725. EMMET'S VINDICATION-IN FULL.

My Lords-What have I to say, why sentence of death should not be be pronounced on me, according to law? I have nothing to say, that can alter your predetermination, nor that it will be come me to say, with any view to the mitigation of that sentence, which you are here to pronounce, and I must abide by. But I have that to say, which interests me more than life, and which you have labored, (as was necessarily your office in the present circumstances of this oppressed country,) to destroy. I have much to say, why my reputation should be rescued from the load of false accusation and calumny, which has been heaped upon it. I do not imagine that, seated where you are, your minds can be so free from impurity, as to receive the least impression-from what I am going to utter-I have no hopes, that I can anchor my character-in the breast of a court, constituted and trammeled as this is-I only wish, and it is the utmost I expect, that your lordships-may suffer it to float down your memories, untainted by the foul breath of preju dice, until it finds some more hospitable harbor-to shelter it from the storm, by which it is at present buffeted. Was I only to suffer death, after being adjudged guilty by your tribunal-I should bow in silence, and meet the fate that awaits me, without a murmurbut the sentence of the law, which delivers my body to the executioner, will, through the ministry of that law, labor, in its own vindication, to consign my character to obloquy-for there must be guilt somewhere: whether in the sentence of the court, or in the catastrophy, posterity must determine. A man, in my situation, my lords, has not only to encounter the difficulties of fortune, and the force of power over minds, which it has corrupted, or subju gated, but, the difficulties of established prejudice. The man dies, but his memory lives that mine may not perish, that it may live, in the respect of my countrymen, I seize upon this opportunity to vindicate myself from some of the charges alleged against me. When my spirit shall be wafted to a more friendly port; when my shade shall have joined the bands of those martyred heroes, who have shed their blood on the scaffold, and in the field, in defence of their country, and of virtue, this is my hope; I wish that my memory and name-may animate those, who survive me, while I look down, with complacency, on the destruction of that perfidious government, which upholds its domination by blasphemy of the Most High-which displays its power over man, as over the beasts of the forest-which sets man upon his brother, and lifts his hand, in the name of God, against the throat of his fellow, who believes, or doubts, a little more, or a little less, than the government standard-a government, which is steeled to barbarity by the cries of the orphans, and the tears of the widows which it has

made.

[Here, Lord Norbury interrupted Mr. Emmet, saying, that the mean and wicked enthusiasts who felt as he did, were not equal to the accomplishment of their wild designs.

I appeal to the immaculate God-I swear by the throne of Heaven, before which I must shortly appear-by the blood of the murdered patriots, who have gone before me-that my conduct has been, through all this peril, and all my purposes, governed only, by the convictions which I have uttered, and by no other view, than that of their cure, and the emancipation of my country-from the superinhuman oppression, under which she has so long, and too patiently travailed; and that I confidently and assuredly hope, that, wild and chimerical as it may appear, there is still union and strength in Ireland to accomplish this noblest enterprise. Of this, I speak with the confidence of intimate knowledge, and with the consolation that appertains to that confidence. Think not, my lord, I say this for the petty gratification of giving you a transitory uneasiness; a man, who never yet raised his voice to assert a lie, will not hazard his character with posterity, by asserting a falsehood on a subject, so important to his country, and on an occasion like this. Yes, my lords, a man who does not wish to have his epitaph written, until his country is liberated, will not leave a weapon in the power of envy; nor a pretence to impeach the probity, which he means to preserve, even in the grave to which tyranny consigns him.

[Here, he was again interrupted, by the court.] Again, I say, that what I have spoken, was not intended for your lordship, whose situation I commiserate-rather than envy-my expressions were for my countrymen: if there is a true Irishman present, let my last words cheer him in the hour of his affliction

[Here, he was again interrupted. Lord Norbury said he did not sit there to hear treason.]

I have always understood it to be the duty of a judge, when a prisoner has been convicted, to pronounce the sentence of the law;

I have, also, understood that judges, sometimes, think it their duty to hear, with patience, and to speak with humanity; to ehxort the victim of the laws, and to offer, with tender benignity, his opinions of the motives, by which he was actuated in the crime, of which he had been adjudged guilty; that a judge has thought it his duty so to have done, I have no doubt-but where is the boasted freedom of your institutions, where is the vaunted impartiality, clemency, and mildness of your courts of justice? if an unfortunate prisoner, whom your policy, and not pure justice, is about to deliv. er into the hands of the executioner, is not suffered to explain his motives, sincerely and truly, and to vindicate the principles, by

which he was actuated.

