual however obscure, and more disgraceful to 
 the government of a powerful nation. 
 
 The period now drew near, when Mr. Em- 
 met was about to leave Ireland forever. After 
 being detained a prisoner in Dublin for about 
 twelve months, and without the least previous 
 notice, an order came that Mr. Emmet and 
 twenty more of the prisoners must prepare to 
 leave Ireland the next morning at 4 o'clock. 
 By the kindness of the jailer's wife, informa- 
 tion of the order was communicated to the fa- 
 mily of Mr. Emmet. That evening his sister 
 paid him a visit. The meeting and the parting 
 were such as the imagination easily suggests. 
 She was the last of Mr. Emmet's kindred that 
 he ever beheld, and she was destined to an ear- 
 ly grave, after his departure from the land of 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 75 
 
 his birth.* At a late hour at night she received 
 the parting blessing of a brother dear to her 
 heart, and one around whom the most tender 
 feelings of her heart were centered. Alone 
 and unprotected — leaving her brother for a fate 
 beyond the apprehension of either of them, she 
 displayed a trait of character which should 
 alone rescue her name and her virtues from 
 oblivion. She took a carriage, and late as it 
 was, repaired to the house of the Lord Lieuten- 
 ant. Alone and unattended, she introduced 
 herself, and found him and his lady alone. 
 She made known her business. She came to 
 inquire for the impending fate of her brother. 
 Where was he to be sent ? Was he to be doom- 
 ed to the scaffold, or forced into obscure and 
 lasting exile on some dreary coast ? Her appli- 
 cation, her affection for an unfortunate brother, 
 her manner and her accomplishments, over- 
 came the governor and his wife. They both 
 
 * This is not strictly correct. He met his brother 
 Robert at Amsterdam in 1802, shortly before the latter 
 returned to Ireland and engaged in the unfortunate 
 enterprise which ended in his execution. — Ed. 
 
76 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 shed tears, and treated her with the kindness 
 and delicacy that spring from sensibility and 
 feeling. He said he would tell her all that a 
 regard for duty would possibly permit. The 
 destined abode of her brother he could not 
 mention ; but this he could say, no harm would 
 occur to him. He would be treated with libe- 
 rality and honour, and was only to be removed 
 to a place of safety. News had arrived that the 
 French were to make a descent on Ireland : 
 her brother and nineteen more were therefore 
 to be removed from Dublin and kept as hosta- 
 ges. This satisfied Miss Emmet, and she re- 
 turned to her father's house. 
 
 At four o'clock the next morning, Thomas 
 Addis Emmet beheld Ireland for the last time. 
 He left behind him a father, beloved and re- 
 vered ; a sister, whom I have already men- 
 tioned ; and a brother, whose fate will never be 
 read without a tear from the generous, and 
 whose last speech presents one of the most dig- 
 nified and rich pieces of eloquence that any 
 language can produce, whether we look to its 
 elevated and manly tone of feeling and senti- 
 ment, or to its appeal to the most moving pas- 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 77 
 
 sions of our nature. They died soon after his 
 departure. 
 
 Mr. Emmet and his fellow prisoners were 
 landed in Scotland, and imprisoned in Fort 
 George.* Here they were confined for three 
 years. Mrs. Emmet was permitted to join her 
 husband, and never left him afterwards. Du- 
 ring his confinement here, Mr. Emmet wrote 
 part of an essay towards the history of Ireland, 
 which was printed in New- York in 1807, and 
 deserves to be more extensively known. It 
 displays great vigour of thought, clearness of 
 conception, and elegance of language, and will 
 one day be read with great avidity and delight. 
 Amid all his troubles, his mind remained firm 
 and unbroken, full of vigour and industry : — 
 
 Exilium causa ipsa jubet sibi dulce videri, 
 Et desiderium dulce levat patria. 
 
 Of his residence at Fort George, Mr. Emmet 
 relates many anecdotes with great ease and ap- 
 
 * This is a fortress in the county of Nairn, in the 
 northeastern part of Scotland, on Murray Frith. Mr. 
 Emmet and his companions were transferred to this 
 place early in 1799. — Ed. 
 
78 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 parent pleasure. Governor Stuart, an invalid 
 officer, who had served abroad, commanded at 
 Fort George during the whole residence of the 
 Irish patriots in that place. Mr. Emmet speaks 
 of him with enthusiastic regard. By a conduct 
 at once noble, generous, frank and polite, the 
 governor endeared himself to all the prisoners ; 
 and his death, which occurred a few years 
 since, was heard of with regret by all who had 
 known him. He told them when they arrived, 
 that they were gentlemen, and so he should 
 treat them ; and so he did treat them on every 
 occasion. He set an example and gave a tone 
 to the whole garrison — even to the lowest pri- 
 vate soldier. Whenever the prisonors wished 
 to go beyond the fort and requested permis- 
 sion, the answer was always the same from 
 Governor Stuart ; you go on one condition — 
 your parol of honour ; I take the responsibility, 
 and place my character for fidelity in your 
 hands. The prisoners wished to bathe in the 
 sea. Vessels were constantly at anchor or 
 hovering on the coast, and when once on the 
 shore, which was considerably outside the fort, 
 any prisoner might have swum to a French or 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET, 
 
 79 
 
 American vessel and escaped. When the pri- 
 soners requested permission to enjoy the sea 
 waters and the surf, Governor Stuart told them 
 the consequence of his granting their request if 
 any complaint should reach the government. 
 But, said he, "go; — I trust to your honour." 
 And where was the prisoner who would have 
 escaped? "As soon," says Mr. Emmet, "would 
 we have committed suicide." When Mrs. Em- 
 met joined her husband, every delicate atten- 
 tion, consistent with a military government, was 
 paid her by Governor Stuart. He sent a mes- 
 sage to Mr, Emmet, that he was at liberty to 
 accompany his wife to any distance from the 
 fort which she chose to visit, and on her visits to 
 the families residing in the neighbourhood, Mr. 
 Emmet could always escort her. Mr. Emmet 
 wrote him a note, that if this indulgence came 
 from the British government, he could not con- 
 sistently embrace it ; if from Governor Stuart 
 himself, it would give him sincere pleasure to 
 accept of his kind offer. Governor Stuart 
 wrote a note in answer, that it was his own 
 proffer, and it was gladly accepted and enjoyed. 
 On all gala days, Governor Stuart remembered 
 
80 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 his prisoners, and they were treated with every 
 thing the country could afford. 
 
