The life, trial and conversations of Robert Emmet, Esq., leader of the Irish insurrection of 1803 : $b also, the celebrated speech made by him on the occasionAnonymous
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The life, trial and conversations of Robert Emmet, Esq., leader of the Irish insurrection of 1803 : $b also, the celebrated speech made by him on the occasion
“It may appear strange, that a person avowing himself to be an enemy
of the present Government, and engaged in a conspiracy for its
overthrow, should presume to suggest an opinion to that Government on
any part of its conduct, or could hope that advice coming from such
authority, might be received with attention. The writer of this,
however, does not mean to offer an opinion on any point, on which he
must of necessity, feel differently from any of those whom he
addresses, and on which therefore his conduct might be doubted. His
intention is to confine himself entirely to those points on which,
however widely he may differ from them in others, he has no hesitation
in declaring, that, as a man, he feels the same interest with the
merciful part, and as an Irishman, with at least the English part of
the present administration: and at the same time to communicate to
them in the most precise terms, that line of conduct which he may
hereafter be compelled to adopt, and which, however painful it must,
under any circumstances be, would become doubly so if he was not
conscious of having tried to avoid it by the most distinct
notification. On the two first of these points, it is not the
intention of the undersigned, for the reason he has already mentioned,
to do more than state, what government itself must acknowledge—that of
the present conspiracy it knows (comparatively speaking) nothing. That
instead of creating terror in its enemies, or confidence in its
friends, it will only serve by the scantiness of its information, to
furnish additional grounds of invective to those who are but too ready
to censure it for a want of intelligence, which no sagacity could have
enabled them to obtain. That if it is not able to terrify by a display
of its discoveries, it cannot hope to crush by the weight of its
punishments. Is it only now we are to learn, that entering into
conspiracy exposes us to be hanged?—Are the scattered instances which
will now be brought forward necessary to exemplify the statute? If the
numerous and striking examples which have already preceded, were
insufficient,—if government can neither by novelty of punishment, nor
the multitude of its victims, impress us with terror, can it hope to
injure the body of a conspiracy so impenetrably woven as the present,
by cutting off a few threads from the end of it.
“That with respect to the second point, no system however it may
change the nature, can affect the period of the contest that is to
take place; as to which the exertions of United Irishmen will be
guided only by their own opinion of the eligibility of the moment for
effecting the emancipation of their country.
“That administration....”
The following paper was found in the depot, in Emmet’s hand-writing:—
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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