My lords, it may be a part of the system of angry justice, to bow a man's mind by humiliation-to the purposed ignominy of the scaffold; but worse to me than the purposed shame, or the scaf fold's terrors, would be the shame of such foul and unfounded im putations-as have been laid against me in this court: you, my lord, are a judge, I am the supposed culprit; I am a man, you are a man, also; by a revolution of power, we might change places, though we never could change characters; if I stand at the bar of this court, and dare not vindicate my character, what a farce is your justice? If I stand at this bar and dare not vindicate my character, how dare you calumniate it? Does the sentence of death, which your unhallowed policy inflicts upon my body, also condemn my tongue to silence, and my reputation to reproach? Your executioner may abridge the period of my existence, but while I exist, I shall not forbear to vindicate my character, and motives-from your aspersions; and, as a man to whom fame is dearer than life, I will make the last use of that life, in doing justice to that reputation, which is to live after me, and which is the only legacy I can leave to those I honor and love, and for whom I am proud to perish. As men, my lord, we must appear on the great day, at one common tribual, and it will then remain for the searcher of all hearts-to show a collective universe, who was engaged in the most virtuous actions, or actuated by the purest motives-my country's oppressors or

[Here, he was interrupted, and told to listen to the sentence of the law.]

My lord, will a dying man be denied the legal privilege of exculpating himself, in the eyes of the community, of an undeserved reproach, thrown upon him during his trial, by charging him with ambition, and attempting to cast away, for a paltry consideration, the liberties of his country? Why did your lordship insult me? or rather why insult justice, in demanding of me, why sentence of death should not be pronounced? I know, my lord, that form prescribes that you should ask the question; the form also presumes a right of answering. This, no doubt, may be dispensed withand so might the whole ceremony of the trial, since sentence was pronounced at the castle, before your jury was empanelled; your lordships are but the priests of the oracle, and I submit; but I insist on the whole of the forms.

[Here the court desired him to proceed.]

I am charged with being an emissary of France! An emissary of France! And for what end? It is alleged that I wished to sell the independence of my country! And for what end? Was this the object of my ambition! And is this the mode by which a tri bunal of justice reconciles contradictions? No, I am no emissary; and my ambition was to hold a place among the deliverers of my country; not in power, nor in profit, but in the glory of the achieve. ment! Sell my country's independence to France! And for what? Was it for a change of masters? No! But for ambition! O, my country, was it personal ambition that could influence me! Had it been the soul of my actions, could I not, by my education and fortune, by the rank and consideration of my family, have placed myself among the proudest of my oppressors? My country was my idol; to it I sacrificed every selfish, every endearing sentiment; and for it, I now offer up my life. O God! No, my lord; I acted as an Irishman, determined on delivering my country-from the yoke of a foreign, and unrelenting tyranny, and from the more galling yoke of a domestic faction, which is its joint partner and perpe trator, in the parricide, for the ignominy of existing with an exte. rior of splendor, and of conscious depravity. It was the wish of my heart to extricate my country, from this doubly riveted despot. ism.

I wished to place her independence beyond the reach of any pow. er on earth; I wished to exalt you to that proud station in the world. Connection with France was indeed intended, but only as far as mutual interest would sanction, or require. Were they to assume any authority, inconsistent with the purest independence, it would be the signal for their destruction; we sought aid, and we sought it

729. INFLUENCE OF THE WISE AND GOOD. The relations between man, and man, cease not with life. They leave behind them their memory, their example, and the effects of their actions. Their influence still abides with us. Their names, and characters dwell in our thoughts, and hearts-we live, and commune with them, in their writings. We enjoy the benefit of their labors-our institutions have been founded by them-we are surrounded by the works of the dead. Our knowledge, and our arts are the fruit of their toil-our minds have been formed by their instructions - we are most intimately connected with them, by a thousand dependencies.

Those, whom we have loved in life, are still objects of our deepest, and holiest affections. Their power over us remains. They are with us in our solitary walks; and their voices speak to our hearts in the silence of midnight. Their image is impressed upon our dearest recollections, and our most sacred hopes. They form an essential part of our treasure laid up in heaven For, above all, we are separated from them, but for a little time.

We are soon to be united with them. If we

follow in the path of those we have loved, we, too, shall soon join the innumerable company of "the spirits of just men made perfect." Our affections, and our hopes, are not buried in the dust, to which we commit the poor remains of mortality. The blessed retain their remembrance, and their love for us in heaven; and we will cherish our remembrance, and our love for them, while on earth.

