Life of Robert Emmet

Prefatory Note

The approaching centenary of the death of Robert Emmet offers sufficient reason for the production of a new biography of one who fills so large a place in the memories of the Irish people. What seemed to be most required was a brief and direct account of his life rather than a book overloaded with unnecessary detail, and made prosy by interminable moralising as in the case of Madden's biography ; one keeping rather to the strictly ascertained facts or to those which seem to be borne out by sufficient evidence to justify their inclusion, than an attempt to form glowing periods with no special reference to the admitted data of Emmet's life. The actual history of Emmet's attempt to accomplish a revolution has been somewhat obliterated by rhapsodical accounts of his career, and not a few readers have gathered from them an altogether erroneous impression of the real qualities of a romantic but hardly great leader. It would be absurd to pretend that Emmet had the genius of Wolfe Tone. His aims

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PREFATORY NOTE.

were perhaps purer, and he had a great capacity for inspiring affection among those who knew him, but he had little of the faculty of getting himself obeyed. His impulsiveness and generosity, and implicit belief in the motives of other men, were admirable traits in themselves, but they practically unfitted him for the role of the deliverer of a nation. At any rate, that is the point of view of this book. His picturesque and winning figure will always remain in the Irish heart, but it is essential to remember also his limitations. One may recognise fully the nobleness of his aims, and point with admiration to his aspirations, without thereby adopting the idea that he was capable of effecting a revolution in Ireland.

I have said, or at least implied, that Madden's biography of Emmet is heavy reading. Those who have attempted to get through it will bear me out in this implication. It is also frequently inaccurate, but that of course is not unnatural considering the difficult task he had to do. It is only just to say that to his labours we are largely indebted for the accumulation of material which exists upon the period of 1798- 1803.

He was the pioneer, and his work is, like all pioneer work, rudely done. Some of his inaccuracies, however, were easily avoidable. A statement

PREFATORY NOTE.

V of his has led to a serious error in the first chapter of this work. When writing it, I had not access to the Dublin Directories of the period of Emmet's birth, and therefore accepted Madden's declaration that Dr. Emmet removed to Stephen's Green after Robert's birth, and the consequent error that the latter was born in Molesworth Street, Dublin. Later opportunity, however, proved that the younger Emmet must have been born in the house in Stephen's Green, his father having unquestionably removed there prior to the year 1778. This important correction was not discovered until after the first chapter of the present work had been printed off.*

All writers seem to have accepted, in so simple a matter, the statement of Madden, and even Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet, in his massive " Memoirs of the Emmet Family," did not discover the mistake.

It is perhaps, necessary to say that the authorities chiefly consulted for the purposes of this work, have been, apart from the obvious Madden and other writers on the Irish side, Lecky's " History

* Since the above was written I observe that a writer (Mr. D. A. Quaid) has dealt with the subject very ably and exhaustively in the United Irishman, and has completely proved that Emmet was born in Stephen's Green.

vi PREFATORY NOFE.

of Ireland in the Eighteenth Century," the " Castlereagh Correspondence," and the " Cornwallis Correspondence," and a good deal of the pamphlet literature of the time — all, indeed, which seemed likely to throw any light on the subject, or helped to corroborate Madden and others in any detail. Dr. Emmet's work, already mentioned, was, of course, carefully consulted, and as it is an almost unknown book (only one hundred copies having been printed privately, for family purposes, and only two or three of these having found their way into Ireland), it is believed that this is the first time it has been utilized in any publication. All that can be claimed for the present little book is that it has placed on record all that is definitely known of Robert Emmet, and that it is an impartial account of one whose career and character have appealed more strongly to the Irish people in general than any figure in Irish history since Owen Roe and Sarsfield.

d. j. cm

CHAPTER I. Page

Previous Works on Emmet. — Origin of the Emmet Family. — The Irish Emmets. — Dr. Robert Emmet.— His Family. — Birth of Robert Emmet. — His Early Years. — In Trinity College. — Moore's Recollections. — The College Historical Society. ....... t

Chapter II

The United Irishmen.— Robert Emmet adopts their Principles. —The Visitation in Trinity College.— Dr. Whitley Stokes.— Emmet withdraws from the College.— His Patriotic Feelings. 1 7

