Page:A Compendium of Irish Biography.djvu/195

Rh efforts were made to procure his escape. His trial for high treason came on at Green street on 19th September. It is stated that he had previously offered to plead guilty if the Government would return to him an in- tercepted letter to Sarah Curran. The pro- ceedings occupied but one day. Burrowes, his leading counsel, has often related that whenever he attempted to disconcert any Government witness, Emmet would inter- pose with: "No, no; the man's speaking truth;" and when Burrowes was about to avail himself of the privilege of reply, at the close of the case for the Crown, Emmet whispered : "Pray do not attempt to defend me; it is all in vain." The jury brought in a verdict of guilty. Kobert Emmet's speech before sentence has often been remarked upon as one of the most thrilling pieces of oratory delivered under Hke cir- cumstances. He was repeatedly interrupted in its delivery by Lord Norbury, the presiding judge, who conducted the trial in a spirit of great harshness towards the prisoner. Dr. Madden says: "No pub- lished report gives any adequate idea of the effect its delivery produced on the minds of his auditors. Emmet pronounced the speech in so loud a voice as to be dis- tinctly heard at the outer doors of the court-house; and yet, though he spoke in a loud voice, there was nothing boisterous in its delivery, or forced or affected in his manner; his accents and cadence of voice, on the contrary, were exquisitely modu- lated. His action was very remarkable; its greater or lesser vehemence correspond- ed with the rise and fall of his voice." The trial closed at half-past ten o'clock at night, by a sentence of death, to be carried into effect next day. He was immediately heavily ironed, and placed in a cell in Newgate, hard by the court, and at mid- night was removed to Kilmainham. He spent part of the night in writing a long letter to his brother, explaining and jus- tifying his conduct. (This letter was never delivered. Many years afterwards its contents reached Thomas Addis Emmet through the press.) His last houx's were spent in religious exercises and conver- sation with his friends. He rejoiced on hearing of the death of his mother a few days previously, as he hoped the sooner to meet her in the other world. He declared his political principles to be unchanged. About noon he wrote a letter to Eichard Curran respecting his love for his sister Sarah. He had already during the night written to the father, justifying his en- gagement with his daughter. About one o'clock he was conveyed under a strong guard to Thomas-street, where, at the corner of the pavement by St. Catherine's Chm-ch, a scaffold had been erected. He ascended the steps with firmness, and addressed the crowd in a sonorous voice: "My friends, I die in peace and with sen- timents of universal love aiid kindness towards all men." The halter was then placed round his neck, the plank on which he stood was tilted from beneath him, and after hanging a few minutes the head was severed from the body, and held up to the crowd. (This was 20th September 1 803; he was aged 24.) His remains, first interred in BuUy's-acre, near Kilmain- ham Hospital, are said to have been afterwards removed either to St. Michan's or to old Glasnevin churchyai'd. In his speech before sentence he had made the request: " Let no man write my epitaph; for as no man who knows my motives dares now vindicate them, let not prejudice nor ignorance asperse them. ' Let them rest in obscurity and peace: my memory be left in oblivion, and my tomb remain uninscribed, until other times and other men can do justice to my character. When my country takes her place among the nations of the earth, then, and not tiS then, let my epitaph be written." Robert Emmet is described as slight in person; his features were regular, his forehead high, his eyes bright and full of expres- sion, his nose sharp, thin, and straight, the lower part of his face slightly pock- pitted, his complexion sallow. All with whom he came in contact were impressed with the sincerity of his convictions. The uniform in which he arrayed himself on the day of the rising (a green coat with white facings, white breeches, top-boots, and a cocked hat with feathers) has in Ireland become historical. Emmet was the author of several pieces of poetry, which will be found in his memoir by Dr. Madden. Sarah Curran, cruelly disowned by her father for her attachment to Emmet, was kindly received into the family of Mr. Pen- rose, a member of the Society of Friends residing near Cork, and two years after- wards (24th November 1805) married Cap- tain Sturgeon, nephew of the Marquis of Rockingham, and accompanied him to the Mediterranean. Before her return to the United Kingdom she gave birth to a child, whose early death hastened a decline that seized her. She died at Hythe in Kent, 5th May 1808. Her father is stated to have refused a last request that she might be buried with a favourite sister in the lawn of his residence, the Priory, Eath farnham, and she was interred with her ancestors, at Newmarket, County of Cork.