 After the expiration of three years, the 
 British government concluded to discharge the 
 prisoners from Fort George, and end their suf- 
 ferings. A correspondence was opened with 
 Governor Stuart, and after every thing was ar- 
 ranged, a list of pardons was sent him; and 
 here occurs an incident which deserves to be 
 remembered in the life of Mr. Emmet. . The 
 list of pardons came, including every prisoner's 
 name but his own. Governor Stuart sent for 
 him, and with evident emotion told him the fact. 
 For Mr. Emmet there was no pardon, and he 
 was doomed still to remain a state prisoner. 
 Neither Governor Stuart nor Mr. Emmet could 
 divine the cause of this want of lenity in his 
 case. After a moment of deep reflection, si- 
 lence and anxiety, Governor Stuart said in a 
 decided tone, " Mr. Emmet, you shall go ; I 
 will take all hazards and all responsibility ; you 
 shall go to-morrow with the rest of the priso- 
 ners, and I will stand between you and the gov- 
 ernment !" The next morning Mr. Emmet left 
 the shores of Scotland, associated with many 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 81 
 
 painful and some pleasant and grateful recol- 
 lections. 
 
 I have thus particularly named Governor 
 Stuart, because he displays a character worthy 
 of the warmest admiration. Happy would it 
 have been for poor Napoleon, had such a 
 man been the Governor of St. Helena. The 
 commander of Fort George was a personage fit 
 for the days of chivalry, when bravery was 
 blended with refinement of feeling and the most 
 generous sympathies of human nature. He 
 had been a gay young nobleman, and expended 
 an elegant fortune in the enjoyment of pleasure 
 and amusement. He died old, and never suf- 
 fered for permitting one of the greatest men 
 that Ireland ever produced to regain his free- 
 dom and establish a lasting fame on another 
 continent. 
 
 Mr. Emmet with his lady and the other nine- 
 teen prisoners were escorted to the frigate 
 which was sent to convey them to the continent 
 of Europe, with waving banners and joyful ac- 
 clamations. It was a kind of triumphal pro- 
 cession, in which officers and men, subjects and 
 rulers, all joined ; for there was no feeling to- 
 ll 
 
82 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 wards the prisoners at Fort George, but love, 
 sympathy and good will. All rejoiced in their 
 liberation. Mr. Emmet went to France, where 
 he remained some time. Of the particulars of 
 his residence there, I am not in possession. 
 His health was considerably impaired, and it is 
 probable that he did little more than recover 
 his health and reclaim a shattered constitution. 
 There was no hope of doing any thing more 
 for Ireland, and he turned his thoughts to the 
 only secure refuge from oppression — the United 
 States.* 
 
 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 
 
 * On their liberation from Fort George, Mr. Emmet 
 and his family were landed at Cuxhaven, on their way 
 to Hamburg. They left that city and passed through 
 Holland, visiting Amsterdam and Rotterdam, and spent 
 the winter of 1802 in Brussels, where Mr. Emmet re- 
 ceived intelligence of his father's death. In the fol- 
 lowing year he visited France, and spent the winter of 
 1803-4 in Paris. In October, 1804, he sailed from Bor- 
 deaux, and arrived in New York on the 11th of No- 
 vember. — ED. 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 83 
 
 the consideration of a people to whom he was 
 hitherto a stranger. He is no longer embarked 
 in the troubled scenes of Europe. He com- 
 menced his career in the service of his country, 
 to aid in conducting a most important revolution 
 to a successful issue, and he failed in his at- 
 tempt. About six years of the most valuable 
 part of his life had 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 pre- 
 sent some slight proof. 
 
 When Mr. Emmet came to the United 
 States, he was about 40 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 — 
 that of medicine or the law. He was com- 
 petent to undertake either. His friends ad- 
 vised 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 remove 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 
 
84 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 country, and Walter Jones, Esquire, a most 
 eminent counsellor and advocate in the District 
 of Columbia, had procured Mr. Emmet's ad- 
 mission to the bar in 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 coun- 
 try new — he had a rising and increasing family, 
 which he wished to plant about him — the com- 
 petition 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 go- 
 vernor 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. He sent for Mr. Emmet, with 
 whom he had little or no acquaintance, and told 
 him to remain in the city of New-York. He 
 said that Mr. Emmet's great talents would com- 
 mand 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 coun- 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 85 
 
 try, 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 pre- 
 vious 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 Su- 
 preme Court declined giving him a licence, 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 
 
86 
 
 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 with George Clinton, his uncle, as to the Su- 
 preme 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 of New York. George and De Witt Clin- 
 ton then made an informal 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 also there. Chancellor Kent 
 was the Chief Justice. Spencer, Tompkins 
 and Thompson were found friendly ; Kent, pe- 
 culiarly 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 ex- 
 pressions of gratitude. Within two years past, 
 he argued a most important cause for the Vice 
 President, without fee or reward, and obtained 
 a verdict of $130,000 — 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 re- 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 87 
 
 publican principles in Europe, and was the dis- 
 ciple of Edmund Burke as to the French Revo- 
 lution. He looked on Mr. Emmet with an un- 
 kind eye, and raised his voice against his ap- 
 pearing 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 over-ruled 
 his illiberal objections. Mr. Emmet was ad- 
 mitted 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 suf- 
 ferings 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 immor- 
 tality 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 extraordinary powers. Several 
 slaves had escaped from a neighbouring state 
 and found a refuge here. Their masters seized 
 
88 MEMOIR OP EMMET. 
 
 them, and the rights of these masters became a 
 matter of controversy. Mr. Emmet, I have 
 been informed, was retained by the society of 
 friends — the real, steady, ardent and perse- 
 vering friends of humanity and justice — and of 
 course espoused the cause of the slaves. His 
 effort is said to have been overwhelming. The 
 novelty of his manner, the enthusiasm which 
 he exhibited, his broad Irish accent, his pa- 
 thos and violence of gesture, created a variety 
 of sensations in the audience. His republican 
 friends said that his fortune was made, and they 
 were right. 
 
 Mr. Emmet's strong and decided attachment 
 to democratic principles was known even before 
 he reached the American shores. 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 eman- 
 cipation of Ireland. He mingled in the ranks 
 of the republican party. Trans-atlantic poli- 
 tics, it is well known, had extended their agi- 
 tations and influence to this country. The 
 federal party hated France, hated Ireland in 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 89 
 
 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 opponents of 
 Mr. Jefferson's administration as a fugitive ja- 
 cobin. Hence he was doomed to some little 
 persecution, even in this country. The great 
 men of the New York bar were federalists. 
 They therefore turned their faces against Mr. 
 Emmet. They formed a combination, and 
 agreed to decline all professional 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, how- 
 ever, I shall mention ; for although a firm fede- 
 ralist, 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 as- 
 certained the existence of the league, he did 
 12 
 