Chapter III

State of Ireland at this time. — Irish Negotiations with France. Project of an Union between England and Ireland. — Measures to foment a Rebellion. — Sir Ralph Abercromby. — Excesses of the English Troops. — Resignation of Abercromby.— Spread of the Revolutionary Idea. — Growth of Orangeism.— Arrest of Oliver Bond, M'Nevin, etc.— Military Despotism. . . . . .24

Chapter IV

The Insurrection Bursts. — Attempts to create Religious Divisions. — Distrust of France. — Defeat of the Northern Insurgents. — Battle of New Ross. — The Rebellion crushed. — Removal of United Irish Prisoners to Fort George. — Their Compact with the Government misrepresented. — The American Ambassador attempts to prevent United viii

CONTENTS.

Irishmen from going to America. — Robert Emmet makes the Acquaintance of the Currans. — Arrival of Cornwallis. — His Admissions. — Landing of the French. — Their Surrender. . . . . . . .36

Chapter V

Losses in the Rebellion. — The Union again mooted. — Catholic Prelates support it. — Bribery resorted to. — The Government Defeated. — Debates and Demonstrations. — Corruption Extraordinary.— The Union finally carried. . . • 47

Chapter VI

Emmet on the Continent. — His Letters to Madame de Fontenay. — Thinks of going to America. — Emmet in Paris. — Interviews Bonaparte. — Unfavourably impressed. — Emmet ignorant of the Plans for a New Insurrection. — Arthur O'Connor on the Emmets. — His Prejudices. — Watty Cox's View of Emmet. . . . . . . 54

Chapter VII

Emmet in Belgium. — His return to Dublin. — Emmet and Keogh. — John Philpot Curran. — Evidence that Emmet was entrapped into a New Conspiracy. — Sir Bernard Burke's Extraordinary Disclosures. — Plot concocted by Pitt. — Madden's independent Corroboration. — Supineness of the Government consistent with their knowledge of an intended Rebellion. — G rattan's belief that the 1803 Rebellion was engineered by the Government. . . 67

Chapter VIII

Recollections of David Fitzgerald. — Emmet and Philip Long. — Financial Support by the latter. — Death of Dr. Emmet. — His House Searched. — Robert Emmet's Character. — His Personal Appearance. — Emmet in Concealment. — James Hope's Recollections of Emmet. — Preparations for the Outbreak. — Emmet's Plans. — Premature Explosion. . 78

CONTENTS.

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CHAPTER IX. Page

Emmet's Scheme of Operations. — Disposition of the Insurgents. — Points of Attack and Defence. — Some of the Reasons which caused Failure of plans. — Barney Duggan's account of the Preparations. — The Explosion in Patrick Street. — Emmet's constant Supervision of Affairs. . . .92

Chapter X

Government Account of the Patrick Street Affair. — Inactivity of the Authorities. — Some of them clearly cognisant of the Preparations of the Insurgents. — Secretary Marsden's Explanations. — Signs of the approaching Outbreak. — Marsden's account of Emmet's Plans. — His chief Associates, Russell and Quigley. . . .105

Chapter XI

Emmet decides upon Action. — Kildare and Wicklow fail. — Various Checks. — The proposed Attack upon the Castle. — Seizure of the Privy Council contemplated. — Philip Long again supplies Funds. — Premature Alarm. — Beginning of the Outbreak. — Murder of Lord Kilwarden. — Breakdown of the Plans. — Dispersal of the Insurgents. . . .121

Chapter XII

Emmet's Account of the Failure. — Unfortunate Accidents. — His amazing Trustfulness. — Anne Devlin's Recollections. — Emmet's Escape. — Search of his House.— Brutal Treatment of Anne Devlin by the Soldiers. — Her Heroic Firmness.— Her Imprisonment. — Her Death. — Emmet refuses to leave Ireland. ...... 134

Chapter XIII

Emmet and Sarah Curran. — His Letters to her seized by Major Sirr. — J. P. Curran 's Brutal Treatment of his Daughter. — Emmet's Letters to him and Richard Curran. — Emmet returns to Harold's Cross. — His Arrest. — Plan of Escape from Prison. — St. John Mason's Account. — Treachery of Officials. — Emmet's Strange Letter to the Chief Secretary. 145

