Rhode-Island Republican. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1801-1806, 1804-09-13
ROBERT EMMETT.

We j0metime fnfe JfgnEsd that 1ue bad
rgteived fr0m a TREND in Ireland, an
orabertie tqpy Of the cddrsj Of Ron
ERr fMmEr, to Lord NoRBURx,
siS sftb< th4ges bet0rs qobom be qoas
lrisI fer freaton. happearS that 1be
F5g'srnniexf bad taken tbs perftsious
= pains to prsvent The publication Of
Mr.. Emmlet's real lpeeeb, and tor
fmsd fbe )sutims,,fs Of their vi7inr,
into meanings and a6erfions the
moa remots fran bis character and
bis sOilbes. The real {peeeb has
been )1nt to America BY a friend,
"as fbs only country in z0bieb tie
Virtuow Hving can find refuge,
or truth fnt a certain paDage to pgc
fsriy through a free pref." Tie
Parisus ed;hoa avas giVen bet5re ;
the rlader may compare them, and
compare fbe government BY sObicb it
sDas done 4eifb The NET abborrsd sbat,
ba5 exjfsd, or thar n0sV exits. Aur.
MY LORDS,
1VNTHAT have TO fay why FEM
Wv tence of death ihould nor be
pronounced on me, according to law?
I have nothing to FAY that can alter
your predeterminations, nor that it
will become me TO fay with any view
20 the mitigation of that ientence
which you are here to pronounce and
/ muit abide by, But have that to
FAY, which intereas ne more than life,
and which you have labored, Gas was
neceiiarily your Office in the prelent
circumstances of this opprehed coun-
try) to deitroy....I have much to fay,
why my reputation ihould De refcued
, from the load of false accuEation and
calumny which have been heaped up
on it. ! do not imagine, that ieated
where you are, your minds can be 70
free from impurisy, as TO receive the
leait impreflion from what | am going
to utter....l have no hopes that l can
anchor my character in the breafs of
a court conitituted and trammelled as
this is. / only with, and it is the ut
mof Iexped, that your lordihips may
fuffer it to float down your memories,
untainted by the foul breath of pref
udice, until it finds lome more hofpi-
table hartor to fhelter it from the
form by which il is at prefent buffet
ed WAS only to fuifer death. after
being adjudged guilty by your tribu-
nal |; ] thouid bow in filence and meet
the fate that awaits me without a nur-
mur: but the fentence of the law
which delivers my body to the execu-
toner, will, through the miniltry of
that law, labor in its own vindication,
to confgn my charaaer to obloquy:
for there mutt be guilt fomewhere;
whether in the fentence of the court
or in the cataitrophe, poferity mutt
determine. A man in my Gtuation,
my lords, mas not only to encounter
the difficulties of fortune, and the
force Of power over minds which it
has corrupted or fubjugated, but the
difficulties of eRablilhed prejudice :....
The man dies, but his memory lives:
that mine may not perth, that it may
live in the refpea of my countrymen,
Ifeize upon Sis opportunity to vim
dicate myfelf from fome of~he char
ges alledged againg me. When my
fpirit fhall be waited to a more friend
!, port; when my fhade fhall have
Joined the bands OF thofe marfyred he
roes who have fhed their blood on the
fcaGolJ and in the field, in defence of
their country end of virtue, this is my
hope. win that my memory and
name may animate thofe that furyive