HIS MILITARY TALENTS.

187

rushed into the smoke of battle with a heart as intrepid as ever beat in a human bosom.

The gentleness of his manners might prevent a casual observer from remarking the strength of character which lay underneath. But he was well known among his friends for a firmness which they sometimes accounted obstinacy.* He had that strong will, which perseveres through many defeats to ultimate victory.

He had received a thorough military education. He had entered the army when very young, and for several years had been engaged in actual war. He was now in the prime of manhood. All these qualities pointed out this young nobleman as the man best fitted to lead the armies of the rebellion.

He accepted the dangerous post, and bent his mind to perfecting the military arrangements. He selected for his officers men distinguished either for military skill, or for their local influence. The vast league of societies furnished soldiers, and thus Lord Edward found himself at the head of an army of five hundred thousand men.

On his arrest there was found among his papers a plan

* In the examination afterward of the state-prisoners before the Secret Committee of the House of Commons, the character of Fitzgerald was much discussed.

"I knew Lord Edward well," said one of the committee, "and always found him very obstinate."

"I knew Lord Edward right well,” replied Mr. Emmet, "and have done a great deal of business with him, and have always found, when he had a reliance on the integrity and talents of the person he acted with, he was one of the most persuadable men alive; but if he thought a man meant dishonestly or unfairly by him, he was as obstinate as a mule."

for the defense of a city against disciplined troops. He details the advantages which the insurgents would have in such an encounter:-"The troops, by the breadth of the streets, are obliged to have a very narrow front, and however numerous, only three men deep can be brought into action, which in the widest of our streets can not be more than sixty men; as a space must be left on each side or flank, for the men who discharge to retreat to the rear, that their places may be occupied by the next in succession who are loaded; so though there are a thousand men in a street, not more than sixty can act at one țime, and should they be attacked by an irregular body armed with pikes or such bold weapons, if the sixty men in front were defeated, the whole body, however numerous are unable to assist, and immediately become a small mob in uniform, from the inferiority of their number in comparison to the people, and easily disposed of.

"Another disadvantage on the part of the soldiers would be, that, as they are regulated by the word of command, or stroke of the drum, they must be left to their individual discretion, as such communications must be drowned in the noise and clamor of a popular tumult."

He details the means to be employed to oppose the progress of an army through a city. The pavements can be torn up and barricades formed at near distances, to check the advance of horse or artillery. By this means their progress must be very slow. At the same time they can be assailed by a fire from the windows, while showers of bricks or coping-stones can be poured down from the

HIS MILITARY TACTICS.

189

roofs. Simultaneously the-country should rise in the rear, and cut off their retreat.

"The people would have an advantage by being armed with pikes. The first attack if possible should be made by men whose pikes were nine or ten feet long; by that means they could act in ranks deeper than the soldiery, whose arms are much shorter; then the deep files of the pikemen, by being weightier, must easily break the thin order of the army.

"The charge of the pikemen should be made in a smart trot. On the extremity of every rank should be placed intrepid men to keep the fronts even, that at closing every point should tell together. They should have at the same time two or three like bodies at convenient distances in the rear, who would be brought up, if wanting, to support the front, which would give confidence to their brothers in action, as it would tend to discourage the enemy. At the same time there should be in the rear of each division some men of spirit to keep the ranks as close as possible.

"The apparent strength of the army should not intimidate, as closing on it makes its powder and ball useless: all its superiority is in fighting at a distance; its skill ceases, and its action must be suspended, when it once is within reach of the pike."

In his tactics for the general conduct of the war he showed great coolness and sagacity. His policy was, not to lead raw troops into immediate battle, but to accustom them gradually to arms, and bring them into the enemy's fire as they were able to bear it. In conducting a popular

insurrection, the principał danger is from the impetuosity and disorder of the people, rushing on eagerly and confusedly, and of course being easily defeated. Said Wellington, when conducting the war in the Peninsula, “The Juntas called out for a battle and early success. If I had had the power, I would have prevented the Spanish armies from attending to this call; and if I had, the cause would now have been safe."

Lord Edward's tactics were therefore to avoid pitched battles, especially in the beginning of the war; to keep to the hills, and thus watch and weary the enemy, while collecting strength for the fatal blow.

CHAPTER XIV.

THOMAS ADDIS EMMET.*-THE THREE BROTHERS.-HIS EDUCATION.--STUDIES MEDICINE AT EDINBURGH.-TRAVELS ON THE CONTINENT.--ADOPTS THE PROFESSION OF LAW.--COMMENCES PRACTICE IN DUBLIN.--THE STATE TRIALS. HE TAKES THE OATH OF THE UNITED IRISHMEN IN OPEN COURT.--InTIMACY WITH TONE.--JOINS THE SOCIETY.-IS CHOSEN ONE OF THE DIRECTORS.

It is one design of this volume to trace particularly the part borne in the projected Irish revolution by the exiles to America. We may break the current of the narrative to furnish some details of particular actors in these scenes, in the fate of whom the American reader may be supposed to feel particular interest.

The leaders of the United Irishmen were now collected in Dublin. Among them were three, whose names are familiar, as fortune afterward threw them together on the shores of the new world, Emmet, McNeven, and Sampson. They came from the opposite extremes of the island, from three different provinces, Munster, Connaught, and Ulster.

Of Thomas Addis Emmet, we have already had occa

* This sketch of Emmet is derived chiefly from a memoir by Charles Glidden Haines. It is a thin volume, and was published in 1829. The facts were drawn from Mr. Emmet himself, with whom Mr. Haines was thrown during the sittings of the Supreme Court at Washington.