The Irish standard., 1906-03-24
ROBERT HOLMES.

ROBERT HOLMES.
How the Brother. in Law Of Robert
Emmst Faced Death.
Robert Holmes. the husband of Rob-
ert Emmet's sister, was the theme OF
9 recent article from the prolific pen
Of Prof. James Monaghan. Holmes had
been arrested on suspicion when EN-
met was arrested. Every effort was
made by Major SIR and his rufnan
hireliugs to connect Holmes with the
conspiracy. but in vain. Holmes was
a lawyer. q barrister. He had passed
brilliant examinations at college for ad-
mission to the bar. He gave promise
OF being one Of Ireland's greatest legal
luminaries. Ho had been q friend and
companion Of Robert Emmet. Banned
by a people who: were unwilling to be-
tray. Mayor SIR. England's in
famous agent in ireland, was COM
pelled, at last. after eighteen months
Of torture. persecution and watching.
to give Holmes his freedom. In pass
ing from his prison to his home, the
patriot passed from one place of gloom
and gdesolation to. another even more
desolate. During Holmes incarcera-
tion Emmet had been hanged and be-
headed; his sister, Holmes Wife, the
one woman in all the world that he
had loved, loved in his loyal, chival-
rous Irish way. was dead. She, too,
had died broken hearted. DR.. Emmett
and his wife. Roberts parents. had
paid the penalty Of patriotism in Ire
land-death. Prof. Monaghan in his
article says:
1.-THE family had paid the last full
measure of pain for its devotion to
liberty and Ireland. On the hearth
stone that he had left filed with love
and roses, that was once one Of the
happiest in Ireland, Holmes found
ashes. The great eyes filled with
tears, the strong head went down into
the dusts. Naught was left of all he
had except his splendid Irish health,
which even the prison had hardly Inn
paired. He went to work. Oh! what
a solace work is at times. It is not
a curse.
He rose rapidly to be the foremost
member at the Irish bar. At times
watching his wonderful work, the
Castle tried to tempt him with office
and a gown; they would like to make
him a Kings Counsellor. but he re-
fused. And so the years rolled away
and he grew old. At last they gave
up all hopes Of moving him, so they
left him to his law books and his mem
cries, to Ireland and a love Of lib
erty."
Pass over mally years and many in
teresting things that Prof. Monaghan
has to say and come with us to the
year 1s4S when Mitchell. Martin and
O'Brien We're on trial for their lives.
Their only offense was that they loved
Ireland. Mitchell, Martin and o'Brien
were arraigned in the same dock in
which Emmet had faced Lord Nor
bury. The verdict had been prear-
ranged. Who would have the hardi-
hood to defend them?
"The silence is, oppressive" says
Prof. Monaghan. can old man is seen
to move. AS he gets up thrill Of ad-
miration passes from one end Of the
court to the other. The figure remind
cd Phillips Of Mount Blanc among the
hills Of Switzerland or Everest among
the Himalayas. The frosts Of more
than eighty years had whitened the
mans hair. The form was straight
and erect as pine, sturdy as an oak.
In his right hand he held a paper
from which he read. It was q copy OF
the Indictment. AS he read his voice
rang out in strangely eloquent tones.
When he finished he lifted his eyes to
the court. May it please your honors,'
he began, the sentiments Of treason
put down in this indictment and
charged against the prisoners at the
bar were the sentiments Of my child
hood, isped and learned at an Irish
mothers knee; they. were the senti-
ments of my young manhood; for them
I went to prison once. They were the
sentiments of my mature manhood.
Your honors,' the speaker drew him.
self up to his full height. waved the
indictment above his head and shook
1t in the faces Of the court as he
shouted, with an eloquence said by
Phillips to have been the greatest to
which he ever listened: These, your
honors, are the sentiments Of my old
age. Why does not your Attorney
General arrest me-? Phillips says the
scene that ensued was beyond words.
It was sublime. The only thing in all
history with which he could compare
it was st. Pauls marvellous and mas
terful defense in the presence of Ag-
rippa. He did not free the prisoners.
but it saved their lives. But for that
arraignment and that eloquent asser-
tlon Of an Irishman's right to love lib
erty the men at the bar would have