X

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XIV. Page

Emmet brought into Court. — His Counsel. — Plunket's bitterness towards him. — His Trial. — O'Grady's Opening Statement.— Evidence of Witnesses. — No Evidence for the Defence. — Plunket's rancorous Speech. — Sentence. — Emmet's Speech. — His Repudiation of the Motives attributed to him. — Scene in Court. . . .158

Chapter XV

Emmet in Kilmainham. — Death of his Mother. — His Last Hours. — His Execution. — His Demeanour.— Place of Burial. — Conflicting Opinions. — Debate in Parliament on the 1803 Affair. — Fate of Sarah Curran. — Conclusion. , 177

LIFE

OF

ROBERT EMMET.

Chapter I

Perhaps no period of Irish history is more familiar to the general reader than that in which Robert Emmet is the central figure. This is partly due, no doubt, to the romantic love-episode which, as it were, runs through it, and which Thomas Moore in exquisite verse, and Washington Irving in pathetic prose, have carried over the greater part of the world. Yet while Emmet's name and last words are everywhere known, surprisingly few people are well acquainted with the story of his brief career. It cannot be argued that he really occupies an important place even in Irish history, but his life offers much that is interesting and instructive to the Irish reader, apart from its value as a story. The shortness of his life, his ill-fated attachment for Sarah Curran, and, above all, his immortal speech, have won for him a place in the world and among people who probably have

A

LIFE OF ROBERT EMMET.

no sympathy with his principles. Quite a literature has gathered about him, chiefly in newspapers and magazines, and many isolated chapters have been written concerning his abortive insurrection ; but the necessity for a biography grows greater and greater. With the exception of the work by Dr. Madden, the short sketch by the Countess D'Haussonville, and a couple of pamphlets, which are practically unprocurable, no serious book has appeared on the subject. Madden's work is so chaotic in arrangement, and so full of repetitions, that probably few readers would care to tackle it. The English version of Madame D'Haussonville's work has been long out of print. In any case it is only a sketch founded on Madden's work. One other work, used by Madden, may be mentioned here, though it is of little use to the students of the period. " Robert Emmet and his Contemporaries" originally appeared anonymously in the Dublin and London Magazine in the twenties, and conjecture was busy for years with the authorship. All the surmises were wrong, however, and it was not till 1870 that its author, then a very old man, published a modified version of the papers in book form, and signed the work with his initials. Michael James Whitty, a Wexford man, who wrote the book in question, acknowledged that it was purely fanciful, and the reported conversations with Robert Emmet quite imaginary. Madden, however, accepted some of the statements as genuine, and other

LIFE OF ROBERT EMMET.

writers have also been misled. Though, however, the book is of no value as history, it is interesting, and there is much sane and thoughtful writing in it, showing an excellent acquaintance with Emmet's time and a thorough appreciation of Emmet's position and ideas. Perhaps the best account of Emmet's life yet published is that contained in Dr. T. A. Emmet's massive and sumptuous "Memoirs of the Emmet Family," which has been largely made use of in the present work. It is the most authoritative account of the Emmets, and though mainly devoted to Thomas Addis Emmet and other members of the family, the latest information about Robert Emmet is also placed on record. These are the principal authorities for the facts of Emmet's career; but for an account of the eventful years from 1790 to 1803, which must be dealt with in any book about Emmet, there are other sources which have been indicated in the preface. It will be well to begin with the early years of Emmet, and to interrupt the narrative when necessary in order to tell the story of those movements with which Emmet was connected, or which explain the chief events of his life.

The name of Emmet, in one or other of its numerous forms,* is English, and has existed in England for several hundred years at least. One of the name was a Doctor of Music of Oxford in

* Dr. Emmet, father of Robert, changed the form of his name at least four times.

