St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-03-04
The Brave, Death-Defying Pa
triot Warrior, Hero and
Martyr Of Erin.
s'When My Country Takes Her
Place Among the Nations
of the Earth,
Then, and Not Till Then, Let
My Epitaph Be Written"
His Dying Words.
Emmet's Rebuke to Dublin
Castle Justice in the
Hour Of His Death.

Poor Robert Emmett! How this glorl-
Gus Sabbath, the anniversary OF ms
birth. recalls endearing memories OF the
young Irish patriot and martyr, whose
name has ever been enshrined III inc
hearts of all true sons and daughters OF
The Emerald isle. Though three score
wears have been enrolled on the wheel
IF time since his exit from this world,
his sublime life and heroic death are
VET fresh and green in treasured mem
0rv. and will pass from generation to
generation until days, hours and mill
IItes emigrate gently into eternity.
His was a career of sacrifice for the
land he loved so well, and because OF
that fact. blended with his answering
devotion to the principles of liberty and
freedom, his lease of life was torecloSed
bv monstrosity enrolled in the haDlll-
ment of government. Truly, the century
in which we live dawned with oppreS-
sion and murder in Ireland. but It's dec
clining age bespeaks the approach OF
that era when the .epltaph OF hooerC
Emmett shall be written. And let no
amateur attempt to do his memory
Justice. Let his epitaph be written III
LETTERS OF GOLD
by master genius worthy OF the olS-
tinctiou. For in all the pages OF irish
history. blaZoned as they are with count
less deeds of heroism and numDerieSS
names. there are none more entltled 10
recognition than his.
The personal reputation OF young
Emmett" wrote the late Thomas Darcy
McGee in his history of Ireland, the
least known to his countrymen OF all
the United Irish leaders, except by the
browning act of his death, is safe be-
yond the reach of columny, party zeal
or times changes. 1t is emDalmed IN the
verse of Moore and Southey, and the
precious prose of Washington Irving.
Men of genius in England and America
have done honor to his memory; in the
annals of his own country his name de-
serves to stand with those youthful
chiefs, equally renowned and equally
ready to seal their patriotism with their
blood-Sir Cahir O'Doherty and Hugh
Roe O'DOnnell." And what was the
browning act of Emmet's death? 1t was
that matchleSS and wonderful death
speech which so strikingly illustrated
the character of the man. Note, gentle
reader, the sublime passages, burning
with poetic fire and emphasized with
patriotic sincerity.
ENMET'S FAMOUS SPEECH,
We're | to suffer only death, after being
adiudged guilty, should boWln silence
to the fate that awaits me; but
the sentence of the law which
delivers over my body to the
eXecutioner consigns my charac-
ter to obloquy. The man dies, but his
memory lives. That mine may not
forfeit all claim to the respect of my
country, seize this opportunity to vim
dictate myself against some OF the
charges alleged against me.
| am charged with being an emiSsary
of France. 1t is false; l am no ennis
sary. | did not wish to deliver my
country to a foreign power.
Connection with France was
indeed intended, but only as far as mu-
tual interests would sanction or require.
The preliminary to this assistance was
a guarantee to Ireland similar to that
which Franklin obtained for America.
We're the French to come as invaders or
enemies. unlimited by the wishes of the
people, would meet them with all the
destructive fury of war. would ami
mate my cOuntrymen to immediate them
in their boats before they had contami-
mated the soil of my country. If they
had succeeded in landing l would dis
blade of grass, and the last entrench-
ment Of liberty would be my grave. My
object and that of the provisional gov
eminent was to effect
A TOTAL SEPARATION
of Great Britain and Ireland. When
my spirit will have joined the band of
martyred heroes, who shed their blood
on the scaffold and in the field in de-
Tense of their country, my only hope is
that my memory and name may serve
to animate those who survive me.
[ am charged with ambition. Had /
been ambitious it would have been easy
for me, with my fortune and the con-
sideration of my family, to seat myself
among the haughtiest OppresSorS of my
countrymen. But have toiled for the
destruction of that government which
upholds its dominion by impiety
against the Most High; which treats a
hopeless people as beasts of the
field, which sets man at his brothers
throat in religions name, which reigns
amid the cries of the widows and or
phans it has made interrupted by
the court.
81 have understood that judges some
Zines think it their duty to hear with
patience and speak with humanity to
the victim of the law. You, my lord,
are a Judge; l am the supposed culprit.
BY revolution OF power we might
change places. though we never could
change characters. If [ stand at the
bar of this court and dare not vindicate
my motives, what farce is your JUS
tice? If stand at this bar and dare not
yindicate my character, how dare you
calumniate it? AS men, my lords, we
must appear on the great day at one
common tribunal; and it will then re-
main for the Searcher of all hearts to
show collective universe who was en-
gagged in the
MoSTSNIRTUOUS ACTIONS
or actuated by the purest motives, my
country's oppressors, or-[again in
terruptedl.
Why then insult me, or rather whv
insult justice in demanding of me why
sentence of death should not be pro-
nounced against me? | know, nv
lords, that the form prescribeS that YOU
should put the question; the form also
confers the right of answering. This.
no doubt, might be dispensed with, and
so might the whole ceremony of the
trial, since sentence was already pro-
nounced at the castle before your Jury
was empaneled. Your lordships are
but the priests of the oracle, and L sub
nit; but insist on the whole of the
forms.
| have been charged with such i'm
portance in the efforts to emancipate
my country as to be called here 'the
life and blood" of the conspiracy. You
do me honor overmuch. There are men
concerned in this conspiracy who are
not only superior to me. but to your
own conceptions of yourselves, my
lords; men who would not deign to call
you friend-who would not disgrace
themselves by shaking your blood
stained hands. [Court eXcited.l
What, my lord, shall you tell me on
my passage to the scatfold, which that
tyranny of which you are the inter
mediary minister has erected for my
death that | am ancnunt IN HE for oil thn