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Xviii PREFACE.
view of inquiring into the extent of this branch of the plot, and dealing summarily with those engaged in it.
•' Imperious and harsh as then seemed the policy of thus setting up a sort of inquisitorial tribunal, armed with the power of examining witnesses on oath, and in a place devoted to the instruction of youth, I cannot but confess that the facts which came out in the course of the evidence, went far towards justifying even this arbitrary proceeding; and to the many who, like myself, were acquainted only with the general views of the Union leaders, without even knowing, except from conjecture, who those leaders were, or what their plans or objects, it was most startling to hear the disclosures which every succeeding witness brought forth. There were a few, — and among that number, poor Robert Emmet, John Brown, and the two ******sfj whose total absence from the whole scene, as well as the dead silence that, day after day, followed the calling out of their names, proclaimed how deep had been their share in the unlawful proceedings inquired into by this tribunal.
But there was one young friend of mine, ****** *f
f One of these brothers has long been a general in the French *rmy; having taken a part in all those great enterprises of Napoleon which have now become matter of history. Should these pages meet the eye of General *»****, they will call to his mind the days we passed together in Normandy, a few summers since; — more especially our excursion to Bayeux, when, as we talked on the way of old college times and friends, all the eventful and stormy scenes he had passed through since seemed forgotten. |
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