it being natural enough to presume that an opportunity of locking her out would soon occur. But such a presumption was ill founded: she remained in the room for twelve months, and left it but once, and then under peculiar circumstances. Her child, then at Mr. Emmet's father's, was dangerously ill, and upon appealing to the jailer's wife, herself a mother, she was permitted to depart at the hour of midnight, and the next night at the same hour was suffered to return, without the knowledge of the jailer. In the Spring of 1799, Mr. Emmet and his fellow prisoners were removed to Fort George, in the north-eastern part of Scotland, on Murray Frith. Here he remained three years, during which time he wrote a portion of the history of Ireland, which was printed at New York in 1807. From Scotland Mr. Emmet went to the continent, where he resided until 1804, a part of the time in Brussels and a part of the time in Paris. Here he did little else than recover his health and build up his strength, which had been greatly shattered during his protracted confinement. In October, 1804, he sailed with his family from Bordeaux, and on the eleventh of the following November, arrived at New York. After some deliberation between the two professions, of which he was an able member, he determined in favor of the law, and was admitted to the Supreme Court of the United States. He now selected Ohio as his future home, and was making preparations to remove thence, when Governor George Clinton, hearing of his intention, sent for him and advised him to remain in New York, where his great talents would command patronage. The recent death of Hamilton had left a vacancy which Mr. Emmet could occupy. "Mr. Emmet replied that he would gladly remain in New York, but he could not practise without a previous study of three years, or perhaps six, in order to become a counsellor and advocate, such were the rules of court adopted in New York, and while he was studying law his family would want bread. Governor Clinton told him not to be discouraged; if the Supreme Court declined giving him a license, the legislature would give him one by express statute. Mr. Emmet changed his plans and commenced practice in New York, where he at once reached a prominent place in the profession. In 1807 he entered the arena of politics, and became identified with the republican party. This circumstance deprived him of many of his clients; but his ability, learning and eloquence finally triumphed over party feeling, and they all returned. In 1812 he was appointed Attorney General of the State of New York. The following anecdote of his career in this station is preserved in the memoir by Haines:-"Mr. Emmet repaired to the county of Chenango to try an indictment for an attempt to procure the vote of a member of the legislature by bribery and corruption. The proceeding excited strong party feelings. Elisha Williams and Mr. Foot, formerly an eminent counsellor and advocate residing in Albany, were opposed to him. The latter had his task assigned him-he was to brow-beat Mr. Emmet. In the discharge of this duty, he stated, among other things, that Mr. Emmet's promotion to the office of Attorney General was the reward of party efforts, and that in conducting this prosecution, he was doing homage for that office. He gained nothing by his assaults. When Mr. Emmet came to this part of his speech, he stated the accusation as it had been made by his opponent, and replied, ‘it is false, and he knew it. The office which I have the honor to hold, is the reward of useful days and sleepless nights, devoted to the acquisition and exercise of my profession, and of a life of unspotted integrity-claims and qualifications which that gentleman can never put forth for any office, humble or exalted.'" This severity afforded a salutary lesson, which ever after secured him a respectful treatment at the New York bar. Another characteristic anecdote is related of Mr. Emmet, by Sullivan. While he was pursuing his profession of counsellor at the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States, he was accustomed to carry a simple eye-glass loosely in his hand, which he frequently applied to his eye when addressing the court or jury. On one occasion in the year 1815, when opposed to Mr. Pinkney, of Maryland, this gentleman resorted to some personalities in the course of his argument against Mr. Emmet. Bringing his eye-glass to his eye, Mr. Emmet thus addressed the court, referring to Mr. Pinkney, who had lately returned from a foreign mission: "May it please your honors, I know not where the honorable gentleman learned his manners; but if in his late experience at foreign courts, he obtained them there, I am sure he could have kept no company; and if he took them with him, it is a great pity he did not leave them there," which reply, delivered with a slight brogue, was very effective.* Mr. Emmet continued his professional labors until the time of his death. His devotion to business was unceasing. More than thirteen hours of the day were occupied in study and in the office. His evenings were passed in the investigation of cases; and he very frequently extended his studies until after the hour of midnight. In court, too, he was often engaged until a late hour. This incessant toil he was enabled to undergo by his temperate and regular habits. He mixed but little with the fashionable world, and rarely appeared at public entertainments. "As an advocate," says one of his cotemporaries, "Mr. Emmet was unrivalled. Thoroughly imbued with the learning of his profession, he had also made himself minutely acquainted with the political history of Europe. For many years engaged in politics, and on terms of intimate intercourse with the first men of the age, he was enabled in aid of his argument, to give the happiest historical illustrations, and drawing on his memory, he overwhelmed his antagonists with parallels and striking contrasts, which they were not competent to explain or repel. The great charms of his eloquence, however, consisted in his earnestness and