90 
 
 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 not hesitate what to do. His native boldness 
 and decision of character governed his conduct. 
 He determined to carry the war into the ene- 
 my's country. He did not wait for an attack. 
 He proved the assailant. Whenever 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 extra- 
 ordinary power, it is the ready talent of suc- 
 cessful and over-awing reply. His spirit is al- 
 ways 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. Emmet assumed a standing, 
 and was able to maintain it, that put all opposi- 
 tion at defiance. It was not long after his arri- 
 val and settlement in New York, that his pro- 
 fession produced him ten thousand dollars a 
 year. During some years, within a more re- 
 cent 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 Rufus 
 King. Mr. King was the federal candidate for 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 91 
 
 governor of the state of New York. Mr. Em- 
 met, on political and personal grounds, was op- 
 posed to his election. At a meeting of the Hi- 
 bernian Society, he broke out in an eloquent 
 appeal to his countrymen and brethren, 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 at this time. He ad- 
 dressed 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 allegations. Mr. Emmet always consi- 
 dered Mr. King as instrumental in preventing 
 the emigration of the Irish patriots to the 
 United States, previous to their imprisonment 
 at Fort George. Mr. King belonged to the 
 federel school in politics. Among other dis- 
 tinctions in this country, there was what was 
 termed the French party and the British party. 
 The federal party generally sided with the 
 
92 
 
 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 British government, in all controversies con- 
 nected with continental politics. The Irish 
 patriots had sought aid from France, and en- 
 countered the general aversion of the fede- 
 ralists of this country. Mr. King naturally set 
 his countenance against the contemplated revo- 
 lution in Ireland, and was not favourably dis- 
 posed to the emigration of what were termed 
 Irish rebels by the Court of St. James. How 
 far he interfered, or how far the British govern- 
 ment 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. McNeven. 
 Among other proffered advantages, was the 
 liberation of the prisoners for a residence in 
 the United States. That liberation was subse- 
 quently denied, in violation of the treaty. Mr. 
 Emmet, in his letter to Mr. King, adverts to his 
 interference with great feeling and with no 
 small indignation. "Your interference," says 
 Mr. Emmet, when addressing his letter to Mr. 
 King of 9th April, 1807, " was made the pre- 
 text of detaining us four years in custody, by 
 
MEMOIB OF EMMET. 03 
 
 which very extensive and useful plans of set- 
 tlement within these states, were broken up. 
 The misfortunes which you brought upon the 
 objects of your persecution, are incalculable. 
 Almost all of us wasted four of the best years 
 of our lives in prison. As to me, I should have 
 brought along with me my father and his fa- 
 mily, including a brother, whose name perhaps 
 even you will not read without emotions of 
 sympathy and respect. Others, nearly con- 
 nected with me, would have become partners in 
 my emigration. But all of them have been 
 torn from me ! I have been prevented from 
 saving a brother, from receiving the dying 
 blessings of a father, mother, and sister, and 
 from soothing their last agonies with my cares ; 
 and this, sir, by your unwarrantable and un- 
 feeling interference." At the close of his 
 letter, Mr. Emmet remarks : " Circumstances 
 which cannot be controlled, have decided that 
 my name must be embodied into history. From 
 the manner in which even my political adver- 
 saries, and some of my cotemporary historians, 
 unequivocally hostile to my principles, already 
 speak of me, I have the consolation of re- 
 
94 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 fleeting, that when the falsehoods of the day 
 are withered and blasted, I shall be respected 
 and esteemed. You, sir, will probably be for- 
 gotten, when I shall be remembered with honour; 
 or if, peradventure, your name should descend 
 to posterity, perhaps you will be known only as 
 the recorded instrument of part of my persecu- 
 tions, sufferings and misfortunes." In speaking 
 of his brother in this letter, Mr. Emmet alludes 
 to Robert Emmet, the unfortunate youth whose 
 speech would alone preserve the name of an 
 empire, and attract to an age the memory of 
 mankind. By his sister, he means that sister 
 whose parting with him in the prison of Kil- 
 mainham has been already mentioned. 
 
 I express no opinion as to the degree of re- 
 proach which should be attached to the cha- 
 racter 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 high- 
 est compliment to Mr. Emmet's talents, and in 
 his late argument in the great steam-boat 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 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 95 
 
 Mr. Emmet, and wherever his family have ap- 
 peared in private circles, been marked and par- 
 ticular in their civility. These are small things, 
 but they indicate good feelings. 
 
 Mr. Emmets course in 1807, and his ardour 
 and firmness as a republican, identified him 
 with the republican party. He never courted 
 station or public trust : his theatre was the 
 forum. In August, 1812, the Council of Ap- 
 pointment conferred upon him 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 appoint- 
 ment. 
 
 I have now given a brief sketch of Mr. Em- 
 met's life, or rather of its most leading inci- 
 dents, so far as I have learned them from him 
 and otherwise. I must now perform a more 
 difficult task, and speak of him as one of the 
 great pillars and ornaments of the American bar. 
 
 Helvetius remarks, that the sun of glory only 
 shines upon the tomb of greatness. His ob- 
 servation is too often true, but facts and living 
 
96 
 
 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 proofs sometimes contradict it. Mr. Emmet 
 walks on in life, amid the eulogiums, the admi- 
 ration, 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 com- 
 mands more respect, than Thomas Addis Em- 
 met? 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 mountains. His name rings 
 down the valley of the Mississippi, and we hail 
 his efforts with a kind of local pride." 
 
 If to draw the character of Homer needs the 
 genius of the immortal bard himself; if to 
 pourtray the powers of Demosthenes requires 
 the gigantic intellect of the great Athenian 
 orator, Mr. Emmet has nothing to expect from 
 me. In presenting the features of his mind, I 
 shall describe them from the impressions they 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. . 97 
 
 make on me. I paint from the original. I catch 
 the lineaments of the subject as living nature 
 presents them. 
 
 The mind of Thomas Addis Emmet is of the 
 highest order. His penetration is deep, his 
 views comprehensive, his distinctions remark- 
 ably nice. His powers of investigation are vi- 
 gorous and irresistible. If there be any thing 
 in a subject, he will go to the bottom. He 
 probes boldly, reaches the lowest depths by his 
 researches, analyzes every thing, and embraces 
 the whole ground. He may be said to have a 
 mind well adapted to profound and powerful in- 
 vestigation. 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 begins at the cen- 
 tre 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 perplex- 
 ities, if any man can unfold and amplify it, he 
 
 is equal to the task. The investigating talent is 
 13 
 
98 • MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 not, in my apprehension, peculiar to the Irish 
 character; and among that constellation of 
 talent exhibited by Ireland, but few men have 
 appeared who were endowed with a strong rea- 
 soning power. Genius, fancy, fertility, variety, 
 wit, enthusiasm — these appear, and fall to the 
 province of a long list of illustrious and cele- 
 brated Irishmen ; the attribute first spoken of 
 is rare and marked. Without wandering too 
 far, I must here mention a fact relating to Mr. 
 Curran, that has given me some surprize. Mr. 
 Emmet informs me that Curran, with whom the 
 former was on intimate terms, possessed a lo- 
 gical head. This 1 never before conceived. 
 His printed speeches do not show it. However, 
 it should be remembered that his every day bu- 
 siness — his contests in the King's bench of Ire- 
 land, and his arguments in the Court of Chan- 
 cery, do not reach us. We only see him be- 
 fore a jury, (except in one instance,) moving 
 the feelings, appealing to the sympathies, and 
 kindling all the better emotions of the human 
 breast. 
 
