A discourse on the life and character of Thomas Addis Emmet : pronounced, by request, in the New-York city-hall on the first day of March, 1828 / by Samuel L. Mitchill.

  • Mitchill, Samuel L. (Samuel Latham), 1764-1831.
Date:
1828
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: A discourse on the life and character of Thomas Addis Emmet : pronounced, by request, in the New-York city-hall on the first day of March, 1828 / by Samuel L. Mitchill. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    tending to almost every quarter of the island. The asso- ciates took the name of United Irishmen. The Irish stu- dents at Edinburgh were full of this innovating spirit- One, whom I knew, published a political pamphlet. Ano- ther talked to me of putting as a suffix to his name on the title-page of his dissertation, Miles Hibernicus. The body of reformers was very numerous, though poorly aim- ed and disciplined. A violent conflict ensued. The go- vernment determined to support itself, and to crush the in- surgents, as they called the patriots. Matters were car- ried to such a length, that open resistance was made, and blood shed in the combats. The civil power, aided by the military, at length prevailed. Of the unfortunate sur- vivors, some were hanged as rebels and traitors; some sought safety in exile, and others submitted and made their peace upon the best conditions they could. Besides these there was another class, the members of which, though not charged with overt acts of insurrection or rebellion, were considered as suspicious and dangerous; threatening the order of society by their example, or as- sailing it by their conversations. A number of such were arrested and detained as prisoners of state. Of these, Thomas A. Emmet was one. What would have been the result of the national effort, can now be only a matter of conjecture. Man, particularly when acting in a multi- tudinous capacity, is frequently carried beyond the bounds he had prescribed to himself; if, indeed, he had ever in- tended a limitation. The gaining of one point leads to another, and another, and another, until a project com- menced for a reform, only ends in a revolution or an over- throw ; and if the work had been carried so far, a cry would have been made for a distinct and separate govern- ment, by popular suffrage. Had this been attempted, it would have been attended with extreme violence and commotion, and it might be alleged, that if a new order of things had been confirmed, it would have been a happy and a glorious event. It might have been so. The subject.