The scythe-had left the withering grass,
And stretch'd the fading blossom.
And thus, I thought with many a sigh,
The hopes--we fondly cherish,

Like flowers, which blossom, but to die,

Seem only born-to perish.

Once more, at eve, abroad I stray'd,
Through lonely hay-fields musing;
While every breeze, that round me play'd,
Rich fragrance--was diffusing.
The perfumed air, the hush of eve,

To purer hopes appearing,
O'er thoughts perchance too prone to grieve,
Scatter'd the balm of healing.
For thus "the actions of the just,"

When Memory hath enshrined them,
E'en from the dark and silent dust

Their odor leaves behind them. Barton.

731. PUBLIC FAITH. To expatiate on the value of public faith-may pass-with some men, for declamation to such men, I have nothing to say. To others, I will urge-can any circumstance mark upon a people, more turpitude and debasement? Can anything

tend more to make men think themselves

mean, or degrade, to a lower point, their estimation of virtue, and their standard of action ? It would not merely demoralize mankind, it tends to break all the ligaments of society, to dissolve that mysterious charm which attracts individuals to the nation, and to inspire, in its stead, a repulsive sense of shame and disgust.

Creatures of imitation, and sympathy as we are, we look around us for support, and countenance, even in our virtues. We recur for them, most securely, to the examples of the dead. There is a degree of insecurity, and uncertainty about living worth. The greener? No, sir, this is not the character of

stamp has not yet been put upon it, which precludes all change, and seals it up as a just object of admiration for future times. There is no greater service, which a man of commanding intellect can render his fellow creatures, than that of leaving behind him an unspotted example.

If he do not confer upon them this benefit; if he leave a character, dark with vices in the sight of God, but dazzling qualities in the view of men; it may be that all his other services had better have been forborne, and he had passed inactive, and unnoticed through life. It is a dictate of wisdom, therefore, as well as feeling, when a man, eminent for his virtues and talents, has been taken away, to collect the riches of his goodness, and add them to the treasury of human improvement. The true christian-liveth not for himself; and it is thus, in one respect, that he dieth not for himself.-Norton.

730. HUMAN LIFE.

I walk'd the fields-at morning's prime,
The grass-was ripe for mowing:
The sky-lark-sung his matin chime,
And all-was brightly glowing.
"And thus," I cried, the " ardent boy,
His pulse, with rapture beating,
Deems life's inheritance-his joy-
The future-proudly greeting."
I wandered forth at noon:--alas!
On earth's materal bosom

What is patriotism? Is it a narrow affection for the spot, where a man was born? Are the very clods, where we tread, entitled to this ardent preference, because they are the virtue, and it soars higher for its object. It is an extended self-love, mingling with all the enjoyments of life, and twisting itself with

the minutest filaments of the heart.

It is thus-we obey the laws of society, because they are the laws of virtue. In their authority we see, not the array of force and terror, but the venerable image of our country's honor. Every good citizen makes that honor his own, and cherishes it, not only as precious, but as sacred. He is willing to risk his life in its defence, and is conscious, that he gains protection while he gives it. For, what rights of a citizen will be deemed inviolable, when a state renounces the principles, that constitute their security?

Or, if this life should not be invaded, what would its enjoyments be in a country, odious in the eyes of strangers, and dishonored in his own! Could he look-with affection and veneration, to such a country as his parent? The sense of having one--would die within him; he would blush for his patriotism, if he retained any, and justly, for it would be a vice. He would be a banished man--in his native land.--Fisher Ames.

732. POLITICAL CORRUPTION. We are apt to treat the idea of our own corruptibility, as utterly visionary, and to ask, with a grave affectation of dignity-what! do you think a member of congress can be corrupted? Sir, I speak, what I have long and deliberately considered, when I say, that since man was created, there never has been a political body on the face of the earth, that would not be corrupted under the same circumstances. Corruption steals upon us, in a thousand insidious forms, when we are least aware of its approaches.

Of all the forms, in which it can present itself, the bribery of office-is the most dangerous, because it assumes the guise of patriotism-to accomplish its fatal sorcery. We are often asked, where is the evidence of corruption? Have you seen it? Sir, do you expect to see it? You might, as well, expect to see the embodied forms of pestilence, and famine-stalking before you, as to see the latent operations of this insidious power. We may walk amidst it, and breathe its contagion, without being conscious of its presence.