 But to return to Mr. Emmet. I have spoken 
 of his talent for deep and rigid investigation. I 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 99 
 
 will now again recur to another feature of his 
 mind — his talent for reasoning on whatever data 
 or premises he relies on. All the illustrations 
 and all the analogies which can well occur to 
 the mind, are readily and adroitly arranged in 
 his arguments. He makes the most of his 
 cause, and often makes too much — giving a 
 front that is so palpably over formidable, that 
 men of the plainest sense perceive the fruits of 
 a powerful mind, without being at all convinced. 
 Mr. Emmet is a lawyer of great and faithful 
 legal research. He has consulted books with 
 as much fidelity and perseverence as any man 
 at the American bar. Perhaps he has not done 
 this with so much system as appears in the 
 study of many others ; a constant pressure of 
 business may have prevented study upon ab- 
 stract principles, with bare views of gaining 
 knowledge ; but in his day, he has spared no- 
 thing in the compass of his reading. He has 
 gone back to the black letter, and come down to 
 all the modern works that weigh down the 
 shelves of our libraries, in the shape of reports 
 and elementary treatises. In his arguments, he 
 calls up all the authorities applicable to his 
 
100 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 case ; and what is of great consequence in the 
 character of a finished lawyer, these authorities 
 shed light on the subject matter of discussion. 
 There are many advocates, and too many judges 
 among us, who make a parade of their learning ; 
 who quote decisions without an accurate discri- 
 mination of what they tend to prove. Legal 
 distinctions are not less nice and delicate than 
 those of a moral order. Law and ethics are in 
 fact intimately blended. A system of jurispru- 
 dence embraces rules of action for all the con- 
 cerns of human life that can be interesting to 
 the whole community ; for all the business 
 transactions of Society ; for the discharge of all 
 mutual obligations incident to civilization, and 
 which it may be necessary for constituted au- 
 thorities to enforce. No rule of law can be 
 sound and salutary unless it be consistent with 
 justice, when carried through in all its bearings 
 and in its full application to all cases to which it 
 can even pertain. This is the difference be- 
 tween partial and general rules. The law deals 
 in general rules. All its axioms are general. 
 All its maxims are intended to be universal. 
 Hence, when a principle of law is laid down in 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 101 
 
 a case of a collateral nature to the one under a 
 particular discussion, it needs some judgment to 
 ascertain its strict applicability to a given case. 
 Mr. Emmet cites with accuracy, and courts 
 very much rely on his discernment — a cha- 
 racter, by the way, of immense importance to 
 an advocate. Courts soon measure a lawyer's 
 understanding. If he wants perspicuity and 
 clearness — if he mingles and confuses — he is 
 sure to mislead, if he command respect and 
 credence. Hence he will not long find coun- 
 tenance in legal tribunals. Mr. Emmet is not 
 fond of resorting to the civil law, the corpus 
 juris civilis. He occasionally draws from this 
 fountain, but reposes generally on the common 
 law. The text of the civil law is in his library, 
 and the works of most of the commentators on 
 this text ; but my apprehension is that he has 
 only consulted this grand body of jurisprudence 
 in extraordinary cases. 
 
 The subject of this memoir is not less distin- 
 guished for his knowledge of the theory of the 
 law, than he is of the practice. As a special 
 pleader, he has great experience and precision. 
 And whoever looks through the decisions of 
 
102 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 cases in the New York reports, and those ar- 
 gued in the Supreme Court at Washington, 
 where he has been concerned, will be con- 
 vinced of the fact here asserted. It has been 
 said, that while Erskine dazzled, charmed and 
 astonished all who heard him in Westminster 
 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 obedi- 
 ence to order, never forgets the landmarks of 
 professional watchfulness : he is still the well 
 disciplined lawyer, contending for his client. 
 
 I' must now mention another advantage that 
 distinguishes Mr. Emmet in his professional ca- 
 reer. His historical illustrations are numerous, 
 pertinent, and happy. In this he excels any 
 man whom I have ever heard. He was edu- 
 cated in Europe, and was for many years not 
 only a political man, but associated on intimate 
 terms with the first men of the age. He not 
 only read, but he heard and saw. In addition 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 103 
 
 to what we find in the volumes of history, he 
 collected many things which floated in the at- 
 mosphere of the times, well calculated to give a 
 clue to the character of men and of transactions 
 lost to the ordinary historian. Besides this, he 
 collected a vast fund of anecdote from personal 
 intercourse with great and knowing men. In 
 the various changes of the British ministry, and 
 during a great number of party conflicts, many 
 interesting circumstances transpired, worthy to 
 be treasured up by the moralist, or to be lashed 
 by the satirist. In arguing and in trying great 
 causes, I have heard Mr. Emmet draw on his 
 memory with great effect — calling up parallels 
 and presenting striking contrasts. I can at this 
 moment call two instances to mind, where his 
 recollection and historical knowledge afforded 
 him much aid. When the honourable William 
 W. Van Ness was facing that torrent of political 
 persecution that swept him to the grave, Mr. 
 Emmet was his leading counsel. There was 
 instituted a legislative inquiry into his connexion 
 with the incorporation of the Bank of America, 
 with an intention to find matter on which an 
 impeachment could be sustained — he being a 
 
104 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 Judge of the Supreme Court of the state of 
 New York. The case was peculiar, and will 
 be memorable in the history of our state. It 
 terminated in a vote, that there was no ground 
 to impeach judge Van Ness, or to prefer arti- 
 cles of impeachment ; and in this vote of the 
 house of Assembly, there was but one dissenting 
 voice. His name, it is hoped, for the honour of 
 free principles and the character of justice, will 
 never be mentioned. But to the point. Judge 
 Van Ness had been a warm federalist, and con- 
 stant to his principles. He was now a friend 
 and supporter of Dewitt Clinton. Some ot his 
 old federal friends, who had completely faced 
 about, and joined what were called the bucktail 
 party, commenced against him a violent and 
 implacable system of hostility. These men 
 had been his bosom friends for years after the 
 incorporation of the Bank of America. They 
 had, at one time, anxiously sought his nomina- 
 tion for Governor. Some of them, who were 
 his immediate accusers, had flourished under 
 the auspices of his friendship. But political 
 rancour and personal ambition sealed the heart 
 to feelings that are honourable to our nature, 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 105 
 
 and judge Van Ness was marked out as a vie- 
 tim of unprovoked vengeance. In the course 
 of the investigation, there was an argument at 
 the bar of the House of Assembly. Here was 
 a fine field for Mr. Emmet's transcendant pow- 
 ers, and he made one of his most fortunate ef- 
 forts. I heard his argument, and I shall never 
 forget it. I shall here only allude to his intro- 
 duction. He first spoke of the nature of the 
 inquiry instituted against his client. He was 
 not assailed by foes who had been arrayed 
 against him for years— whose hostility had been 
 rendered keen and inveterate by long, constant, 
 and bitter conflicts. He was not assailed by 
 men whose happiness he had blasted, whose 
 fortunes he had wrecked, whose hopes he had 
 disappointed, whose paths he had crossed ; he 
 was a persecuted man, and persecuted by those 
 in whose bosoms gratitude, sympathy and re- 
 spect for his client should find a genial and 
 a lasting refuge. He then struck off* into En- 
 glish history. He spoke of the great and illus- 
 trious men who had fallen martyrs to the cause 
 of their country, or victims to political and 
 party violence. The scaffold had streamed 
 
