After an imprisonment of four years in Fort George, in violation of an express promise, the state prisoners, Mr. EMMETT among the rest, were released, and in 1804, at the age of 40, he landed in America. After some hesitation as to whether he would not pursue his original profession as a physician, he at length determined on the bar. His call, without a preliminary probation of three years, met the opposition of Chancellor KENT, then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, who at length yielded to the entreaties of his brethren; and, by a suspension of its rules, he became an American barrister. From the family of the CLINTONS, the chief of which was then Governor of the State of New York, he received both advice and countenance, and at their suggestion he located himself in the city of New York. Still all was not fair weather. America, the Utopia of his republican idolatry, had its feuds and its parties. There were those in New York for whom EMMETT was too republican. Partly from an antipathy to his politics, and partly, it is to be feared, from professional jealousy, the Federalist party at the local bar, outraged all decency so far as to refuse to hold briefs with him! But he who had braved power in its

stronghold, was not the man to quail before such a confederacy as that. He confronted and crushed it, and reaped not merely the pecuniary rewards, but what of course he prized more, the honors of the profession. His enemies cowered before him-Chancellor KENT rejoiced in the recantation of his hostility, and the expatriated Irishman became Attorney General of the State of New York. It was, indeed, an enviable elevation, because attained by no unworthy art or servile compromise, but fairly earned by splendid talents, indefatigable industry, and stern independence. It requires some experience of the difficulties he overcame in a strange land, amid envious rivals, friendless and isolated, to estimate his merits. There are some interesting incidents recorded of the manner in which Mr. EMMETT met his enemies. Among these, one of the most formidable, and also the most eminent, was RUFUS KING. EмMETT, it will be observed, owed him an ancient grudge, and avenged it on the occasion of King's being a candidate for Governor of New York, in 1807. At a meeting of the Irish in that city, he bitterly assailed the Federal candidate, and was in turn as bitterly assailed by him, and by the press in his interest. Emmett

retorted, in a letter, his charges against King, one of which was his interference, as embassador at the Court of St. James's to prevent the state prisoners from residing in America!—a cruel, and, from such a quarter, a scandalous interference. However, America, universal America, has long since, by a noble and generous hospitality vindicated her character from any participation in such a proceeding. "Your interference was then, sir," writes Emmett, "made the pretext for detaining us four years in custody, by which very extensive and useful plans of settlement within these States were broken up. The misfortunes which you brought upon the objects of your persecution were incalculable. Almost all of us wasted four of the best years of our lives in prison. As to me, I should have brought along with me my father, and his family, including a brother, whose name perhaps, even you will not read without emotions of sympathy and respect. Others, nearly connected with me, would have become partners in my emigration. But all of them have been torn from me. I have been prevented from saving a brother-from receiving the dying blessings of a father, mother, and sister-and from soothing their last agonies by my cares;

and this, sir, by your unwarrantable and unfeeling interference."

Who, on reading this, can refuse a tear to the fate of ROBERT EMMETT? What virtues were not shorn of their effect-what talents were not robbed of their influence-by this monstrous interference of King! Had this not happened, instead of expiating his love of country on a scaffold, the subject of this memoir might have wreathed fresh laurels for his native land, and repaid with service, and requited with glory, the land of his adoption. It were vain to speculate on what might have been; but surely never was a dawn more splendid, overcast, or a fairer spring blighted in its promise.

Mr. EMMETT thus proceeds in his letter to King: "Your friends, when they accuse me of want of moderation towards you, are wonderfully mistaken. They do not reflect, or know, that I have never spoken of you, without suppressing, as I now do, personal feelings that rise up within me, and swell my heart with indignation and resentment. The step you took was unauthorized by your own Government. Whether our conduct in Ireland was right or wrong, you have no justification for yours. The constitution and laws of this coun

try gave you no power to require of the British Government that it should violate its faith, and withdraw from us its consent to the place we had fixed upon for our voluntary emigration; neither the President nor you were warranted to prevent our touching these shores. These remarks I address, with all becoming respect, to one whom his press describes as "the first man in the country." Yet, in fact, I do not clearly see in what consists your superiority over myself. It is true, you have been a resident Minister at the Court of St. James', and if what I have read in the public prints be true, and if you be apprised of my near relationship and family connection with the late Sir JOHN TEMPLE, you must acknowledge that your interference, as a Minister, against my being permitted to emigrate to America, is a very curious instance of the caprice of fortune. But let that pass. To what extent I ought to yield to you for talent and information, it is not for me to decide. In no other respect however, do I feel your excessive superiority. My private character and conduct are, I hope, as fair as yours; and even in those matters which I consider as trivial, but upon which aristocratic pride is accustomed to stamp a value, I should