All experience teaches us the irresistible power of temptation, when vice-assumes the form of virtue. The great enemy of mankind-could not have consummated his infernal scheme, for the seduction of our first parents, but for the disguise, in which he presented himself. Had he appeared as the devil, in his proper form: had the spear of Ithuriel-disclosed the naked deformity of the fiend of hell, the inhabitants of paradise would have shrunk with horror from his presence.

But he came--as the insinuating serpent, and presented a beautiful apple, the most delicious fruit in all the garden. He told his glowing story to the unsuspecting victim of his guile. "It can be no crime-to taste of this delightful fruit. It will disclose to you the knowledge of good, and evil. It will raise you to an equality with the angels."

Such, sir, was the process; and, in this simple, but impressive narrative, we have the most beautiful and philosophical illustration of the frailty of man, and the power of temptation, that could possibly be exhibited. Mr. Chairman, I have been forcibly struck, with the similarity, between our present situation, and that of Eve, after it was announced, that Satan was on the borders of paradise. We, too, have been warned, that the enemy is on our borders.

But God forbid that the similitude should be carried any farther. Eve, conscious of her innocence, sought temptation and defied it. The catastrophe is too fatally known to us all. She went, "with the blessings of heaven on her head, and its purity in her heart,"

Without it, human affairs would become a mere stagnant pool. By means of his patronage, the president addresses himself in the most irresistible manner, to this the noblest and strongest of our passions. All that the imagination can desire--honor, power, wealth, ease, are held out as the temptation. Man was not made to resist such temptation. It is impossible to conceive,--Satan himself could not devise, a system, which would more infallibly introduce corruption and death into our political Eden. Sir, the angels fell from heaven with less temptation.-McDuffie.

733. CATO'S SOLILOQUY ON IMMORTALITY.

It must be so-Plato, thou reasonest well!
Else, whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire,
This longing-after immortality?

Or, whence-this secret dread, and inward horror,
Of falling-into nought? Why-shrinks the soul-
Back on herself, and startles-at destruction?-
'Tis the Divinity-that stirs within us:

'Tis Heaven itself, that points out a hereafter,
And intimates-Eternity to man.

Eternity!-thou pleasing-dreaful thought!
Through what variety of untried being, [pass!
Through what new scenes, and changes, must we
The wide, the unbounded prospect lies before me;
But shadows, clouds, and darkness, rest upon it.-
Here--will I hold. If there's a Power above us,
(And that there is, all Nature cries aloud-
Through all her works,) He must delight in virtue:
And that, which He delights in must be happy.
But when? or where? This world-was made

for Cesar?

I'm weary of conjectures-this-must end them.

[Laying his hand on his sword.
Thus-I am doubly armed. My death-and life,
My bane--and antidote, are both before me.
This-in a moment, brings me to an end;
But this informs me-I shall never die.

The soul, secured in her existence, smiles-
At the drawn dagger, and defies its point.-
The stars-shall fade away, the sun himself
Grow dim with age, and nature sink in years;
But thou shalt flourish-in immortal youth,
Unhurt-amidst the war of elements,
The wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds.

IDLENESS--is the badge of gentry, the bane of body and mind, the nurse of naughtiness, the step-mother of discipline, the chief author of all mischief, one of the seven deadly sins, the cushion upon which the devil chiefly reposes, and a great cause not only of melancholy, but of many other diseases: for the mind is naturally active; and if it be not occupied about some honest business, it rush

guarded by the ministry of angels-she re-es into mischief, or sinks into melancholy.

turned covered with shame, under the heavy denunciation of heaven's everlasting curse.

Sir, it is innocence--that temptation conquers. If our first parent, pure as she came from the hand of God, was overcome by the seductive power, let us not imitate her fatal rashness, seeking temptation, when it is in our power to avoid it. Let us not vainly confide in our own infallibility. We are liable to be corrupted. To an ambitious man, an honorable office will appear as beautiful and fascinating--as the apple of paradise.

I admit, sir, that ambition is a passion, at once the most powerful and the most useful.

GRAVE OF THE RENOWNED.

When, to the grave, we follow the renowned
For valor, virtue, science, all we love, [beam
And all we praise; for worth, whose noontide
Mends our ideas of ethereal pow'rs,
Dream we, that lustre of the moral world
Goes out in stench, and rottenness the close?
Why was he wise to know, and warm to praise,
And strenuous to transcribe, in human life,
The mind almighty! could it be that fate,
Just when the lineaments began to shine,
Should snatch the draught, and blot it out forever.