 14 
 
106 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 with their blood, and their country had blushed 
 in later ages for their fall ; but in all these dark 
 and disgraceful scenes, how many noble in- 
 stances of friendship, regard, and personal 
 fidelity had appeared ! He particularly alluded 
 to the case of Lord Wentworth, and repeated 
 his words as he uttered them on his trial. 
 While these lights were brought from history, 
 the attention of the Assembly and the spec- 
 tators was perfectly chained to the words of 
 the advocate. Every sentence was heard, and 
 the blood ran cold in every man's veins. 
 
 The other instance appeared in a case of less 
 note. It was a case of libel. A suit had been 
 commenced against the editor of a newspaper, 
 and in the course of the trial certain charges 
 made by the plaintiff on the defendant were 
 brought under examination. The editor was 
 charged with having made offers to sell himself 
 to a political party hostile to the one with which 
 he was identified. Certain witnesses proved, 
 that he had proposed that for a certain loan of 
 money, he would cease from his political la- 
 bours, and be silent. This was said by his 
 counsel to amount to nothing like a proposition 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 107 
 
 to sell himself. Throughout the trial, Mr. Em- 
 met displayed an elevated idea of moral recti- 
 tude, and indicated his views of political ho- 
 nour. Some of his remarks would rank with 
 the beautiful sketches of Johnson, in his Ram- 
 bler and Idler. When he came to the propo- 
 sition alluded to, he presented the case of the 
 Earl of Bath. He had been a distinguished 
 leader of the whig party in England. On the 
 floor of the House of Commons, he was viewed 
 as an intrepid and incorruptible patriot. He 
 almost arrested the ministry in its course of 
 measures. Sir Robert Walpole at length made 
 him Earl of Bath, and from that moment, no 
 more was heard from the great whig and com- 
 moner, Mr. Pulteney.* Did he not sell him- 
 self? said Mr. Emmet. The British nation 
 thought so, and the execrations of the whole 
 empire gathered round his head and followed 
 his daily walks. What instance more appro- 
 priate and forcible could have been put to the 
 jury 1 I was engaged with Mr. Emmet in this 
 
 * Vide Smollett Hist, of England, p. 268, Jones' Uni- 
 versity ed.— 1826. 
 
108 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 trial, and well remember that he quoted from 
 Lord Byron's poem, Lara, with great effect ; I 
 do not mean the poetry, but the narrative. He 
 produced one of the poet's worst characters. 
 I merely cite these two instances to show his 
 mode of availing himself of his researches.* 
 
 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 sentiments into the popular feelings of 
 ages which have rolled on long after the poet 
 and the orator, the statesman and the historian, 
 
 * The passage referred to was something like this : — 
 " Gentlemen of the Jury — You have no doubt read the 
 poems of Lord Byron. At the festival, Sir Ezzelin re- 
 cognizes and exposes the villain, Lara. He challenges 
 his adversary to single combat, and before the appointed 
 time, he disgracefully murders him. Then, at 
 
 1 * * * * the promised hour, that must proclaim 
 The life or death of Lara's future fame,' 
 
 he appears on the battle-ground, and exclaims ' why 
 comes he not ? Produce this babbler.' So the defendant, 
 gentlemen, re-possessing himself of his written offer, ex- 
 claims, Produce the document." 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 109 
 
 have ceased to glow, to speak, to guide, or to 
 write. He has closely consulted those oracles 
 of wisdom, those disciples of philosophy, those 
 sons of the muses, whose opinions, sentiments 
 and effusions lighten the sorrows of human ex- 
 istence, inspire the mind with noble ideas, and 
 cheer the ardent and persevering devotions of 
 the student. The man of whom I speak is 
 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 al- 
 ways 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 discipline and all the primitive ad- 
 vantages peculiar to those schools. The Latin 
 and the Greek tongues were introduced to his 
 notice when 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. Shakspeare, in particular, he often 
 quotes. 
 
110 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 One of the greatest charms of Mr. Emmet's 
 eloquence, is the fancy which he continually 
 displays. He possesses an imagination bound- 
 less as the world of light, grandeur, and beauty. 
 Its flights are bold — its pictures soft, magnifi- 
 cent, or awful, 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 propriety. 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 re- 
 membered. 
 
 I have already spoken of Mr. Emmet's rea- 
 diness 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 reason 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. Ill 
 
 to regret the ill-timed provocation. In 1815, he 
 made his first appearance at the Supreme Court 
 of the United States in Washington. He and 
 Mr. Pinckney were brought in contact. The 
 latter closed the argument in a very important 
 cause in which they were both engaged, and 
 with 'his characteristic arrogance alluded to the 
 fact of Mr. Emmet's migration to the United 
 States. When he had concluded his argument, 
 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 connexions, and 
 he was not his enemy. It was true that he was 
 an Irishman. It was true that in attempting to 
 rescue an oppressed, brave, and generous 
 hearted people, he had been driven from the 
 forum and the Senate -hall of his own native 
 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 
 
112 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 fresh wreath of laurel, or add lustre to his well 
 earned fame, by alluding to these 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 acquired 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 ar- 
 gument, who was determined that his antagonist 
 should be put in mind of his former deportment 
 and expressions. Mr. Pinckney was aware of 
 the thunderbolt in store, and took the opportu- 
 nity of paying to Mr. Emmet's genius, fame, 
 and private worth, the highest tribute of re- 
 spect. This respect was never afterwards vio- 
 lated. When Mr. Emmet rose out of his place 
 as before stated, Chief Justice Marshall indica- 
 ted great uneasiness, thinking that something 
 unpleasant might be the result. Mr. Justice 
 Livingston reached forward his head and re- 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 113 
 
 marked in a whisper, "let him go on; I will 
 answer that he says nothing rude or improper." 
 With this, as well as with the result, the Chief 
 Justice was satisfied. 
 
