The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1892-03-05
Or All Lovers Of Freedom and
Justice Regardless ofCreed
or Nationality.
The Charity Of Silence His One
Request at Departing from :.
This World.

Green street court house, Dublin, to
plead to the charge ct ''high treason
Norbury was the 'thangirag Judge" stan
dish O'Grady. attorney general, leading
the prosecution. Emmett declined to go
into any defense, but the farce of calling
witnesses, before a jury who would have
condemned him under any circumstances
. WAS gone. through with. He was con-
victed and tho judges charge should
have then followed but Plunkett, for
the crown, rose up, breaking through
usage, and. in a most bitter speech, at.
tackled the prisoner and his principles,
and glorified to the utmost that British
connection which few short years be-
fore he had solemnly declared he would
Sting to the winds" if the freedom of
Ireland were assalled. Norbury there
after charged the jury, and, without quit
ting the box, that body brought in YER
dict of guilty. 1t was now after nine
o'clock at night and Emmett had been
standing at the bar all the long weary
day. His counsel applied for an ad-
journment till morning. The request
was peremptorily refused. Then the
clerk of the crown went through the
form used on such occasions, and asked
the prisoner at the bar what he had to
say why judgement of death and execu~
tion should not be awarded against him
according to law. And then the young
man, stepping to the front of the dock,
spoke that deathless oration which takes
captive both the heart and the mind of
all who read it, and which, though there
were nothing else linked with his name,
would preserve the memory of Emmett
through numberlees cycles yet to come.
We give this speech from the dock" in
full, with the Interruptions that impeded
it's dilivery:
Ny Lords-I am asked what have I to
say why sentence of death should not be
pronounced on me, according to law. l
have nothing to say that can alter your
predetermination, nor thatit will become
me to say, with any view to the mitiga-
tion of that sentence which you are to
pronounce. and must abide by. But /
have that to say which interests me more
than life, and which you have labored to
destroy have much to say why my
reputation should be rescued from the
load of false accusation and calumny
which has been cast upon it,. I do not
imagine that, seated where you are, your
mind can be SO free from prejudice as to
receive the least impression from what I
am going to utter. have no hopes that
can anchor my character in the breast
of court constituted and trammeled as
this is. Ionly wish, and that is the ut
most that expect, that your lordships
may suffer it to float down your mem
ories untainted by the foul breath Of
prejudice, until it finds some more hos
pitable harbor to shelter it from the
storms by which it is buffeted. Was l
only to suffer death, after being adjudged
guilty OF your tribunal, I should bow in
silence, and meet the fate that awaits me
without murmer; but the sentence Of
the law which delivers my body TO the
exeoutioner will. through the ministry of
Tho law, labor iin it's own Wind dicatio1n h hto
! sconsign my character t. obloquy; tor
there must llllll IS guilt somewhere, whether