Kildare, Carlow, and Wicklow.' In their statements made in pursuance of the compact, and in their answers at these examinations, the conspirators seem not only to have declared their plans, but to have stated their principles and opinions very explicitly, and to have assumed the position of accusers of the British government. As some representations went abroad in relation to these disclosures and examinations, discreditable to Mr. Emmet and his associates, he and Dr. M'Neven and Mr. O'Connor felt it necessary to come out with a public vindication of themselves and contradiction of these reports. This document was published in the Dublin papers on the 27th of August. The government accordingly seems rather to have been exasperated by all those proceedings, and it was even proposed in the Irish house of commons to hang these three persons without trial.

Whether it was from a dissatisfaction with the disclosures made by Mr. Emmet and his associates, or their bold and dignified tone, or a remonstrance on the part of the American minister against their being sent to the United States, certain it is, that the government did not liberate them from imprisonment and send them to the United States, as they expected, but on the contrary early in 1799, they were sent prisoners to Fort George, a fortress situated on Murray Frith, in the northeastern part of Scotland. This fortress was then under the command of Governor Stuart, an invalid officer, who is represented to have been a gentlemanly, generous, and noble-spirited veteran, who had nothing of the jailor in his character or manners. He gave them every little indulgence in his power, permitting them to make excursions from the fort for their health and recreation, it being always understood that they went upon their parol of honor. Accordingly, after Mrs. Emmet joined her husband at this fort, the governor requested him to attend her on visits to the neighboring families, and make excursions with her, much in the same manner as if he had been at liberty. Mr. Emmet's reply shows a very deep feeling of resentment towards the British government; he said, if this indulgence came from the government, he could not accept it; but, on being assured by the governor that the offer was made by himself personally, and not by the order of the government, he accepted it cheerfully.

After an imprisonment of three years at Fort George, the government sent a pardon to the other prisoners, and ordered

their discharge, but no pardon was sent for Mr. Emmet. Both Mr. Emmet and governor Stuart were disappointed and perplexed at this exception, and were unable to divine the cause. On a short reflection, however, the governor told Mr. Emmet that he should be released with the rest, and he would take the responsibility on himself personally, and place himself between the government and Mr. Emmet. And it seems that the governor never fell under any censure for this exercise of his discretion.

On being liberated from Fort George, Mr. Emmet with his family was carried to Cuxhaven, whence they passed through Holland to Brussels, where they spent the winter of 1802-3, and while there, received intelligence of his father's death. The following year they visited France, and passed the next winter in Paris, and in October of 1804, they sailed from Bordeaux, and arrived in New York on the 11th November; Mr. Emmet being then about forty years old, and having lost the preceding seven years in consequence of the part he took in the rebellion.

He was for some time in doubt whether to pursue the study of law or medicine, but at length, in concurrence with the advice of his friends, he decided on law, and on a visit at the southward, was admitted to the bar at Alexandria, through the recommendation of Mr. Walter Jones, of the District of Columbia, and resolved to establish himself in the state of Ohio, where the cheapness of land would render it easier to settle his family; and, as he did not anticipate so sharp a professional competition as in the older states, he promised himself a more certain success. But George Clinton, then governor of New York, having some sympathies with Mr. Emmet on account of his sufferings, and also on the score of national feeling, being himself of Irish descent, sent for him, though they had scarcely any personal acquaintance, and advised him to remain in New York, assuring him that his talents would attract patronage and command success, for which the career was the more open, as General Hamilton, the splendid ornament of the New York bar, as well as of the country and the age, had then just fallen in a duel with Burr. But there was one difficulty in the way of this proposal; Mr. Emmet had not studied his profession three years in the state, according to the rule of the court, and while he should be devoting this time in qualifying himself to practise, his family would want

bread. He was assured, however, that the court would dispense with that rule in his favor; or, if not, the legislature. could be induced to pass a special act granting him license. to practise. An application was accordingly made to the court, backed by the influence of Governor Clinton, and also of De Witt Clinton, who was then mayor of New York. A majority of the court was in favor of dispensing with the rule, out of regard to his former sufferings, as well as his talents, and he was accordingly admitted. But he encountered a barrier, or rather what was intended to have been such, within the bar; for some of the leading members of the profession agreed to decline all professional union and consultation with him; a circumstance to which he was probably in part indebted for his rapid rise, for he was too much practised in rough encounters, to be disconcerted by a mere studied discountenance. His biographer mentions, in particular, one exception to this combination, and says that Mr. Cadwallader D. Colden denounced it as illiberal, and lent Mr. Emmet a warm and cordial support. Mr. Emmet being informed of the combination, did not wait for an aggression, but made the first attack, and soon broke up the whole phalanx.