splendid imagery. Logical, clear and profound, he presented his argument in all points of view. Every principle which could be brought in favor of his clients was urged to the uttermost. His manner was deeply impressive. No one that ever heard him speak could forget his dignified, but earnest attitude, his forcible and unstudied gestures, obviously springing from the impulse of the moment; his powerful and expressive voice, whose very tones carried conviction, and above all, that noble exhibition of passion, imagination and reason; all combining and concentrating in one powerful, and often irresistible appeal to the hearts and understandings of the audience. No orator knew better how to enlist his hearers on the side of his client, or to avail himself of that sympathetic feeling, which in a deeply excited audience is communicated from bosom to bosom, until the jurors themselves, yielding to the influence, find a justification for the verdict they determine to give, in the glistening eyes and excited countenances of the surrounding spectators. t In the year 1827, at the October term of the Circuit Court of the United States, Mr. Emmet was engaged in several important cases, among which were the celebrated Astor cause, involving the title to a great part of Putnam county, New York; the trial of Lieutenant Percival, on a charge of extortion, and the case of the Sailors' Snug Harbor. On Wednesday, the fourteenth of November, while attending the trial of the latter cause, he was seized with an apoplectic fit, and on being carried home, expired in the course of the following night. THE DEFENCE OF WILLIAM S. SMITH. This speech was delivered by Mr. Emmet in the trial of William S. Smith, who was charged with being concerned in preparing a military expedition, set on foot in the city of New York, and intended to be carried on against the dominions of Spain, in South America, at a time when peace existed between the United States and Spain.‡ Sullivan's Familiar Letters on Public Characters. GENTLEMEN OF THE JURY: I assume it as a fact, which cannot be denied, and which is ducting these proceedings, as well as from the clearly to be inferred from the manner of conparties who appear against the defendant, that this is emphatically a State prosecution. Impressed with a conviction of that fact, I did not think, at the commencement of this court, that it would have become my duty, during its sitting, to address a jury; for when the defendant came forward and averred upon oath, that he had acted with the knowledge and approbation + See American Annual Register, for 1827-8-9, vol. 4, of the Executive; when he threw down the part 2: and the Memoir of Thomas Addis Emmet, by Charles G. Haines; to which the editor is indebted for the material of this sketch. This expedition is known as Miranda's Expedition. A general account of it was published in New York in 1808. The trial of Mr. Smith took place in the Circuit Court of the which scarcely thirty years ago were colonies, engaged in a bloody struggle for the purpose of shaking off their dependence on the parent state, the attempt to free a colony from the oppressive yoke of its mother country, is called "audacious, novel, and dangerous." It is true, General Miranda's attempt is daring, and if you will, audacious: but wherefore is it novel and dangerous. Because he, a private individual, unaided by the public succor of any state, at lus! expeller of the thirty tyrants! restorer of Athenian freedom! wherefore are you named with honor in the records of history? Because, while a fugitive and an exile, you collected together a band of brave adventurers, who con gauntlet of investigation on that point; when he indicated, as the witnesses, by whom he meant to prove his assertion, the very heads of departments themselves; when he made the utmost exertions to procure their attendance, and avowed his intention of appealing to their oaths, I confess I believed that the public prosecutor would not have deemed it conducive to the honor of his cause, or the exalted character of the Executive government, to urge on the trial of this State prosecution, till those wit-tempts to liberate South America? Thrasy bunesses, whose presence we have not been able to procure, and whose absence is attributed, without contradiction, and upon oath, to that very Executive, had come in and deposed as to the facts alleged in the defendant's affidavit. I thought that the magnitude of those considera-fided in your integrity and talents-because, tions would have overpowered the littleness of legal discussions; and that this cause would have been postponed by common consent, until it could be brought forward with all its circumstances; and a jury, and the world at large, enabled to form a correct judgment of the nature and justice of this prosecution. But it has been thought advisable to pursue a different line of conduct. We are forced on to trial, without the benefit of our whole means of defence; our witnesses are wilfully absent; our testimony is maimed and mutilated; we are tied and bound, and cast into the furnace; but still we hope that you, like the angel of God, will walk with us through the fire. without the acknowledged assistance of any state or nation, with no commission but what you derived from patriotism, liberty and justice, you marched with your chosen friends, and overthrew the tyranny of Sparta, in the land that gave you birth. Nor are Argos and Thebes censured for having afforded you refuge, countenance and protection. Nor is Ismenias, then at the head of the Thebean government, accused of having departed from the duties of his station, because he obeyed the impulse of benevolence and compassion towards an oppressed people, and gave that private assistance which he could not publicly avow. Of General Miranda it is true that he has You, gentlemen, are taken from the mass of been a wanderer from court to court, like Hanyour fellow-citizens; it is, therefore, natural to nibal, supplicating assistance for his country. apprehend that you may be influenced by those