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Show OBEET 6MMET. Few cf Ireland's martyrs find suOIi a eympathetic place in the hearts of a ' generous nation as Robert Emmet, i whose anniversary will be celebrated t by Irishmen the world over on March ; , 4. Intelligent, patriotic, brave and im pulsive, his tragic end made a deep and lasting impression, a fact testified by the honor still paid to his memcry by all true Iris'i hearts. Young: Emmet wr.s burn in Dublin in 1778. Coming of a prominent Protestant family, he was soon intimately asso-j asso-j eiated with rhe "United Ireland Party." f The project which landed him on the scaffold was a daring attempt to sur prise Dublin Castle and by the seizure , of the Capital to inaugurate rebellion throughout the island. Although the conspiracy embraced ' thousands, not a man betrayed the de sign. An accidental explosion of ammu-, ammu-, nit ion. and intelligence at the last mo- j ment that from the surrounding coun- try bodies of discontented peasants I were heading cityward, excited suspicion. sus-picion. The whole scheme certainly one of the most ingenious and perfect ever devised by the skill of man like till of its kind, crumbled in at all points i in the moment of action. Failure was j ; everywhere. j When the first move was made, the ; authorities were already on the watch. S Immediate precautions were taken to - ensure young Emmet's safety, but he insisted on waiting, and was finally j captured on Aug. 25, -1R03, while vainly ? seeking; a final interview with Sarah Curran. the daughter of the illustrious ! orator, for whom he had formed a i passionate attachment, i On Sept. 1! be was tried 'and sen- terw . On this occasion he delivered his memorable speech, the pathos and intensity of which have done much to immortalize his name. I "The noble indignation w ith which he repelled the charge of treason against his country the eloquent viri-! viri-! di cat ion of his own name, and his pa- . thotic appeal to posterity in the hope-i hope-i , less hour of condemnation all these ens' en-s' - tercd deeply into every generous bosom, ! and forced even his enemies to lament f i the stern policy that dictated the exe- c-ution of one so intrepid." On the following morning, Sept. 20. ; ISO!!, ho was load to death. In hope of rescue, every possible obstacle was j placed in the way of the proceeding, I but in vain. Robert Emmet mounted ; the scaffold with all the firmnet's and bravery of which his nature was capable, ca-pable, and faced the inevitable without a tremor. "He lived for his love; For his country he died, i Tiny were all 'that, to life, had entwined him." When Emmet was being1 led to execution, exe-cution, a carriage containing Miss Curran and a friend, was drawn up by I the roadside, and as the gloomy pro cession passed, the unhappy pair exchanged ex-changed their last greeting; on earth. The immortal Moore, who was a fellow fel-low student and bosom friend of Km met's. dedicated the following lines to hif memory: 1 "Oh breathe not his name; let it sleep in I the sh;:le Where cold and unhonored his reCics are laid. Sad, silent and dark be th tear that is shed. Like the night-dew 'that falls on the trass o'er his head. -i But the night-dew that falls, though in secret it weens. Still freshens with verdure the crave ' where he sleeps; So the lear that is shed, while in secret it rolls. Shall long keep its memory green in our souls!" Emmet's revolutionary movement was rash and mistaken, but the high purity and unselfishness of his motives! are above question. EMMET'S DEFENSE. My Lords What have I to say why , sentence of death should not be pro 's I , vmtwmmy , m, mil, i... 111,111111.11111111 p. Luiiai..ijiiiiiinuiiiiwiliill im.wi iiwi'iiiiwwiwi iiwhii mil ii iiiimiii mi limiinii'. mini II II II ! nounced on me according to law? I j have nothing to say that can alter your I predetermination, nor that it will be-i be-i come me to say, with any view to the i mitigation of that sentence, which you j aie here to pronounce and I must abide i by. Rut I have that to say which in-j in-j terests me more than life, and which l you have labored to destroy. I have i much to say why my reputation should be rescued from the load of a falsa ae-i ae-i cusation and calumny which has been heaped upon it. ' Were 1 only to suffer death after being- adjudged guilty by your tribunal. 1 should bow in silence and meet the fate that awaits me without a murmur; but the sentence of law which delivers my body to the executioner will, through the ministry of that law,, labor, in its J own vindication, to consign my character char-acter to obliquy: for there must be guilt swnewheie whether in the sentence sen-tence of the court or in the catastrophe posterity must determine. The man dies, but his memory lives. That mine may not perish, that it may live in the respect of my countrymen, I seize upon this opportunity to vindicate myself J from some of ' the charges alleged against me. When my spirit shall be wafted to a more friendly port; when my ;.iade shall have joined the bands of those martyred heroes who have shed their blood, on the scaffold and in the field, in defense of their country and virtue, this is my hope: 1 wish that my' memory and name may animate ani-mate these who survive me, while I look down with complacency on the destruction of the perfidious government govern-ment which upholds its domination by blasphemy of the Most High, which displays its power over man as over the beasts of the forest, which sets man upon his brother and lifts his hand, in the name of God, against the throat of his fellow, who believes or doubts a little more or less than the government standard a government which is steeled to barbarity by the cries -of the orphans and the tears of the widows which its cruelty has made. I swear, by the throne of heaven, before be-fore which I must shortly appear, by the blood of the murdered patriots who have gone before me, that my conduct ha been, through aH this peril and all my purposes, governed only by the convictions con-victions which I have