LIFE OF ROBERT EMMET.

the reign of Henry II.; and Burke's "Landed Gentry" traces members of the family back to the days of William the Conqueror as landholders in Lancashire. A family tradition indicates that the first settlers of the name in Ireland came over from Kent with Cromwell, but Dr. Emmet has shown that there were people of the name in Waterford, Limerick, Kildare, and Tipperary prior to the advent of the Puritan marauders. Robert Emmet belonged to the latter branch of the family. His grandfather, Christopher, a surgeon and physician, held leases of the fairs and markets of the town of Tipperary, or, in other words, collected the tolls or customs. He was born in 1700, and his wife was Rebecca Temple, daughter of Thomas Temple, and connected with the Palmerston family. She was born about the same year, and died in November, 1774, at her son's residence in Molesworth Street, her remains being buried in St. Anne's Church, Dawson Street. She had two sons, one, Thomas, who died in or about 1754, and the other, Robert, who became a doctor of medicine, and was the father of the gifted Christopher Temple Emmet, Thomas Addis Emmet, and Robert Emmet, the subject of this biography.

Dr. Emmet was born in Tipperary in 1729, and seems to have spent his early life in the south, eventually settling in Dublin. He married, in November, 1760, Elizabeth, daughter of James Mason of Ballydowney, Co. Kerry, and by her had seventeen children, of whom the youngest was

Robert, born in 1778. There had been three other children of the same name previous to the date mentioned, but each had died shortly after birth. The name of Emmet has apparently long died out in Ireland, and Madden quotes a letter from Thomas Addis Emmet, sent from America in 1806 to Peter Burrowes, in which the following passage occurs: "There is not now in Ireland an individual that bears the name of Emmet. I do not wish that there ever should while it is connected with England, and yet it will perhaps be remembered in its history." In another letter to his daughter he expressed the hope that "no one of the name would ever put foot on the soil of Ireland while she remained under British rule."

Dr. Emmet's marriage with Elizabeth Mason brought a large infusion of Irish blood into the family, as she was connected with the Powers, O'Haras, M'Laughlins, and other Irish people. The marriage took place in Cork, and Dr. Emmet (who had received the degree of doctor of medicine from the University of Montpelier, in France, about 1750) had already begun to practise as a physician in that city. He appears to have removed to Dublin in the year 1770, acting on the advice of his kinsman, Earl Temple, Viceroy of Ireland, who appointed him State Physician, which distinction first appears after his name in the "Dublin Directory" of 1771. Most of his children died very young ; his eldest son, Christopher

LIFE OF ROBERT EMMET.

Temple Emmet, who was born in Cork in 1761, only surviving long enough to show that, had he lived longer, he would have risen to the very highest position in his profession. As it was, the estimate formed of him by his contemporaries was remarkably high, and seems almost exaggerated. He was only twenty-seven years of age when he died, yet in the " Life of Grattan " we find him referred to in these terms: "Temple Emmet, before he came to the Bar, knew more law than any of the judges on the Bench ; and if he had been placed on one side and the whole Bench opposed to him, he could have been examined against them, and would have surpassed them all; he would have answered better both in law and divinity than any judge or bishop in the land." He had shown, too, a decided poetical turn, and left a few clever effusions in verse.

Dr. Thomas Addis Emmet, the second son, was born in Dublin, on April 24th, 1764, graduated at Trinity College, Dublin, and obtained a degree in medicine with high honours at Edinburgh, in 1784. While in Edinburgh he was on terms of friendship with some of the most notable young men in the city, including the afterwards celebrated Dugald Stewart, Sir James Mackintosh, and others. On leaving Edinburgh he went to London, and became resident physician at Guy's Hospital. After a visit to the Continent he returned to Dublin, where he practised as a physician in conjunction with his father. His subsequent career is very

LIFE OF ROBERT EMMET.

largely concerned with the history of Ireland at that period, and will be referred to in further chapters.

Of the numerous family of Dr. Robert Emmet, only five were daughters. Mary Anne Emmet, the only one who reached maturity, was a woman of considerable intellect, and wrote some vigorous pamphlets on questions of the day. She shared the political views of her brothers, Thomas and Robert, and voiced them in no uncertain way. She married the celebrated orator and lawyer, Robert Holmes, and died in 1804, aged thirty-one.

