Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1903-10-02
EMMETT TO HIS JUDGES.
Words of the Great Irish Patriot Still
Vindicate His Memory.

Words of the Great Irish Patriot Still
Vindieate His Memory.
Robert Emmett was born in Cork,
in 1880, and was an ardent friend Of
Irish independence. At the age OF
twenty three he placed himself at the
head of a party of insurgents in Dub
lin, who killed the chief justice, Lord
Kilwarden, before they were dispersed
by the military. Emmet was subse-
quently taken prisoner, having lost his
opportunity to escape from the coun-
try by imprudently returning to Dub
lin to bid adieu to the daughter Of the
famous barrister, Curran. He was
tried before Lord Norbury, convicted
Of high treason, and executed the next
day. In reply to the usual question
asked Of the prisoners after the ver-
dict had been rendered in such cases,
Emmett made an eloquent and impas-
stoned speech, vindicating his course,
Of which more than one half Is given
in the following extract-omission be-
ing made of those portions in which he
exculpates himself from the charge Of
being an emissary Of France. Lord
Norbury, the chief justice, frequently
interrupted Emmett during his speech,
and many passages are directed In re-
ply to the judges remarks. For exam
pie, the appeal to the throne Of heaven
Is a reply to the lord Justices inter-
ruption with: 1.-The weak and wicked
enthusiast who feel as you feel are un-
equal to the accomplishment Of their
wild designs" And again, the appeal
to the spirits Of the illustrious dead
was in reply to: Your principles are
reasonable and subversive Of all gov
ernment: your language Is unbecom-
ing a person in your situation. Your
father, DR.. Emmet, would never have
countenanced such sentiments.")
My Lords-What have I to say why
sentence of death should not be pro-
nounced on me, according to law? l
have nothing to say that can alter
your predetermination nor that 1t will
become me to say with any view to the
mitigation Of that sentence which you
are here to pronounce and I must
abide by. But I have that to say
which interests me more than life, and
which you have labored to destroy. I
have much to say why my reputation
should be rescued from the load OF
false accusation and calumny which
has been heaped upon 1t.
Were I only to suffer death, after
being adjudged guilty by your" tri-
bunal, I should bow in silence and
meet the fate that awaits me without
murmur; but the sentence OF the
law which delivers my body to the ex-
ecutioner will, through ministry Of the
law, labor, in its own vindication, to
consign my character to obloquy; for
there must be guilt somewhere
whether in the sentence Of the court,
or in the catastrophe, posterity must
determine The man dies, but his
memory lives. That mine may not
perish-that 1t may live in the respect
Of my countrymen-I seize upon this
opportunity to vindicate myself from
some of the charges alleged against
me.
When my spirit shall be waited to a
more friendly port; when my shade
shall have joined the bands Of those
martyred heroes who have shed their
blood, on the scaffold and in the field,
In the defence Of their country and
virtue; this is my hope-I wish that
my memory and name may animate
those who survive me, while l look
down with complacency on the de-
struction Of that perfidious govern
ment which upholds its domination
by blasphemy Of the Most high, which
displays it's powers over man as over
beasts Of the forest, which sets man
against 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 by barbarity to the cries OF the
orphans and the tears of the widows
which its cruelty has made.
I swear by the throne Of heaven, be-
fore which must shortly appear-by
the blood of the murdered patriots
who have gone before me-that my
conduct has been through all this peril
and all my purposes, governed only
by the convictions which I have utter
ed, and no other view than that of the
emancipation of my country from the
superinhuman oppression under which
she has so long and too patiently ira
vailed; and that l confidently and as
suredly hope, wild and chimerical as
it may appear. that there Is still union
and strength In Ireland to accomplish
this noble enterprise.
NV country was my idol. To 1t l
sacrificed every selfish, every endear-
ing sentiment, and for it I offer up my
life, I acted as an Irishman, deter
mined on delivering my country from
the yoke of a foreign and unrelenting
tyranny and from the more CALLING
yoke of a domestic faction, Its joint
partner and perpetrator in the patri-
eide, whose reward is the ignominy OF
existing with all exterior of splendor
and a consciousness Of depravity. IT
was the wish of my heart to extricate
my country from this doubly riveted
despotism. 1 wished to place her In
dependence beyond the reach OF any
power on earth. 1 wished to exalt her
to that proud station in the world
which providence had fitted her to fill.
have been charged with that i'm