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310 Stephen Dunford: The Journey of The IrIsh
ing. But about the middle of July, when plans were still not complete, one of Emmet’s arms depots was discovered by the authorities following an explosion, and fearing that the rest of his depots would be discovered as a result, Emmet hastily and unfortunately determined that the rising would take place a week later.
On 23 July, young Robert Emmet, probably with the realisation that his premature ven- ture was doomed to fail, gave the order to rise, and as was to be expected, however, owing to the hurried and unformed plans, everything that could go wrong –did. The Wicklow men who were expected to come for the assault on Dublin Castle never received the word despatched to them. The Kildare men arrived, but, being informed that the attack had been postponed, returned home; while a number of Wexford men who came were left without any orders.
In Dublin city itself, confusion and false rumour abounded and consequently the plans of the Dublin men were also spoiled. In the end, less than one hundred men, however, as- sembled at their appointed rallying-place, the Marshalsea Depot, in Marshalsea Lane, just off Thomas Street, where having being informed that troops were on their way to disperse them, Emmet and the other leaders of the miserable band determined to launch an attack on the castle at once. But when Emmet’s band sallied forth into the crowded streets of Dublin, a mob quickly collected around them, and following in the wake of the rebels, they began pillaging and rioting. In the ensuing melee, a section of the rioters came upon Lord Kilwarden, the Chief Justice, dragged him from his private carriage and hacked him to death on the spot. Unable to control the riot, and stricken with horror at the brutal murder of the Chief Justice, Emmet abandoned the projected rising and fled, first to his home in the Dublin suburb of Rathfarnham, then onwards to the Wicklow Mountains and refuge with Michael Dwyer. The British troops, arriving after his departure, easily quelled the riot, killed several and took many others prisoners.
Though safe in the fastness of the mountains, and with plans in place to spirit him out of the country, Emmet risked all in an effort to see his fiancé, Sarah Curran, an ill-fated effort which caused his capture. Robert Emmet was tried before the notorious Lord Norbury, “the Hanging Judge”, a man who had no love for the United Irishmen, and one who had already sent many to the gallows. Represented by the eminent barrister Leonard MacNally, the treacherous United Irishman and Government Spy, unsurprisingly, after a trial lasting but