Addressed to Sir William Wickham, Chief Secretary For Ireland on the 20th of September, 1803.
Sir,
Had I been permitted to proceed with my vindication it was my intention not only to have acknowledged the delicacy with which I feel with gratitude that I have been personally treated, but also to have done the most public justice to the mildness of the present administration of this country, and at the same time to have acquitted them, as far as rested with me, of any charge of remissness in not having previously detected a conspiracy which from its closeness I know it was impossible to have done. I confess that I should have preferred this mode had it been permitted, as it would thereby have enabled me to clear myself from an imputation under which I might in consequence lie, and to have stated why such an administration did not prevent, but under the peculiar situation of this country, perhaps rather accelerated my determination, to make an effort for the overthrow of a Government of which I do not think equally highly. However as I have been deprived of that opportunity I think it right now to make an acknowledgment which justice requires of me as a man, and which I do not feel in the least derogatory from my decided principles as an Irishman.
I have the honour to be, sir, with the greatest respect, your most obedient, humble servant,
Robert Emmet.