Joshua's Winning
Essay
Joseph W. McCarthy Scholarship 2009
Robert Emmet: Beliefs
in the Arena
By: Joshua Allen MacVey
“You are now called upon
to shew the world that you are competent to take your place among nations,
that you have a right to claim their recognizance of you, as an
independent country, by the only satisfactory proof you can furnish of
your capability of maintaining your independence, your wresting it from
England with your own hands!”1
Robert
Emmet, young Irish idealist turned revolutionist. His goal, in
essence, freedom –
freedom for his beloved native country
of Ireland, that she may break loose the century-old shackles England forced
upon her, that she may finally voice her own opinions and represent the will
of her people… that she may finally take her “place among nations”2.
Robert Emmet’s goal was what we and countless others demanded in the past
and continue to fight for in the present, what John Locke (one of Emmet’s
main influences) called: “A state of perfect freedom to order our
actions, and dispose of our possessions as we think fit, without asking leave
or depending upon the will of any other man” As with countless others of the
past and present, this compelling need for freedom drove Robert Emmet’s
politics and life.
Ireland
is neither the first nor the last country to have endured oppression from
another country. History is a continuous repetition of imperial
rises and falls. The Romanians and Mongolians once conquered weaker
countries, forced their religion, and prosecuted those who, like the
Irish, believed a “little more or less than the government standard,”3
which at the time bore equal importance as law. The pattern
continued with the British Empire, whose trade acts and unfair
representation forced the American Colonies to revolution. It was
during this time that Robert Emmet’s story began.
Emmet
was born in Ireland on the 4th of March in 1778 (O’Donnell,
3), a time when the American War of Independence took place overseas. This
fact fueled discussion in Ireland, another colony of England at that time,
as to the question of honor for not only the American Revolution, but for
revolution in general. Ireland, thanks to England, had been socially
separated between the Protestant and the Catholic, the upper and lower
classes (Joyce). The Catholics, accounting for upwards of 85% of the
country, were denied voting rights and representation in the Irish
Parliament (formed on English terms). England had overwhelming
political power and when coming to decisions regarding Ireland, it mostly,
if not always, leaned in the direction of bettering the mother country.
Meanwhile, the majority of Ireland remained impoverished through the 1600s
far into the 1800s. The Emmet’s, a wealthy protestant family,
sympathized with the unrepresented Catholics and admired the American
Revolution. From the time he was born, Robert Emmet’s political
views lay out before him.
It
was in the mid 1790s that Robert’s older brother, Thomas Addis
Emmet, frequently held meetings in the Emmet household with leading
members of the United Irish, an organization originally set out to attain
universal suffrage and equal electoral districts. These members,
specifically Wolfe Tone and Thomas Russell, turned to the prospects of
revolution once they realized Parliament would never provide fair
representation. They “applied… for the assistance of France, to
enable them to assert their independence… this plan met with the warmest
probation and support from both Russell and [Thomas Addis] Emmet”
(O’Donnell, 27). Thomas Emmet embraced revolution from England and
took part in leading the United Irish Organization.
Now
a United Irish member in the Emmet household, it was only natural that
Thomas’s revolutionary politics influenced his younger brother.
Upon enrolling in Dublin’s Trinity College and becoming secretary of the
school’s first secret United Irish Committee (Geoghegan, 70), Robert
Emmet joined the debating club, where his views towards revolution were
made apparent. At one debate, he posed the question:
“When a people advancing
rapidly in civilization and knowledge of their right look back after a
long lapse of years and perceive how far their government has lagged
behind them, what then, I ask, is to be done by them in such a case?”4
Emmet answered his own question
with the line: “What but pull the government up to the people?”5
Had he not been censored, he definitely would have deemed revolution
necessary.
Revolution
is, by no means, an idea of the past. It is ever-present!
Through this last half-century we have witnessed the Carnation Revolution
of 1974, and the South African Revolution taking place in the late
1950’s-90s’, both issuing the fall of their corrupt governments and
the institution of Democratic-Republican, free thinking principles.
The South African Revolution began when the local government enacted
Apartheid (segregation) laws and denationalized over nine million
Africans, all of whom were not allowed political rights (Chokski).
Nelson Mandela, an African Activist at the time, was sentenced to life
imprisonment on charges of collaborating to overthrow the government.
While in prison, Mandela communicated from the outside to keep the
revolutionary spirit high and the Afrikaner government was eventually
overthrown. He was freed in 1990 and three years later elected
President, abolishing segregation and ensuring equal civil and economic
rights for the people. The Carnation Revolution occurred
amidst this all, when officers in the armed forces, inspired by the
pro-independent fighters in South Africa, decided to overthrow their own
fascist regime.
