and whatever we thought of the argument, we could not help being
astonished & captivated with the fluency & beauty of the
illustration. I never heard Grattan or Flood—but I question, if
either of them could have surpassed Emmet. What became of him I
have not learned. He went, I think, to America, and for aught I
know, may be still alive there.^40‘What became’ of Dr Emmet is, of course, part of Irish history: he was
lucky to escape with his life for his part in the 1798 uprising; was
imprisoned in Scotland at Fort George until 1802; tried to enlist
Napoleon’s support for the 1803 conspiracy for which his brother was
hanged; then emigrated to New York and ended his days as one of
America’s most distinguished lawyers.
41
He was already six years in his
grave when Macknight wrote down his memories of him. It is strange and
perhaps instructive that Constant does not mention Emmet, who played
such a leading role in the Speculative Society between 1783 and 1785.
Mackintosh perhaps gives a clue about this silence: ‘Emmett did not
reason, but he was an eloquent declaimer, with the taste which may be
called Irish, and which Grattan had then rendered so popular at Dublin.’^42
‘Emmett did not reason’: to a disciple of Helvétius who was as steeped in French
Enlightenment thought as Benjamin Constant, the clinquant, the flashiness of Emmet’s
furious oratory would appear strange and outlandish, and the violence of his espousal of
the cause of the United Irish Society disturbing. By 1810–11 when he came to write Ma
Vie, Constant had very firm views about usurpation and the use of military force. One can
imagine that a man like Thomas Addis Emmet, for him as for the Speculative Society, lay
beyond the pale, in the full sense of that phrase: indeed the Speculative Society, for all
the radicalism of some of its members, had long since expelled Emmet from its number
for disloyalty to the British Crown.
Mackintosh, Laing, Emmet: these were the most prominent members of the
Speculative Society in the period which concerns us. But there was one other member
who, on Constant’s own admission, was the most important of all because of the deep
friendship which grew between him and Constant: John Wilde.
Of all those young men the one who seemed the most promising
was the son of a tobacco merchant named John Wilde. He had an
authority over all of the rest which was almost absolute, even
though most of them came from better families or were well off by
comparison. He was immensely learned, tireless in his enthusiasm
for his studies, brilliant in conversation, and of excellent character.
After having reached the rank of Professor through sheer merit and
having published a book which had begun to make a favourable
reputation for him, he went completely mad and now, if he is notThe charms of friendship 51