uttered, and no other view than that of the emancipation emancipa-tion of my country from the super- , inhuman oppression under which she i has so long and too patiently travailed; j and that I confidently and assuredly j hope wild and chimerical as it may j appear that there is still union and strength enough in Ireland to accomplish accom-plish this noble enterprise. Aiy lords, it may be a part of the system of angry justice to bow a man's ' mind by humiliation to the proposed ig- 1 nominy of the scaffold; but worse to j me than the proposed shame or the scaffold's terrors would be the shame I of such foul and unfounded imputations as nave been laid against me in this court. You, my lord, are a judge; I am the supposed culprit. I am a man: you are a man also. By a revolution cf power we might change places, though we never could ehange characters. If I stand at the bar of this court and dare not vindicate my character, what a farce is your justice! If T stand at this bar and dare not vindicate my character, how dare you calumniate it? Does the sentence of death which your unhallowed policy inflicts upon my body condemn my tongue to silence and my reputation to reproach? Your executioner exe-cutioner may abridge the period of my existence, but while I exist I shall not forbear to vindicate my character and my motives from your aspersions; and, as jz. man to whom fame is dearer than lire. I will make the last use of that life in doing justice to . that reputation which is to live after me, and which is the only legacy I can leave to those I honor and love and for whom I am proud to perish. I am charged witn being an emissary to France. No! I am no emissary; my ambition was to hold a place among, the deliverers of my country not for power or profit, but in the glory of the achievement. I looked, indeed, for the assistance of France, but I wished to prove to France and to all the world that Irishmen deserved to be assisted;' that they were indignant at slavery, and ready to assert the independence inde-pendence and liberty of their country. I wifJhed to procure for. my country the guarantee which Washington procured for America. Thest were my projects not to receive new taskmasters, but to expel old tyrants. These were my views, and these only become Irishmen. It was for: these ends I sought aid from France, because France, even ' as an - enemy, could not become more implac- - able than the enemy already in the bo-. bo-. som of my country. I have been charged with that importance im-portance in the efforts to emancipate my country as to be considered the keystone of the combination of Irish- men, or. as your lordship expressed it, "the life and blood of the conspiracy." . You do me honor overmuch; you have given to the subaltern all the credit of a superior. There are men engaged in this conspiracy who are not only superior su-perior to me, but even to your own conception of yourself, my lord, before 4 the splendor of whose genius and virtues vir-tues I should bow with, respectful deference, defer-ence, and who would think themselves dishonored to be called your friend, and who would not disgrace themselves by shaking your blood-stained hand. I do not fear to approach the Omnipotent Omnip-otent Judge to answer for the conduct of my whole life, and am I to be appalled ap-palled and falsified by a mere remnant of mortality here? By you, too,? Oh, if it were possible to collect all the innocent in-nocent blood that you have caused to be shed in your unhallowed ministry no one great reservoir your lordship night swim in it. Let no man dare when I am dead to charge me with dishonor; let no man attaint my memory by believing that I could have engaged in any cause but that of my country's liberty and inde-1 inde-1 pendence. or that I could have become i the pliant minion of power in the op- pression or the miseries of my country- ; men. I would not have submitted to' a. foreign op; r&'Sor, for the same reason ; that I would resist the domestic ty-! ty-! rant. In the dignity of freedom I I would have fought upon the threshold ' of my country, and her enemies should j enter only by passing over my lifeless ! corpse. Am I. who lived but for my ! country, and who have subjected my-j my-j self to the vengeance of the Jealous and wrathful oppressor and to the ' bondage of the grave, only to give my ; countrymen their rights am I to be 1 loaded with calumny, and not be suf-: suf-: fered to resent or repel it? No! God forbid! ! If the spirits of the illustrious dead ! participate in the concerns and cares j of those who are dear to them in this v transitory life, O ever dear and vene-i vene-i rated shade of my departed . father, look down with scrutiny upon the con-j con-j duct of your suffering son and see if I ; have even for a moment deviated from ' those principles of morality and pat-. pat-. riotism which it was your care' to in-; in-; stil into my youthful mind, and for an ! adherence to which I am now to offer j up my life! ! My lords, you are impatient for the ! sacrifice. The blood which you seek( is not congealed by the artificial terrors' which surround your. victim: it circu-! circu-! lates warmly and unruffled through ithe channels which God -created for ; noble purposes, but which you are bent i to destroy, for purposes so grevious. that they cry to heaven!. Be yet pa-; pa-; tient. I have but a few words more to : say. I am going to my silent grave: i my lamp of life is nearly extinguished; : my race is run: the grave opens to re-j re-j ceive me. and I sink into its bosom. I , have but one request to ask at my de-j de-j parture from this world it is the char-i char-i ity of its silence. Let no man write my 'epitaph; for, as no one who knows my j motives dare vindicate them, let not : prejudice or ignorance asperse them, i Let them and me rest in obscurity and j peace, and my tomb remain uninscribed until other times and other men can i do justice to my character. When my : country shall take her place among the ; nations of the earth, then, and not till j then, let my epitaph be written. I have done. |