 Some years previous to this, Mr. Emmet re- 
 paired to the county of Chenango, to try an in- 
 dictment for an attempt to procure the vote of a 
 member of the legislature by bribery and cor- 
 ruption. He was then Attorney General, and 
 the proceeding excited strong party feelings. 
 Elisha Williams and Mr. Foot, formerly an em- 
 inent counsellor and advocate residing in Al- 
 bany, were opposed to him. The latter had his 
 task assigned him — he was to brow-beat Mr. 
 Emmet. In the discharge of this duty, he sta- 
 ted, among other things, that Mr. Emmet's pro- 
 motion to the office of Attorney General was 
 the reward of party efforts, and that in con- 
 ducting this prosecution, he was doing homage 
 for that office. He gained nothing by his as- 
 saults. When Mr. Emmet came to this part of 
 his speech, he stated the accusation as it had 
 been made by his opponent, and replied, "it is 
 false, and he knew it. The office which I have 
 
 the honour to hold, is the reward of useful days 
 15 
 
114 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 and sleepless nights, devoted to the acquisition 
 and exercise of my profession, and of a life of 
 unspotted integrity — claims and qualifications 
 which that gentleman can never put forth for 
 any office, humble or exalted." 
 
 In 1822, Mr. Emmet was employed in a very 
 interesting case in the Court of Errors in the 
 state of New York. A man had died leaving a 
 large estate, and a pretended wife claimed it by 
 virtue of a nuncupative will. The estate was 
 claimed by Irish heirs, and the legality of the 
 will was disputed. Mr. Emmet appeared for 
 the heirs, and it occurred that most or all the 
 witnesses who sustained the illegality of the 
 instrument in question, were Irishmen. Mr. 
 Henry, of Albany, an able and sagacious ad. 
 vocate, attempted to invalidate the testimony of 
 these witnesses, and indulged many rude hits on 
 account of their national character. Mr. Hen- 
 ry being himself of direct Irish descent, and 
 having made almost a direct attack on Mr. Em- 
 met, roused all his fire. The arguments of the 
 different counsel consumed several days, and 
 when the great Irish orator drew to the close of 
 his extraordinary efforts, which had consumed 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 115 
 
 two entire days of the court, he broke forth into 
 one of his master exertions. The nature of the 
 testimony alluded to he had already examined ; 
 he now took up the reflection on Irish character . 
 He carried the eye of the court over fhe land of 
 his birth — the graves of her illustrious men — 
 the monuments of her heroes, her orators, her 
 statesmen, her poets, her philosophers ; he then 
 pictured her green fields, her beautiful shores, 
 the genius of her people, the simplicity of her 
 peasantry, and the dark and horrid gulf in 
 which her liberties and her happiness were bu- 
 ried ; he came down to himself, the scenes 
 through which he had passed, and the honesty, 
 the zeal, and the integrity which he had found 
 among his countrymen. And lastly, he pointed 
 to Mr. Henry. If he had a drop of good blood 
 in his veins, it was Irish blood. When he be- 
 held the successful efforts in that forum on the 
 part of his learned antagonist, he felt that he 
 was an Irishman ! The whole scene was one of 
 the most interesting that I ever witnessed. 
 
 Mr. Emmet's deportment at the bar is mild, 
 urbane, dignified and conciliating. To the ju- 
 nior members of the profession, in particular, he 
 
116 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 is a model of obliging civility — always speaking 
 favourably of their efforts and kindly of their 
 exertions, however meagre and discouraging. 
 To me he has given many sound lessons of ad- 
 vice. " 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 simple in the extreme. His dress is 
 wholly unstudied. Every thing, however, shows 
 the most perfect delicacy of feeling. Modest, 
 unassuming, unobtrusive, and perfectly polite, 
 he would alone attract the attention of a stran- 
 ger by that amiable temper and obliging dispo- 
 sition that manifested themselves on all occa- 
 sions. I do not consider him an eloquent or a 
 powerful man in ordinary conversation. His 
 remarks are generally appropriate, and well 
 adapted to passing colloquial scenes. He 
 speaks with sense and intelligence ; but he dis- 
 covers nothing of the man he is, unless called 
 out by an occasion sufficient to awaken his 
 mind and create excitement. In the circles of 
 Washington, with Robert Goodloe Harper, John 
 Randolph, William Wirt, and others of an equal 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 117 
 
 rank in talents, I have heard him converse with 
 uncommon interest on English history and the 
 policy of European governments. I once heard 
 him contrast and describe the characters of the 
 most distinguished British statesmen who had 
 shared in the confidence of the government, 
 from the days of Robert Walpole to those of 
 Lord Castlereagh, a man whose heart he ab- 
 horred and detested; but how much more pow- 
 erful and interesting would he have appeared on 
 the same topics in the Senate house ! 
 
 Having never heard the speeches and argu- 
 ments of Erskine and Curran, 1 am incompe- 
 tent to compare Mr. Emmet with those great 
 orators. Manner is one of the principal attri- 
 butes of a great speaker ; and Mr. Emmet's is 
 excellent, and in many respects unrivalled. 
 But if I might be permitted to compare Mr. 
 Emmet's speeches, as I know they would read 
 if written out, with Erskine's and Curran's, as 
 they are reported, he would not fall behind his 
 illustrious competitors. To Mr. Curran, I think 
 Mr. Emmet superior — superior as a mere law- 
 yer, and superior as a logician; and exquisitely 
 beautiful and truly eloquent as Curran really 
 
118 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 was in the defence of Rowan, I think Emmet 
 would have made a more powerful and over- 
 whelming speech in that great case. As a law- 
 yer and an orator, I am not to say that he is 
 superior to what Erskine was in the days of his 
 glory ; for I view that orator with a veneration 
 that is never invaded or diminished. Mr. Em- 
 met would not have excelled him in the case of 
 Stockdale, in the case of the publisher of the 
 Rights of Man, nor in any of the splendid ef- 
 forts that marked the unrivalled career of the 
 prince of English orators in the forum ; but he 
 would have been the competitor of Erskine in 
 such cases, had he met him on equal terms at 
 the English bar ; and I might safely challenge 
 the whole list of Irish orators for the superior of 
 Thomas Addis Emmet. As for Charles Phil- 
 lips, he is not to be named in comparison. He 
 is the fertile and baneful source of false taste 
 and declamatory nonsense. Oftentimes he is 
 beautiful ; but his style has done infinite injury 
 among the students of our schools and universi- 
 ties. Mr. Emmet's style is always pure, vigo- 
 rous, and appropriate. 
 
 In his private character, the object of this 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 119 
 
 memoir is without a blemish. Generous, hu- 
 mane, obliging, and strictly honest ; a heart 
 open, frank and ardent ; upright in all his deal- 
 ings ; 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. 
 