The
Carnation and South African Revolutions parallel Emmet’s rising.
Had his strategy gone as planned, Emmet, like the Carnations and Mandela,
would have attained his goals of prohibiting censorship, declaring free
speech a right, giving independence to any foreign colonies in possession,
and ensuring equality and representation for all native citizens.
Although these revolutions differ in specifics, they have in common the
fight for rights their oppressive government failed to ensure, the same
fight that Robert Emmet and the Irish faced from centuries of English
rule, the same that we and others will continue to face in the future.
In
another speech, Emmett proposed that,
“If a government were
vicious enough to put down the freedom of discussion, it would be the
duty of the people to deliberate on the errors of their rulers, to
consider well the wrongs they inflicted, and what the right course would
be for their subjects to take, and having done so, it would then be
their duty to draw practical conclusions.”6
Through clever censorship of his
own words, Emmet underscored the position that the English/Irish
Parliament took towards the Irish People in denying Catholics
representation. He believed it was not only the duty of the United
Irish, but of all countrymen whose government has forsaken them to
“deliberate, consider, and draw practical conclusions” for
betterment.
“Practical
conclusions,” in Emmet’s case, meant rebellion, a term often
associated with radicalism. To call Emmet a radical, however, would
not do justice to the man. He believed in his cause, and believed in
fighting for it. He would not have insisted in rebel action
if he and his United Irish had been given another choice. For years
they had unsuccessfully petitioned Parliament for equality, and for years
their petitions went unanswered. Both Thomas and Robert had embraced
the fact that peaceful protest had failed.
Not
all problems dealing with social inequality require military mutiny, and
not all revolutions require physical combat. We have undergone and
continue to undergo domestic revolutions within the United States.
Since the formation of our country, African Americans have undergone
social injustice and segregation. From the days of the Emancipation
Proclamation to the Civil Rights Movement of 1950s and 60s to the election
of an African American President, we still turn on the television with
news indirectly relating to racial inequality and stereotypes of the
“inferior race”.
From
personal experience, I have seen that inner city schools with high
concentrations of African American’s have in many cases overfilled
classrooms, obsolete facilities, and insufficient funds to hire qualified
teachers. I have seen the ghettos where streets are unkempt and
lined with demolished homes and signs reading “foreclosed”. I
have seen all of this, and I know that although it may appear hopeless,
revolution is occurring. It has improved. People are still
fighting for rights, and though they may be peaceful, they, like Robert
Emmet, would readily die for their rights should the government have the
audacity to take them away.
At
the time of Thomas Emmet’s arrest in March 1798, plans for the rebellion
had already taken place, but not before Robert wrote an unsigned address
to the United Irish that “urged restraint in the face of the illegal and
unconstitutional measures employed to force them into insurrection when
members of the most corrupt and infamous Administration are earnestly
hoping, and anxiously watching, for the first appearance of Rebellion”
(O’Donnell, 58). He had fled Trinity when they declared the intent
to investigate all students.
It
is unclear upon Emmet’s direct involvement in the Rebellion of 1798, but
it is certain it did not happen the way he wanted. He preached
patience. He believed French assistance was needed to win, but after
the original leadership had been arrested, policy changed and it was
decided to act before the French were ready. After months of
struggle, the United Irish (now rebels) were, for the most part, defeated.
French assistance came, but too late, and all was nearly lost.
As
the rebellion came to a close, Emmet fled the country for France.
Three years later, he came back with the promise of French assistance
should he mount a successful United Irish coup. After just under two
years of strategizing and calling arms, Emmet entered into what was named
“the Rising of 1803”. It depended on all counties of Ireland to
rise at once, signaled with the fall of Dublin. Unfortunately, Emmet
was forced to move before he was ready due to an explosion in one of his
arms depots that had aroused government suspicion. The people were
not ready, and consequently Dublin did not fall. The rising on July
23, 1803 failed. Emmet fled the city and went into hiding.
Two months later he was arrested and charged with high treason.
Even
with the numbers of the United Irish greatly reduced, Emmet’s return to
Ireland and his determination for independence showed that liberties worth
fighting for are not to be abandoned. We, the Females and Males, the
Feminists and Marxists, the Ethnicities and Religions of the
world…humanity… we all carry on through hard times to push toward our
goal of equality.
John
Locke once wrote, “…creatures of the same species and rank [humans],
should be equal amongst another, without subordination or subjection.”
