Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

ROBERT EMMET (1778-1803)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V09, Page 343 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

ROBERT See also:EMMET (1778-1803)  , Irish See also:rebel, youngest son of See also:Robert See also:Emmet, physician to the See also:lord-See also:lieutenant of See also:Ireland, was See also:born in See also:Dublin in 1778, and entered Trinity See also:College in See also:October 1793, where he had a distinguished See also:academic career, showing See also:special aptitude for See also:mathematics and See also:chemistry, and acquiring a reputation as an orator . Without taking a degree he removed his name from the college books in See also:April 1798, as a protest against the inquisitorial examination of the See also:political views of the students conducted by Lord See also:Clare as See also:chancellor of the university . Thus cut off from entering a learned profession, he turned towards political intrigue, being already to some extent in the secrets of the See also:United Irishmen, of whom his See also:elder See also:brother See also:Thomas Addis Emmet (see below) was one of the most prominent . In April 1799 a See also:warrant was issued for his See also:arrest, but was not executed; and in 1800 and the following See also:year he travelled on the See also:continent of See also:Europe, where he • entered into relations with the leaders of the United Irishmen, exiled since the See also:rebellion of 1798, who were planning a fresh outbreak in Ireland in expectation of support from See also:France . Emmet went to See also:Paris in October 18o2, where he had an interview with See also:Bonaparte which convinced him that the See also:peace of See also:Amiens would be of See also:short duration and that a See also:French invasion of See also:England might be looked for in See also:August 1803 . The See also:councils of the conspirators were weakened by divided opinions as to the ultimate aim of their policy; and no clearly thought-out See also:scheme of operations appears to have been arrived at when Emmet See also:left Paris for Ireland in October 18o2 . Those in his confidence afterwards denied that Emmet was himself the originator of the See also:plan on which he acted; and several of the ablest of the United Irishmen held aloof, believing the project to be impracticable . Among the latter waA Lord Cloncurry, at one See also:time on the executive of the United Irishmen, with whom Emmet dined the See also:night before he left Paris, and to whom he spoke of his plans with intense See also:enthusiasm and excitement . Emmet's lack of discretion was shown by his revealing his intentions in detail to an Englishman named See also:Lawrence, See also:resident near See also:Honfleur, with whom he sought shelter when travelling on See also:foot on his way to Ireland . Arriving in Dublin at the end of October he received See also:information to the effect that seventeen counties were ready to take up arms if a successful effort were made in Dublin . For some time he remained concealed in his See also:father's See also:house near Miltown, making his preparations . A large number of pikes were collected and stored in Dublin during the See also:spring of 1803, but See also:fire-arms and See also:ammunition were not plentiful .

The See also:

probability of a French invasion in August was increased by the renewal of the See also:war in May, Emmet's brother Thomas being then in Paris in communication with Talleyrand and Bonaparte . But 'a See also:discovery by the See also:government of concealed arms, and an See also:explosion at one of Emmet's dep6ts in See also:Patrick See also:Street on the 16th of See also:July, necessitated immediate See also:action, and the 23rd of that See also:month was accordingly fixed for the projected rising . An elaborate plan of operations, which he described in detail in a See also:letter to his brother after his arrest, had been prepared by Emmet, the leading feature of which was a simultaneous attack on the See also:castle, the See also:Pigeon House and the See also:artillery See also:barracks at See also:Island See also:bridge; while bodies of insurgents from the neighbouring counties were to See also:march on the See also:capital . But the whole scheme miscarried . Some of Emmet's bolder proposals, such as a plan for capturing the See also:commander-in-See also:chief, were vetoed by the timidity of his associates, none of whom were men of any ability . On the 23rd of July all was confusion at the depots, and the leaders were divided as to the course to be pursued; orders were not obeyed; a trusted messenger despatched for arms absconded with the See also:money committed to him to pay for them; treachery, quite unsuspected by Emmet, honeycombed the See also:conspiracy; the See also:Wicklow contingent failed to appear; the See also:Kildare men turned back on See also:hearing that the rising had been postponed; a See also:signal expected by a contingent at the Broadstone was never given . In this hopeless See also:state of affairs a false See also:report reached Emmet at one of his dep6ts at nine o'See also:clock in the evening that the military were approaching . Without taking any step to verify it, Emmet put on a See also:green and See also:white See also:uniform and placed himself at the See also:head of some eighty men, who marched towards the castle, being joined in the streets by a second See also:body of about equal strength . None of these insurgents had any discipline, and many of them were drunk . Lord Kilwarden, proceeding to a hastily summoned See also:meeting of the privy See also:council, was dragged from his See also:carriage by this See also:rabble and murdered, together with his See also:nephew See also:Richard See also:Wolfe; his daughter who accompanied him being conveyed to safety by Emmet himself . Emmet, now seeing that the rising had become a See also:mere street brawl, made his See also:escape; a detachment of soldiers quickly dispersed his followers . After hiding for some days in the Wicklow mountains Emmet repaired to the house of a Mrs See also:Palmer at Harold's See also:Cross, in See also:order to be near the See also:residence of See also:John Philpot See also:Curran (q.v.), to whose daughter Sarah he had for some time been secretly attached, and with whom he had carried on a voluminous See also:correspondence, afterwards seized by the authorities at her father's house .

