The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1909-03-06
NOTHING MORE TOUCHING EVER SPOKEN BY MAN
Frequently Interrupted in His Vehement Denunciaton
British Tyranny By the Hanging Judge of :.
=. -. the Irish Bench.


on March 4, ITS, and ON Mon
day. September 1s, 1903, he
stood in the dock of the Green
street court hnuse in Dublin to
plead to the charge Of High Treason"
at the age of 25. Norbury was the
hanging judge" standish O'Grady,
attorney general, leading. the prosecu.
tion. .Emmet declined to. 60 into any
defense, but the farce of calling wit
nesses before jury who would have
condemned him under any circum-
stances was gone through with. He
was convicted and the judges charge
should have then followed, but Punk
ett. for the Crown, rose up, breaking
through usage, and in most bitter
speech attacked the prisoner and his
principles, and glorihed to the utmost
that British connection which few
short years before-he had solen1nly>de.
clared he would fling to the winds"=if
ztne freedom Of Ireland were 'assaifed:.
Norbury thereafter charged the jury,
and, without quitting the box, that
body brought, in verdict of guilty. 1t
was now after nine o'clock at night
and. Emmet had been standing at the
bar all the long weary day. His coun,
sci applied for an adjournment till
morning. The request was peremp.
torily refused. Then the clerk of the
Grown went through the form used on
such occasions and asked the prisoner
at the bar what he had to say why
judgment Of death and execution
should not be awarded against him
according. to law. And then the young
man, stepping to the front of the dock,
spoke that death1ess grafton whic.
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 Emmet through number.
less cycles yet to come. We give this
Speech from the Dock"'in full, with
the interruptions that impeded its
delivery:
My Lords-r am asked what have
to say: why sentence of death should
not be pronounced on ME according to
law. have nothing to say that can
alter your predetermination, nor that
it will become me to say, with any
view to the mitigation Of that sentence
which you are to pronounce, and
must abide by. But have this to say
which interests me more than life, and
which you have labored to destroy.
I have much to say why my reputa.
tion should be rescued from the load of
false accusation and calumny which
has been cast upon It. do not imag-
inc that, seated where you are, your
minds can be 50 free from prejudice
as to receive the least impression
from what am going to utter. have
no hopes that can anchor my .charac.
ter in the breasts of a court constitut-
ed. and trammeled as this is. only
wish, and that is the utmost that ex.
pect, that your lordships may suffer it
to float down your memories untainted
by the foul breath of prejudice, until it
finds some more hospitable harbor to
shelter it>from the storms by which it
is buf{eted. Were only to suffer death
sfter being adjudged guilty by your
tribunal should bow in silence, and
meet the fate that awaits me without
q murmur; but the sentence Of the
law which delivered my body to the
executioner will, through the ministry
of that law, labor in its own vindica-
tion to consisn my character to oblo-
guy; for there must be guilt some
where. whether in the sentence Of the
court or in the catastrophe, time must
determine. A man in my situation
has not only to encounter the dificul.
ties of fortune, and the force Of power
over minds which it has corrupted or
subjugated, but the difficulties of es.
tablished prejudice. The man dies, but
his memory lives. That. mine may not