He served in Florida, as your ally, during your prejudices and misconceptions, which have revolutionary war; and there, from becoming been disseminated through the community; interested in your contest, from contemplating and it becomes my duty to endeavor to remove the prospects that were opened to you by the them. Against General Miranda, and the ob- possession of independence, he first conceived ject of his expedition, I have heard and read the project of emancipating South America. some malignant calumnies, which only could From your own altar of liberty he caught the have originated with mean and mercenary holy flame, which has since inextinguishably beings, who never yet sacrificed a selfish feel- burned within his bosom; which has driven ing to a public principle; whose hearts never him from his home, his family, his social circle, sympathized with the sufferings of a slave; nor and domestic endearments; which has marked swelled with the mighty hope of delivering a and checkered his past life with misery and nation. The district attorney, in his opening misfortunes; but which I hope will, hereafter, address to you, did not permit himself to adopt make him the illustrious instrument of redeemthose calumnies in their entire extent; he is ing from bondage a noble country, highly faincapable of doing so, for his sentiments are vored by nature, but desolated by man-a liberal, and his manners mild. Sufficient, how-wretched country, in which the blessings of ever, fell from him, to give to them somewhat of color and countenance, and to enlist your passions and prejudices against General Miranda, and all concerned in his expedition, among whom he charges the defendant with being one. In particular, I remember, he termed Miranda a fugitive on the face of the earth, and characterized the object of the expedition as something audacious, novel and dangerous. It has often struck me, gentlemen, as matter of curious observation, how speedily new nations, like new-made nobility and emperors, acquire the cant and jargon of their station. Let me exemplify this observation, by remarking, that here, within the United States, VOL. 1.-34 heaven wither before the touch of tyranny. When the armies of France seemed to be the vanguard of liberty in Europe, we find Miranda among her most distinguished generals. From the rulers of that republic he received promises and assurances of assistance for his long-meditated project; but alas, gentlemen, the promises and assurances of governors and rulers are only calculated to deceive those who confide in them to their ruin.' Spain, having made peace with France, asked for the sacrifice of Miranda; and it seems, gentlemen, that when two nations are at peace, if one of them asks from the other for the sacrifice of an individual, the demand is irresistible. Miranda was dragged before a rev olutionary tribunal; but that body, composed on somewhat of jury principles, feeling, as I hope every thing partaking of the nature of a jury always will feel, indignation at being made the instrument of such an abomination, loosed and liberated the devoted victim. From France he passed over into England; But to his country turned with ceaseless pain, And dragged, at each remove, a length'ning chain. In England, had General Miranda consented to a transfer of dominion over his country, and to its being subjected to the British crown, he might have arrived to the highest military honors and fortune: but this man, who is accused of being a political intriguer, rejected with disgust the proposals of that intriguing cabinet, and took refuge in America-"the world's best hope." Here, having soon perceived the clouds which were gathering in our hemisphere, he fondly hoped that the storm would roll towards the Andes, and that the thunder of heaven was at length about to burst upon Spanish domination. With what assurances or promises, with what hopes or expectations he left our shores, it is not, perhaps, permitted to me to assert; but if his object be to give happiness to the wretched, and liberty to the slave, may he fulfil for his country the omen that is contained in his name -a name that surely indicates no common destiny. For in whatever clime the contest is to be carried on; whoever shall be the oppressor of the oppressed, may the Almighty Lord of Hosts strengthen the arms of those that fight for the freedom of their native land! May he guide them in their counsels, assist them in their difficulties, comfort them in their distresses, and give them victory in their battles! Respecting the character of the defendant, Colonel Smith, it is surely unnecessary, gentlemen, for me to trouble you with many words. He is an old revolutionary officer, that fought under the eyes, and lived in the family, of the illustrious Washington, whose honorable certificates he bears, as the monuments of his fame. The war for independence, that kindled in him and General Miranda the same love of liberty, by its consequences connected them in the strictest friendship. It is, therefore, natural to suppose, that Colonel Smith may have become acquainted with many of the secret wishes and views of Miranda; but for whatever part he may have taken, if, in truth, he has taken any part in promoting the expedition of which you have heard so much, and whatever may be your verdict, he has already suffered the anticipated punishment of removal from an office, which, to an exemplary son, brother, parent, husband, and friend, was the sole support of himself and family. I have thought it necessary, gentlemen, to premise these observations for the purpose of removing any unfavorable impressions, under which you may have hitherto labored; and also because I trust they will induce you to scan, with a severer scrutiny, any allegations of criminality in men, whose objects and conduct, even as imputed to them, when judged of on the broad and universal principles of human rights, of morality and justice, and when estimated by their tendency to promote the improvement or happiness of mankind, must appear essentially