 With all these qualities of intellect and of 
 heart, Mr. Emmet has some defects ; I mean 
 defects of a professional description. His zeal 
 sometimes clouds his judgment, and obscures 
 the perceptions of his mind. In the worst of 
 causes — in cases where the merits were pal- 
 pably against him, I have known him struggle 
 with the same ardour and assurance as though 
 he was perfectly persuaded of the justice of his 
 suit. This has diminished his influence in our 
 courts. They have imbibed a habit of listening 
 to his legal doctrines with suspicion. I once 
 heard him argue a point of law before Judge 
 Thompson, in the Circuit Court of the United 
 States, with a great deal of animation and ap- 
 parent conviction of the correctness of his 
 
120 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 grounds. When he had finished, Judge Thomp- 
 son put a case to him to test the soundness of 
 the counsellor's positions. He began by say- 
 ing, " suppose, Mr. Emmet, that ten years 
 hence this case occurs, &c." describing the 
 premises from which he wished Mr. Emmet to 
 draw the conclusion. Mr. Emmet found him- 
 self in difficulty, and merely replied, that ten 
 years hence his client might have other coun- 
 sel, whom he would leave to answer the ques- 
 tion. Perhaps the question was not altogether 
 proper, for a lawyer must take cases as they 
 come into his hands ; he cannot make them to 
 conform to his inclinations. Still, he should be 
 a little guarded how he commits his reputation 
 for sound legal learning in sustaining doubtful 
 or more than doubtful points. 
 
 I cannot follow my inclination in closing this 
 little notice, without committing to writing some 
 anecdotes which Mr. Emmet has related to me. 
 I will mention two or three which reflect great 
 credit on the fidelity of the Irish people. The 
 first has a relation to the celebrated Mr. Rowan, 
 already spoken of. It will be recollected that 
 he was convicted in that celebrated trial where 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 121 
 
 he was defended by Mr. Curran. He was cast 
 into prison, and his sentence was hard and se- 
 vere. While incarcerated in the cells of one of 
 the dungeons of Dublin, Mr. Emmet and two or 
 three others contrived a plan for his escape. It 
 was successfully executed. A small vessel was 
 to take him to France. It was an Irish schoon. 
 er, manned by Irish sailors, who knew nothing 
 of the person whom they were to transport to 
 the continent. His name, character, and every 
 thing were concealed. They agreed to take a 
 person to Havre for a certain sum, and to go 
 with all possible expedition. In the night time 
 Mr. Rowan boarded the little vessel, directly 
 from his jail. The wind changed, and instead 
 of sailing the next morning as it was expected, 
 she was detained some five or six days in port. 
 The government discovered Mr. Rowan's es- 
 cape the next morning subsequent to his delive- 
 rance from captivity. A proclamation was in- 
 stantly issued, and three thousand pounds ster- 
 ling were offered as a reward for his detection. 
 There were but four or five seamen in the 
 whole crew of the Irish vessel. Mr. Rowan's 
 
 situation may now be well imagined. All Dub- 
 16 
 
122 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 lin rung with the news of his breaking from 
 prison. The sailors were daily on shore. The 
 proclamations were posted up on the market 
 cross and every where else, and scattered in 
 the streets. The seamen picked up several 
 copies and brought them on board their vessel, 
 and read them aloud in Mr. Rowan's presence ; 
 for he had never left his place of concealment. 
 At length one of the crew cast his eyes on 
 Mr. Rowan, and quick as lightning, comparing 
 him with the description contained in the pro- 
 clamations, exclaimed, " You are the man! 
 This is Archibald Hamilton Rowan /" Mr. Row- 
 an, with that firmness incident to his character, 
 replied, " I am the man ; I am Rowan — and I 
 am in your hands; act as you think proper." 
 Instantly every one of the crew answered, 
 "Mr. Rowan, you are safe. By us you shall 
 never be given up. We have agreed to carry 
 you to France, and there you shall be landed." 
 The next day the schooner sailed, and there 
 Mr. Rowan was landed by these poor sailors. 
 Let the annals of the world be consulted ; let 
 the noblest traits of human nature which ages 
 have unfolded be displayed in their most com- 
 
MEMOIH OF EMMET. 123 
 
 prehensive form, and where would a nobler in- 
 stance of disinterestedness be found ? The re- 
 ward was great ; to Mr. Rowan these poor men 
 were allied by no political sympathy nor by any 
 other peculiar tie ; they had never seen nor 
 known him before. Their compensation to car- 
 ry him to France was a mere trifle ; he made 
 them no splendid offers of money, and yet he 
 was protected by their generous feelings — their 
 sense of humanity, honour and justice. 
 
 On one of the northern circuits, Mr. Emmet 
 was retained to defend one of the United Irish- 
 men indicted for treason. He entered the pri- 
 son where his client was confined, and talked 
 over his case. His defence consisted in the 
 weakness of the prosecution. The prisoner 
 said that he must be acquitted, because the 
 government could produce no testimony against 
 him. He said he was guilty enough, but it 
 could not be proved. " But," said Mr. Emmet, 
 " surely the United Irishmen in this quarter of 
 the country are familiar with the overt acts of 
 your treason ; how do you know that you are 
 not betrayed?" "God forbid," said the prisoner, 
 "that such a suspicion should cross your mind. 
 
124 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 If United Irishmen are to prove treacherous, 
 my life is in the hands of forty thousand men. 
 Yes, Mr. Emmet, this day forty thousand wit- 
 nesses know that I have committed treason ; but 
 mark my words — my life is safe." The trial 
 ensued, and the prisoner was restored to his fa- 
 mily and to his country. Tacitus, the illustri- 
 ous Roman historian, I think, in his commence- 
 ment of the life of Agricola, speaking of the 
 dark and horrid scenes of tyranny and blood 
 through which the Roman people had passed 
 during his days, remarks with great sensibility 
 and pathos, that amid all these trials and cru- 
 elties, many noble instances appeared, honoura- 
 ble to the human heart. Fidelity often tri- 
 umphed over all temptations and sufferings ; 
 friends protected friends ; and the most virtuous 
 sympathies of the human soul were cultivated 
 with unshaken constancy. There are facts in 
 Irish history deserving the pencil of Tacitus. 
 
 In one of the northern counties, a poor but 
 reputable man was condemned to be hung for 
 being concerned in the contemplated rebellion 
 concerted by the United Irishmen. When the 
 court sentenced him for execution, one of the 
 judges read him a long moral lecture upon the 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 125 
 
 enormity of his offence — the wickeness of op- 
 posing the British government. After exhaust- 
 ing all the sources of his pathetic elequence, 
 he asked, " and have you no wife and children 
 to leave behind you?" "Yes, my Lord," said 
 the poor man, "I have a wife and children; 
 but I leave them in the hands of God, and they 
 are willing to trust to him after I am gone and 
 buried. They rejoice in the glorious cause for 
 which I perish." 
 
