The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1909-03-29

age. ONeil was called the third cap | tain of his age by Henry Fourth of France. Wellington, who won Water | loo, was an Irishman. So is Roberts | and so is Kitchener, the hero of Sou | dan, the winner of the Boer war, to say nothing of 30, 40 or even 50 of the l other leading officers of the British Ar my and Navy. Fontenoy alone would l give fame to a race.
 | "This is Fredericksburg. Behind those fmpregnable walls, is Colonel | tillerist. He is watching the move l ments of Meagher and his brigade. When the order to charge is given. Walton's orders are to wait till every ter that brigade as brigade was never shattered What Jackson was to the South. Meagher promised to be to the
 North. He must be destroyed. On, on, on to their deaths went the devoted le- zion, 1900 men, Meagher in a great
 frieze coat at their head. If ever
 leader. leading his men, was a conspic-
 uous target. it was Meagher that just under the ramparts, Walton shouted Fire" The piled up bodies. HOO of them. told the bloodiest chap ter of our civil war. At Balaclava, on came back. At Fredericksburg 1900
 up, a boy of 16, with green in his cap,
 nearest to the guns, 200 returned Nor is that all, nor even the best part of that story. Behind Walton's guns the boys were Irish. When they saw the ,, brigade, every man with a sprig of them wearing a shamrock, some one shouted: My God" or Great God, these are our own. They are Irish." Did they because of that fact, falter, or finch, or fire less carefully? Noi Irish honor was as much at stake be- hind the ramparts. under the grey, be- hind Walton's guns, as it was in the breastS of the boys in blue in front of i,, the care of Meagher's men. And nobly was it maintained on both sides. Re porting the battle to his paper, the London Times, Correspondent Bull greatest war correspondents, paid the soldiers on one side at least, Meagh- CTS brigade, a high tribute. It is worth reading and reviving and re- field, did a race famous on so many fields acquit itself more gloriously than did Meagher's Irish Brigade on Marye's heights, December 13, 1862. Never at Albuera, Vin1iera, Badajoz or Salamanca, never at Waterloo, or any
 where was more desperate valour
 memory. That if not just what he said, what he meant. So much then for the foundations upon which the
 nations records rest, I have laid it
 broad and deep. defy dispute or dis agreement. The story as I give it to
 you is written in gold and blood, in
 Irish. It is the races heritage"
 But come now to the consideration
 of Irish Character, in a specific form, in the lives of the latest contributions
 to the worlds glory, the Emmets. I take a whole family. But I begin with
 Robert, the best known. As he stood
 in the dock. the judge asked him
 whether he had anything to say why
 sent of death should not be pro- nounced upon him according to law. am going to ask you to go over that
 <,l, IT.,
 prominent parts, in the beginning, the middle, the end. What do we find 1t to be? What is the golden domin- ant note in it all? The character, the hero's- defense of his character. My LordS'' he began, What have to say
 why sentence of death should not be
 pronounced upon me according to law? I have nothing to say that can
 alter your predetermination, nor that
 it would become me to say with any
 view to the mitigation of the sentence
 you are here to pronounce and which I must abide; but I have much to say
 why my reputation should be rescued from the load of false accusations and
 calumny that has been heaped upon
 it. Were I only to suffer death after
 being adjudged guilty by your tribun- al. I would bow in silence and go forth
 to meet the fate that awaits me with out murmur; but the sentence of the
 law that delivers my body to the ex-
 ecutioners' will, through the ministry
 of that same law, labor, in it's own vindication, to cOnsign my character to
 obloquy; for there must be guilt some where, whether in the sentence of the court. or in the catastrophe itself pos
 terity must determine.' Here you have
 the keynote of the entire address.
 Again. when in the middle of his magnificent defense, if that is the right word to use for a speech that was full
 of defiance, when interrupted, impa-
 tiently by the court. he burst forth in accents of eloquent indignation My
 
 be denied the legal privilege of excul- pating himself in the eyes of the con-
 munity from an undeserved reproach
 thrown upon him during his trial, and
 No! God forbid!" appealing to the
 spirit of his father, he cred aloud, 70
 ever dear, and venerated shade of my
 departed father look down in scrutiny
 upon the conduct of your suffering son
 and see if have departed, even for
 moment from those principles you
 were wont to instill into my youthful mind and for an adherence to which
 am now to offer up my life.' Near
 the end, when all was soon, so soon to be si1ercef as far as he was concerned. he said, "I am going to my cold and silent grave: my race is run. the lamp of my life is nearly extinguished. Let no man write my epitaph;f for as no one
 who now knows my motives dare vim dicate them, let not prejudice nor 1g- norance asperse them, let them and me remain in Obscurity and peace, and my tomb remain inscribed, until other times and other men can do justice to my character. When my country shall take her place among the na- tions of the earth, then but not till then. let my epitaph be written" Where did Esnmet get this? Enamet's parents were particularly patriotic. His father gave up the lucrative post | of .1physician to the Vice-regal court, | in nHorder to maintain his love of coun-. l try. His mother belonged to the Tenn