Attempting without success to persuade this See also:

lady to See also:fly with him to See also:America, Emmet lingered in the neighbourhood till the 25th of August, when he was apprehended by See also:Major H . C . Sirr, the same officer who had captured Lord See also:Edward See also:Fitzgerald in 1798 . At his trial he was defended and betrayed by the infamous Leonard MacNally (q.v.), and was convicted of See also:treason; and after delivering an eloquent speech from the See also:dock, was hanged on the loth of See also:September 1803 . By the universal testimony of his See also:friends, Robert Emmet was a youth of modest See also:character, pure motives and winning See also:personality . But he was entirely lacking in See also:practical statesmanship . Brought up in a revolutionary See also:atmosphere, his enthusiasm was uncontrolled by See also:judgment . Thomas See also:Moore, who warmly eulogizes Emmet, with whom he was a student at Trinity College, records that one See also:day when he was playing on the piano the See also:melody " Let See also:Erin remember," Emmet started up exclaiming passionately, " Oh, that I were at the head of 20,000 men marching to that See also:air!" He had no knowledge of the See also:world or of men; he trusted every one with See also:child-like simplicity; except See also:personal courage he had none of the qualities essential to See also:leader-See also:ship in such an enterprise as armed rebellion . The See also:romance of his love affair with Sarah Curran—who afterwards married Robert See also:Henry See also:Sturgeon, an officer distinguished in the See also:Peninsular War—has See also:cast a glamour over the memory of Robert Emmet; and it inspired Thomas Moore's well-known songs, " She is far from the See also:land where her See also:young See also:hero sleeps," and " Oh, breathe not his name"; it is also the subject of See also:Washington See also:Irving's " The Broken See also:Heart." Emmet was short and slight in figure; his See also:face was marked by smallpox, and he was described in 1803 for the purpose of See also:identification as being " of an ugly, sour countenance and dirty See also:brown complexion." A few poems by Emmet of little merit are appended to See also:Madden's See also:biography . See R . R . Madden, The United Irishmen, their Lives and Times (2nd ed .

4 vols., Dublin, 1858–186o) ; See also:

Charles See also:Phillips, Recollections of Curran and Some of his Contemporaries (2nd ed., See also:London, 1822); Henry . See also:Grattan, See also:Memoirs of the See also:Life and Times of the Right Hon . H . Grattan (5 vols., London, 1839–1846) ; W . H . See also:Maxwell, See also:History of the Irish Rebellion in 7798; with Memoirs of the See also:Union and Emmet's Insurrection in 7803 (London, 1845) ; W . H . Curran, Life of J . P . Curran (2 vols., See also:Edinburgh, 1822) ; Thomas Moore, Life and See also:Death of Lord Edward Fitzgerald (2 vols . 3rd ed., London, 1832) ; and Memoirs, See also:Journals and Correspondence of Thomas Moore, edited by Lord John See also:Russell (8 vols., London, 1853–1856) . (R .

J .

End of Article: ROBERT EMMET (1778-1803)
[back]
EMMERICH (the ancient Embrica)
[next]
THOMAS ADDIS EMMET (1764-1827)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click and select "copy." Paste it into a website, email, or other HTML document.