To me, it is not the differences between us that matter. It is the
understanding that we must extend towards one another. We constantly
struggle to uphold this philosophy not just within our government, but
within ourselves. As we face modern war, economic crisis, world
poverty, and oppression, we try to work towards equality and the right of
opportunity for all.
Robert
Emmet has set the bar for us. A Protestant and true altruist
fighting for the rights of Catholics…his countrymen…his equals, he
believed in this philosophy and could not have better upheld it’s
meaning. Even in the face of sure death, he saved the lives of countless
of his brethren.
Wishing
to stop unneeded bloodshed, Emmet “prohibited his lawyers from making
any arguments or calling any witnesses” (Geoghegan, 239). He knew
if any were called, they would be sought out and prosecuted after his
death. After twelve grueling hours of trial, Emmet was found guilty
of high treason, sentenced to be hanged in the gallows on Thomas Street,
and given a last chance to speak. On the dock of the courthouse, he
delivered one of the most moving speeches in history.
Underscoring the atrocities committed against the Irish by England one
last time, he spoke:
“While the destruction of
that [English] government which upholds its dominion by impiety against
the most high, which displays its powers over [Irish] man as over the
beasts of the field, which sets man upon his brother, and lifts his
hands in religion’s name against the throat of his fellow who believes
little more or less than the government standard, which reigns amidst
the cries of the orphans and of the widows it has made… If there be a
true Irishman present, let my last words cheer him in the hour of his
affliction.”7
Feeling the heat, the presiding
judge interrupted him several times and Robert Emmet ended his great
speech with some of the most memorable lines in Irish history:
“I have not been allowed
to vindicate my character. I have but one request to ask at my
departure from this world: it is the charity of its silence.
Let no man write my epitaph; for as no man who knows my motives dare to
vindicate them, let not prejudice or ignorance asperse them. Let
them rest in obscurity and peace: my memory be left in oblivion and my
tomb remain uninscribed, until other times and other men can do justice
to my character. When my country takes her place among the nations
of the earth, then, and not till then, let my epitaph be written. I have
done.”8
At 25, just before execution,
Robert Emmet uttered his last words:
“My friends, I die in
peace and with sentiments of universal love and kindness towards all
men.”9
Where
Emmet failed to “vindicate his character” in the courtroom of his
trial, his legacy has triumphed. Through action, Emmet pronounced
his belief in a free world, a world without imperial rule, where countries
must act for the benefit of their people. He believed in a world
where a man can embrace his countrymen as brothers, ready to stand for
noble causes. He fought and died for his cause. In the final
words of his “The Provisional Government to the People of Ireland” he
stated,
“Countrymen
if a cruel necessity forces us to retaliate, we will bury our resentments
in the field of battle, if we fall, we will fall where we fight for our
country – Fully impressed with this determination, of the necessity of
adhering to which past principle has but too fatally convinced us; fully
impressed with the justice of our cause which we now put to issue.
We make our last and solemn appeal to the sword and to Heaven; and as the
cause of Ireland deserves to prosper, may God give it victory.”10
Robert
Emmet gave his life for the right of freedom for not just his country, but
the world, in hopes that one day the victims of oppression would stand up
and seek equality. Theodore Roosevelt wrote,
“It
is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong
man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The
credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is
marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs
and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the
great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best,
know in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he
fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never
be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.”11
Robert
Emmet was that man in the arena. He failed, but not before his
beliefs took root in the world, the same beliefs we would die for today.
Works
Cited
Chokski, Monal, Cale Carter,
Deepak Gupta, Tove Martin et al. "The History of Apartheid in
South
Africa." Computers and Apartheid. Apr. 1995. www.vivisimo.com.
13 Apr. 2009
<http://www-cs-students.
stanford.edu/~cale/cs201/
index.html>.
Geoghegan, Patrick M. Robert
Emmet: A Life. Dublin: Gill & Macmillan Ltd, 2002.
Joyce, Patrick W. A Concise
History of Ireland. 17th ed. Dublin: M.H. Gill & Son, 1910.
Locke, John. The Two Treatises
of Government and a Letter Concerning Toleration. Binghampton,
NY: Vail-Ballou Press, 2003.
O'Donnell, Ruan. Robert Emmet
and the Rebellion of 1798. Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2003.
O'Donnell, Ruan. Robert Emmet
and the Rising of 1803. Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 2003
Roosevelt, Theodore. Citizenship
In A Republic: The Man in the Arena. University of Paris,
Sorbonne.
23 April 1910.