 In a recent case in our criminal court for the 
 city of New York, Mr. Emmet has had an op- 
 portunity of explaining the broad principles of 
 that grand revolution in which he embarked. 
 The United Irishmen and the Orange-men who 
 had emigrated to this metropolis had a tre- 
 mendous battle upon old party grounds. They 
 appeared in our streets in the upper part of the 
 city with their ancient badges of distinction. 
 Terrible assaults and batteries were committed, 
 but no lives lost. Mr. Emmet appeared in 
 court as the counsel for his ancient associates, 
 and we may well imagine in what manner he 
 touched on that portion of Irish history that re- 
 called to his mind the days of his suffering, per- 
 secution and imprisonment. For two hours he 
 
126 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 spoke on this topic ; and as the younger Lyttle- 
 ton said, when he first heard Lord Chatham, he 
 made my blood run cold, and touched the deep- 
 est recesses of my heart. The Irish population 
 had gathered into court, and with silent awe 
 they heard their great countryman pour out his 
 soul on the degradation of the country which 
 they had abandoned. However, both parties 
 did not feel the pride which was manifested by 
 the famous Lord Lovet, when he was tried for 
 his life and found guilty. Mr. Murray, after- 
 wards Lord Mansfield, was then Attorney Ge- 
 neral, and conducted the prosecution — the trial 
 having taken place in England, not Scotland. 
 The eloquence of Lord Mansfield requires no 
 eulogium at this late day. He broke forfh on 
 this occasion with great power. After he had 
 concluded, Lord Lovet, who was proud to see a 
 Scotchman at the head of the English bar, re- 
 marked, " that it was worth being executed to 
 hear such a speech from his countryman." 
 
 Here ends the manuscript of Mr. Haines. It 
 remains for the editor to add the circumstance s 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 127 
 
 of Mr. Emmet's death. Early in November, 
 1827, he had been much engaged in the de- 
 fence of Lieut. Percival, on a charge of extor- 
 tion, and also in a cause of unusual importance, 
 generally called the great Astor case, involving 
 the right of Mr. Astor to lands in Putnam coun- 
 ty, to the amount of perhaps eight hundred 
 thousand dollars. In the former case he de- 
 fended his client with all his accustomed vigour 
 and ability, and the result was a verdict of ac- 
 quittal. In the latter, on Monday, the 12th, he 
 addressed the jury in a style of animated elo- 
 quence, of prompt and overwhelming retort, 
 and of powerful argument, which was said by 
 many of his audience to have even surpassed 
 his earlier efforts. On Wednesday, the 14th, 
 while attending the trial of another cause of 
 importance, (the case of the Sailors' Snug Har- 
 bour,) in which he was counsel, in the United 
 States' Circuit Court, he was seized with an 
 appoplectic fit ; and on being carried home, he 
 expired in the course of the following night, 
 being in the 63d year of his age. He had made 
 no exertion in particular that day, but had taken 
 notes of the testimony through the morning, arid 
 
128 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 on examination these notes were found to be a 
 full and accurate transcript of what occurred up 
 to the very moment when the pen fell from his 
 hand on his being seized with a fit. The scene 
 in the court room was in the highest degree im- 
 pressive. Every individual present — the court, 
 the bar, the audience, all were absorbed in 
 the most anxious interest for the fate of this 
 eminent man. The court was instantly ad- 
 journed. When his death was known, the ex- 
 pression of sorrow and respect was universal. 
 His funeral was attended by the members of 
 the bar, the students at law, and a crowd of 
 other citizens, all desirous to pay their tribute of 
 respect to the memory of the great deceased. 
 A neat monument of white marble has since 
 been placed in the wall of the apartment where 
 Mr. Emmet was seized with the fatal illness. 
 It is surmounted with his bust, and bears the 
 following inscription : 
 
129 
 
 THOMCE . ADDIS . EMMET 
 
 VIRO 
 
 DCCTRINA . IURE . SCIENTIA . ELOQUENTIA 
 
 PRCESTANTISSIMO 
 
 INTER . H^EC . SUBSELLIA . ET . OFFICII . MUNERA 
 
 SUB1TA . MORTE . CORREPTO 
 
 SOCII . FORENSES . POSUERANT. 
 
 It may be permitted to add a few words to 
 what the foregoing pages contain respecting the 
 eminent subject of this memoir. 
 
 Mr. Emmet was a diligent student. He con- 
 fined himself to study and business more than 
 twelve hours a day. After returning home in 
 the evening, he would retire to his own apart- 
 ment, and continue the investigation of any 
 subject in which he was engaged till twelve or 
 one at night. His constitution was vigorous, 
 and his habits uniformly temperate, so that his 
 devotion to study never seemed to injure his 
 health. It was one consequence of this intense 
 application, that he was remarkable among his 
 
 brethren at the bar for his perfect knowledge of 
 17 
 
130 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 the cases in which he was concerned. When 
 Mr. Emmet came into court, he was sure to be 
 familiar with every point of the testimony, and 
 could not be taken by surprise. When not em- 
 ployed in solving some legal question, his read- 
 ing was often discursive. He would sometimes 
 amuse himself with mathematical calculations. 
 He found leisure to make himself acquainted 
 with all the current news of the day. Yet he 
 spared no time for the diversions of society, 
 went into little company, and rarely appeared 
 at public dinners. At home he was always gay 
 and cheerful. He was utterly devoid of cere- 
 mony. His dress was good, but he was very 
 careless of it ; if it rained, he was as likely to 
 be seen without as with an umbrella. The fur- 
 niture of his office was plain and ordinary. 
 But while he was totally neglectful of these tri- 
 fles, he was never inattentive to the feelings of 
 others. High and low were sure of meeting 
 from him a kind and courteous reception. Yet 
 his was no studied politeness ; it was the natu- 
 ral offspring of a good heart ; and the full en- 
 ergies of his mind were devoted to the great 
 and interesting topics which agitated individuals 
 
MEMOIR OF EMMET. 131 
 
 and nations. His appropriate sphere was active 
 life ; and he may well be pronounced fortunate, 
 since he filled the station for which nature and 
 education peculiarly qualified him. Although 
 the prime of his life was darkened by misfor- 
 tune ; although he was severely disciplined by 
 the hardships of imprisonment and the bitter- 
 ness of exile, yet he was trusted and revered in 
 the land where he was persecuted as a rebel, 
 and in the country of his adoption, where he 
 arrived in the vigour of his manly strength, 
 and held the erect attitude of an unbroken and 
 unbending spirit, he readily obtained the confi- 
 dence of all those who became acquainted with 
 him, mingled largely in the transaction of im- 
 portant affairs, placed himself at the head of 
 his profession without leaving one blot on his 
 escutcheon for envy to point its finger at, and 
 acquired a brilliant reputation as a lawyer and 
 an orator. That nothing might be wanting to 
 complete the happy fortune which Providence 
 seemed to bestow upon his mature life, in some 
 sort as a compensation for the sufferings of his 
 early manhood, he did not waste away in the 
 gradual decay of imbecile old age, but died in 
 
132 
 
 MEMOIR OF EMMET. 
 
 the fulness of his years, cut off in the very- 
 field of his honourable triumphs. His remains 
 were consigned to the dust by affectionate 
 children, whom he had been permitted to see 
 already filling a space in the public eye ; and 
 the community in which he had lived, paid a 
 willing tribute of love and honour to his me- 
 morv. 
 

 
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