posed to the arrest of the prisoner as follows: "I went on the 25th of August, to the house of one Palmer. I had heard there was a stranger in the back parlour. I rode, accompanied by a man on foot: I desired the man to knock at the door-he did, and it was opened by a girl. I alighted, and ran in directly to the back parlour-I saw the prisoner sitting at dinner; the woman of the house was there, and the girl who opened the door was the daughter of the woman of the house. I desired them to withdraw. I asked the prisoner his name, he told me his name was Cunningham. I gave him in charge to the man who accompanied me, and went into the next room to ask the woman and her daughter about him; they told me his name was Hewit; I went back and asked him how long he had been there? He said he came that morning. He had attempted to escape before I returned, for he was bloody and the man said he knocked him down with a pistol. I then went to Mrs. Palmer, who said he had lodged there for a month; I then judged he was some person of importance. When I first went in, there was a paper on the chair,* which I put

That paper was as follows:

"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

into my pocket; I then went to the canal bridge for a guard, having desired them to be

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 victins, 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

in readiness as I passed; I planted a sentry over him, and desired the non-commissioned officer to surround the house with sentries, while I searched it; I then examined Mrs. Palmer, and took down her account of the prisoner, during which time I heard a noise as if an escape was attempted: I instantly ran to the back part of the house, as the most likely part for him to get out at. I saw him going off, and ordered a sentinel not to fire, and then pursued myself; regardless of my order, the sentinel snapped, but his musket did not go off. I overtook the prisoner and he said, "I surrender." I searched him, and found some papers upon him.

"On the witness expressing concern at the necessity of the prisoner's being treated so roughly, he (the prisoner) observed, that "All was fair in war." The prisoner, when brought

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 :

"I have little time to look at the thousand difficulties which still lie between me and the completion of my wishes that those difficulties will likewise disappear I have ardent, and I trust, rational hopes; but if it is not to be the case, I thank God for having gifted me with a sanguine disposition. To that disposition I run from reflection, and if my hopes are without foundation—if a precipice is opening under my feet, from which duty will not suffer me to run back, I am grateful for that sanguine disposition, which leads me to the brink and throws me down, while my eyes are still raised to visions of happiness, that my fancy formed in the air."

to the castle, acknowledged that his name was Emmet.

Here the case closed on the part of the crown, and the prisoner having declined to enter into any defence, either by witnesses or his counsel, an argument arose between Mr. McNally and Mr. Plunket, as to the latter's right to reply to evidence, when no defence had been made. Lord Norbury said, that the counsel for the prisoner could not by their silence preclude the crown from that right, and, therefore, decided in favour of Mr. Plunket.

Mr. Plunket then addressed the court to a considerable length, and spoke to evidence in effect, the same as the Attorney General.

Lord Norbury charged the Jury, minutely recapitulating the whole of the evidence, and explained the law.

The Jary, without leaving the box, pronouncced the Prisoner-Guilty.

The judgment of the court having been prayed upon the prisoner, the Clerk of the Crown, in the usual form, asked him what he had to why sentence of death and execution should not be awarded against him according to law, Mr. Emmet addressed the court as follows.

say

10

MR. EMMET'S REPLY.

MY LORDS,-I am asked, what have I to say why sentence of death should not be pronounced on me, according to law? I 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 I must abide by. But I have that to say which interests me more than life, and which you have laboured (as was necessarily your office in the present circumstances of this oppressed country) to destroy

I have much to say, why my reputaton 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 breasts of a Court constituted and trammelled 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 prejudice, until it finds some more hospitable harbour to shelter it from the storm by which it is at present buffeted.

Were 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 murmur; but the sentence of the law which delivers my body to the executioner,