SEARC'S WEB GUIDE - Robert Emmet (1778-1803)

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Searc's Web Guide to 19th Century Irish History - Robert Emmet (1778-1803)

Robert Emmet was born in Cork. He joined the United Irishmen in 1796 while a student at Trinity College, Dublin but left before graduating in February, 1798 when he suspected he was about to be arrested for membership of the Society of United Irishmen. Emmet immediately travelled to France to solicit aid for a Rising and, following the defeat of the insurgents in May, 1798, Emmet remained in Paris where he became the centre of a circle of exiled Irish revolutionaries.
In 1802 Emmet led a republican delegation, including Arthur O'Connor, to ask Napoleon Bonaparte to aid a Rising in Ireland and the Rising was set for August 1803. When war broke out between England and France in May, 1803 Emmet together with other revolutionary exiles returned to Ireland to lead a self-financed insurrection. The 'Emmet Rising' was supposed to happen at the end of August, 1803 but, due to misinformation, the rising occurred prematurely in Dublin on 23rd of July, 1803. Emmet went into hiding before being arrested on August 25th. He was tried on a charge of High Treason on September 19th, 1803 and when a sentence of death was pronounced he delivered his famous Speech from the Dock which inspired subsequent generations of Irish patriots with the words: 'When my country takes her place among the nations of the earth, then, and not until then, let my epitaph be written'. Robert Emmet was hung and beheaded on September 20th, 1803 outside St. Catherine's Church in Thomas Street, Dublin. His body was never recovered from the authorities and the place of his burial is unknown.
This extract is from Emmet's Speech From The Dock first published in 1803.©

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 tribunal of justice reconciles contradiction? 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 achievement. Sell my country's independence to France! and for what? Was it a change of masters? No, but for my ambition. Oh, 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 amongst the proudest of your oppressor. My Country was my idol. To it I sacrificed every selfish, every endearing sentiment; and for it I now offer up myself. O God! No, my lords; I acted as an Irishman, determined on delivering my country from the yoke of a foreign and unrelenting tyranny, and the more galling yoke of a domestic faction, which is its joint partner and perpetrator in the patricide, from the ignominy existing with an exterior of splendour and a conscious depravity. It was the wish of my heart to extricate my country from this doubly rivetted despotism. I wished to place her independence beyond the reach of any power on Earth. I wished to exalt her 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 the French to assume any authority inconsistent with the purest independence, it would be the signal for their destruction. We sought their aid and we sought it as we had assurance we should obtain it, as auxiliaries in war and allies in peace. © Searc's Web Guide 1997-2008

Emmet Links:
Emmet's Genealogy
A Brief Biography
Robert Emmet.org
Robert Emmet's Speech from the Dock
Emmet 200: The Robert Emmet Association
Named in His Honor
Emmet Dollar $ 2003
Emmet's Dublin
Emmet County, Iowa
Emmitsburg, a town in Frederick county, Maryland
Emmet County, Michigan
Emmet Park, Savannah, Georgia
An Essay on the Origin and Repatriation of the Emmetsburg's Statue by Amie Lang February 10, 1999
Robert Emmet: revising reputations by Ruan O'Donnell
Robert Emmet figureine

Searc's Web Guide hosted a multimedia exhibition at the Screig Gallery, Donegal, Ireland titled: "Shall his Epitaph be Written?" opening on Sept. 20th, 2003 - the 200th anniversary of Robert Emmet's execution.
The exhibition consisted of new artworks to commemorate Emmet's bi-centenary and a variety of archive material recounting the 200 years of Irish political history since 1803, including prints, photographs, unbroadcast filmed interviews, prison letters, songs, poems, newspapers articles and periodicals. To Commemorate the occasion the Screig Gallery invited submissions of contemporary art works which are inspired by Robert Emmet and the 1803 Rising. The exhibition Catalogue. For further information email the Screig Gallery.

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