The youngest of the family was Robert, whose career forms the subject of this work. He was born at the house in Molesworth Street, on March 4th, 1778. He was first sent to Mr. Oswald's school, in Dopping's Court, off Golden Lane, an institution rather notable at this period for its mathematical teaching. After some time he was transferred to the then famous school of Samuel Whyte in Grafton Street, where Sheridan, Moore, and many other celebrated Irishmen received some of their early education. His last school was that of the Rev. Mr. Lewis' in Camden Street. On October 7th, 1793, when fifteen years of age, he entered Trinity College, his tutor being the Rev. Mr. Graves. His college career was exceptionally successful, rivalling that of his brothers. His special aptitude was for the exact sciences and mathematics, chemistry being perhaps the study in which he was most proficient. An incident is

LIFE OF ROBERT EMMET.

recorded by Dr. Madden which proves his devotion to scientific pursuits. He frequently made chemical experiments on a small scale at his father's house in Stephen's Green (the doctor having removed there in 1779, one year after Robert's birth), and on one occasion had a narrow escape from poisoning. His relative, Mr. John Patten, who was a guest in the house for some weeks, used to assist him in some of his experiments, and one night after Mr. Patten had retired to rest, Emmet devoted himself to the solution of a very difficult problem in Friend's " Algebra." In his abstraction he indulged in a constant habit he had formed of biting his nails, and this nearly led to serious results. He had been using corrosive sublimate that evening, and was soon seized with violent pains. Some of the poison having remained on his fingers, he had inadvertently administered to himself a dangerous dose. He very carefully refrained from arousing his father, though quite conscious that he was in some peril, and taking down from the shelves of the library a work which had an article on poisons, he found that chalk was recommended as a prophylactic in such a case as his. Remembering that Mr. Patten had been using chalk that day, he proceeded to the coachhouse where it had been left, and used it, after which he sat down and succeeded, before retiring to rest, in solving the mathematical problem which had occupied his mind earlier in the night. In the morning his face looked, in the language of

LIFE OF ROBERT EMMET.

Madden's informant, "as small and as yellow as an orange," and he acknowledged that he had suffered acutely during the night, but had finished the task which he had set himself to do.

While in Trinity College, Emmet enjoyed a considerable reputation as a speaker, and the tribute of his contemporaries is unanimous as to the remarkable promise he showed in the debating societies to which he belonged. Madden says : " I have conversed with many persons who had heard him speak in those societies, some of them of very decided Tory politics, and I never heard but one opinion expressed of the transcendent oratorical powers he displayed there." Madden quotes Dr. Macartney, Rector of Antrim, who was present at a debate of the Historical Society arranged expressly for the debut of Emmet. The subject was : " Is a complete freedom of discussion essential to the well-being of a good and virtuous government ?" All allusions to modern politics were forbidden ; but Emmet, while ostensibly confining himself to the despotism of ancient governments, cleverly argued that it was imperative upon all governments to allow full and free discussion; and, if they did not, it was for the people " to draw practical conclusions " from their tyranny, and to act upon their resolves.

His early friend, Thomas Moore, has given, in his " Life and Death of Lord Edward Fitzgerald," a valuable glimpse of Emmet's manner and method of oratory, which it is impossible not to quote:

IO LIFE OF ROBERT EMMET.

" Were I to number," he says, " the men among all I have ever known, who appeared to me to combine in the greatest degree pure moral worth with intellectual power, I should, among the highest of the few, place Robert Emmet. Wholly free from the follies and frailties of youth — though how capable he was of the most devoted passion events afterwards proved—the pursuit of science, in which he eminently distinguished himself, seemed at this time the only object that at all divided his thoughts with that enthusiasm for Irish freedom which, in him, was a hereditary as well as national feeling — himself being the second martyr his father had given to the cause. Simple in all his habits, and with a repose of look and manner indicating but little movement within, it was only when the spring was touched that set his feelings, and, through them, his intellect, in motion, that he at all rose above the level of ordinary men. On no occasion was this more particularly striking than in those displays of oratory with which, both in the Debating and Historical Society, he so often enchained the attention and sympathy of his young audience. No two individuals, indeed, could be much more unlike to each other than was the same youth to himself before rising to speak and after : the brow that had appeared inanimate, and almost drooping, at once elevating itself to all the consciousness of power, and the whole countenance and figure of the speaker assuming a change as of one suddenly inspired. Of his oratory, it must be recollected,

LIFE OF ROBERT EMMET.