He had been in New York but three years, when he came out with great spirit at a meeting of the Hibernian Society, in opposition to the election of Mr. Rufus King, the federal candidate for the office of governor. In the course of the collisions growing out of this attack, Mr. Emmet published a letter addressed to Mr. King, in which he stated that Mr. King, while minister at London, had thrown obstacles in the way of his emigration, and that of his friends, to the United States, in pursuance of their agreement with Lord Cornwallis. It does not, however, distinctly appear that Mr. King made any such interference.

It was not long after Mr. Emmet established himself in New York, when his profession afforded him an income of ten thousand dollars a year, and in the latter part of his life, his receipts amounted, in some years, to fifteen thousand. Johnson's and Cowen's Reports afford ample testimony of his industry, not only in the number of cases in which he was engaged, but also in the elaborate thorough manner in which he made up his briefs. These arguments generally bear striking evidences of research and deep penetration. He was certainly a sagacious and somewhat original thinker, though, as his

biographer acknowledges, not always a just one; for he sometimes pressed points more gravely than they would bear. It is true that an advocate is not under obligation to act the part of a judge, but is expected to make the most of his own side; and his business is partly to consider the influences to which the minds of the judges and jurymen may be subject: not that an advocate who has the least respect for himself, or the court, or jury, will descend to small cunning, trick, and imposition, but he puts the arguments in his own favor, in the strongest light, knowing that an equally able antagonist will not fail to do the same on the opposite side, and the last thing he thinks of troubling himself about, is, lest justice should be warped by his logic or his eloquence. But that his arguments may have force with the court or jury, he must appear to be sincere. This is one of the rudimental precepts in public speaking, whether the arbiters be many or few. He also wants a court, jury, or public assembly, predisposed to give him credit, not only for sincerity, but also for soundness of opinion. Accordingly by overstraining the force of an argument, or pressing it beyond all proportion to its just weight, the speaker both injures his cause and diminishes the weight of his reputation. This was an error into which Mr. Emmet, in the opinion of his biographer, was sometimes betrayed; and there seems to be some ground for the observation. He says,

'His zeal sometimes olouds his judgment, and obscures the perceptions of his mind. In the worst of causes-in cases where the merits were palpably against him, I have known him struggle with the same ardor and assurance as though he was perfectly persuaded of the justice of his suit. This has diminished his influence in our courts. They have imbibed a habit of listening to his legal doctrines with suspicion. I once heard him argue a point of law before Judge Thompson, in the Circuit Court of the United States, with a great deal of animation and apparent conviction of the correctness of his grounds. When he had finished, Judge Thompson put a case to him to test the soundness of the counsellor's positions. He began by saying, 'suppose, Mr. Emmet, that ten years hence this case occurs, &c." describing the premises from which he wished Mr. Emmet to draw the conclusion. Mr. Emmet found himself in difficulty, and merely replied, that ten years hence his client might have other counsel, whom he would leave to answer the question. Perhaps the question was not altogether proper, for a lawyer must take cases as they come into his hands; he cannot make them to conform to his inclinations. Still, he should be 16

VOL. IV.NO. VII.

a little guarded how he commits his reputation for sound legal learning in sustaining doubtful or more than doubtful points.' pp. 119, 120.

Though Mr. Emmet gave himself very diligently to his causes, and is said always to have come into court too well prepared in facts and principles, and authorities, to be taken by surprise; he is also said to have been a skilful special pleader, in other words, a good technical lawyer. Yet he appears to have regarded his profession as a matter of business and exhibition, without any. remarkable aptitude and inclination to the study of the law for the sake of its own treasures, and not those of his clients. He does not seem to have pursued it as a science, except with a view to its immediate application; the range of his studies did not extend far into the civil law, but having satisfied all the claims of his practice by a very diligent preparation of his cases, he seems to have considered his remaining time, or at least a very considerable part of it, as horæ non juridica, to be occupied with the current politics, the classics, poetry, mathematical recreations, and miscellaneous reading. We do not mention this disparagingly. The late Chief Justice Parsons, of Massachusetts, though he had a predilection for law as a study, and read black letter con amore, was yet a cormorant of novels and children's stories; and also a lover of Greek and mathematics.

Besides his accomplishments as a lawyer and forensic antagonist, Mr. Emmet had the reputation of eloquence; he could move the passions and kindle the imagination, as well as convince the understanding. We may have made up an incorrect opinion from the specimens which have come within our observation, but there seems to us to be, at least occasionally, something of roughness and unmitigated violence, in his style of combat, and something strained and ungraceful in his rhetorical flights. For instance, in one of his letters addressed to Mr. King, when the latter gentleman was a candidate for the office of governor, he says, 'Circumstances which cannot be controlled, have decided that my name shall be embodied into history. From the manner in which even my political adversaries, and some of my contemporary historians, unequivocally hostile to my principles, already speak of me, I have the consolation of reflecting, that when the falsehoods of the day are withered and blasted, I shall be respected and esteemed. You, sir, will probably be forgotten, when I shall be remembered with honor; or if, peradventure, your name should