meritorious and honorable. It is not, however, gentlemen, exclusively on these broad and universal principles, that you are required to decide this cause. The indictment rests on more circumscribed and partial foundations, which, although they will not receive equal respect from the world at large, and will probably never be thought of by posterity, must still be submitted to your peculiar attention. The indictment is framed on a certain statute of the United States, concerning which, permit me to make a few preliminary observations. This statute, when first enacted, was merely temporary, and for a very short duration. The attorney-general, in his opening, stated the present to be the first trial that has taken place on this section of the law, and that it was enacted to prevent certain enterprises set on foot by M. Genet, at that time the French minister, in favor of his own government. A somewhat different history of the law has been this day given, by which it would appear, that expeditions, similar to the present, were not within the contemplation of the legislature; it has been stated, and I believe correctly, that this law was made with a view to certain land expeditions, then forming, under the influence of French counsels, within the boundaries of the United States, against the Floridas. And it must be confessed, that the words of the act most peculiarly and naturally apply to military expeditions, or enterprises by land; neither the word maritime, nor any other substitute for it, having gained admission into the law. If, however, the attorney-general's statement be correct, and that this temporary statute was directed against M. Genet, let the singular circumstance which marks this trial, be a beacon to warn political men against the unnecessary making of severe laws, from temporary or party motives: for who would have thought, when this clause was enacted, in the vice presidency of Mr. Adams, with direct hostility to M. Genet, that the first person who should be tried under it, would be the son-in-law of Mr. Adams; and that the first judge, who should preside on such a trial, would be the brotherin-law of M. Genet! And while I hold up this strange coincidence, as a warning to statesmen against the abuse of temporary power, let it be a caution to you also, gentlemen of the jury, not to be induced, by occasional or party feelings, to give to such a law as this an overstrained or severe construction; for if you do, The statute, here referred to, was passed June 5, 1794, and was entitled, "An act, in addition to an act for the punishment of certain crimes against the United States." God knows how soon it may recoil upon your- | upon to give to it an extended interpretation, selves. under pretence of enforcing the law of nations; We are told, however, that this statute is but should, on the contrary, be careful to conentitled to peculiar respect, because it is declar- strue it strictly in favor of the accused: pursuatory of the law of nations; and as some sen-ant to the acknowledged principle, that all penal timents of that kind were expressed by the statutes are to be strictly construed. court, I feel inclined to treat them with the Before you proceed to a minute examination greatest deference. To me, however, I confess of the testimony in this cause, while the host of it does not appear that this statute has any cha-witnesses that were examined, are passing in racteristic of a declaratory law: it is temporary and penal; it fixes penalties not known to the law of nations, and in creating crimes, goes beyond that law; for it punishes the inchoate acts of parties, and almost their very intentions, although the law of nations confines its punishments to actual aggressions. If it were a declaratory law, wherefore should it be limited to a temporary duration? The law of nations is universal and perpetual; the fair exposition of its meaning should be so likewise. I have shown it was not intended to be perpetual; neither is it universal. What civilized state in the world has a statute similar to this? England has acts punishing crimes against the law of nations, but none in its nature or object analogous to this. America did very well without such a law, until a temporary circumstance, in the ebullition of party contest, gave it birth; and then Congress seemed to feel that in departing from the policy of other states, it was making a dangerous experiment; on no other principle can you account for its having limited the existence of the law to so short a period as two years. Neither is this statute necessary for enforcing the law of nations; that law is part of the common law of England and of the United States, and if any man offend against it, he may be punished, without the intervention of this statute. The foregoing observation leads me to notice an argument urged yesterday, by the learned judge from Connecticut, who appears at this bar as a counsel for the prosecution. He facetiously jumbled together, the Medes, the Perses, the Elamites, the Syrians, the Egyptians, as the persons employed in Miranda's expedition; and having contended that from their want of commissions, they might, if taken, be executed by Spain as pirates, he necessarily inferred that they were also indictable under this statute. The force of that conclusion does not strike me; for I can easily conceive many cases of piracy, which do not fall within the purview of this law. Suppose Congress had actually declared war against Spain; even then the fitting out of a military expedition by private citizens, without a commission from government, would be piracy; but most assuredly it would be no offence against this act. From his argument, however, I should draw a very opposite conclusion, and urge on you, gentlemen, that as offences against the law of nations can be punished both at home and abroad without the intervention of this statute; as they are punished in every other country without the existence of any similar statute, you should not be called | So in review before your minds, you must doubtless |