I I

I speak from youthful impressions ; but I have heard little since that appeared to me of a loftier, or, which is a far more rare quality in Irish eloquence, purer character — and the effects it produced, as well from its own exciting power as from the susceptibility with which his audience caught up every allusion to passing events, was such as to attract at last the serious attention of the Fellows ; and, by their desire, one of the Scholars, a man of advanced standing and reputation for oratory, came to attend our debates, expressly for the purpose of answering Emmet, and endeavouring to neutralise 1 the impressions of his fervid eloquence.' "

Another early associate of Emmet corroborates Moore in his estimate of the young patriot's gifts, namely, the Rev. Archibald Douglas, nephew of Sir Edward Crosbie, who was tried and executed as a rebel in 1798. Writing to Dr. Madden, in 1842, he says: " With Robert Emmet I was most intimate before he entered college, and after. Indeed, in his young days, he almost lived in our house. So gifted a creature does not appear in a thousand years. The whole family were distinguished for talent of the highest order." These tributes are valuable, inasmuch as they dissipate a general impression that Emmet was intellectually of little account.

Moore's general recollections of Emmet in college, as given in his "Memoirs/' are extremely interesting, and are worth giving in full :

LIFE OF ROBERT EMMET.

" The political ferment that was abroad through Ireland soon found its way within the walls of our university, and a youth destined to act a melancholy, but for ever memorable, part in the troubled scenes that were fast approaching, had now begun to attract, in no ordinary degree, the attention both of his fellow-students and the college authorities in general. This youth was Robert Emmet, whose brilliant success in his college studies, and, more particularly, in the scientific portion of them, had crowned his career, as far as he had gone, with all the honours of the course; while his powers of oratory displayed at a debating society, of which, about this time (1796-7) I became a member, were beginning to excite universal attention, as well from the eloquence as the political boldness of his displays. He was, I rather think by two classes, my senior, though it might have been only by one. But there was, at all events, such an interval between our standings as, at that time of life, makes a material difference ; and when I became a member of the debating society, I found him in full fame, not only for his scientific attainments, but also for the blamelessness of his life and the grave suavity of his manners. Besides this minor society, there was also another in college, for the higher students, called the Historical Society, established on the ruins of one bearing the same name, which had some years before been (on account of its politics, I believe,) put down by the Fellows, but continued, in de-

LIFE OF ROBERT EMMET.

fiance of them, to hold its sittings outside the walls. Of this latter association, Charles Bushe, the present witty Chief Justice, was, if I am not mistaken, one of the most turbulent as well as most eloquent members.

"Of the political tone of our small debating society, which was held at the rooms of different resident members, some notion may be formed from the nature of the questions proposed for discussion, one of which was, I recollect, 1 Whether an aristocracy or democracy was most favourable to the advancement of science and literature;' while another, still more critically bearing upon the awful position of politics at this crisis, was thus significantly put: ' Whether a soldier was bound on all occasions to obey his commanding officer?' On the former of these questions, the power of Emmet's eloquence was wonderful ; and I feel at this moment as if his language was still sounding in my ears. The prohibition against touching upon modern politics, which it was found afterwards necessary to enforce, had not yet been introduced ; and Emmet, who took, of course, ardently the side of democracy in the debate, after a brief review of the great republics of antiquity, showing how much they had all done for the advancement of literature and the arts, hastened, lastly, to the grand and perilous example of the young republic of France ; and, referring to the story of Caesar carrying with him across the river only his sword and his Commentaries, he said :

LIFE OF ROBERT EMMET.

4 Thus France at this time swims through a sea of blood ; but while in one hand she wields the sword against her aggressors, with the other she upholds the interests of literature, uncontaminated by the bloody tide through which she struggles.' On the other question, as to the obligation of a soldier to obey, on all occasions, the orders of his commanding officer, Emmet, after refuting this notion as degrading to human nature, imagined the case of a soldier who, having thus blindly fought in the ranks of the aggressor, had fallen in the combat ; and then most powerfully described him as rushing, after death, into the presence of his Creator, and exclaiming, in an agony of remorse, while he holds forth his sword, reeking still with the blood of the oppressed and innocent : i O God, I know not why I have done this !' In another of his speeches I remember his saying : * When a people, advancing rapidly in civilization and the knowledge of their rights, look back after a long lapse of time and perceive how far the spirit of their government has lagged behind them, what then, I ask, is to be done by them in such a case ? What, but to pull the government up to the people V