The Trial of Joseph Gerrald, Delegate from the London Corresponding Society, to the British Convention. Before the High Court of Justiciary, at Edinburgh, on the 3rd, 10th, 13th, and 14th of March, 1794. For Sedition. Taken in Short-Hand by Mr. Ramsey
Edinburgh, James Robertson, [1794].
Octavo, 256 pages plus a frontispiece portrait by John Kay.
Later (not recent) half polished speckled calf and early marbled papered boards, with a contrasting leather title-label on the spine; tidy conservation to the papered sides; endpapers discoloured by the leather turn-ins, with some visible restoration; frontispiece and title leaf a little offset and foxed, with occasional light foxing elsewhere; overall, in very good condition.
Joseph Gerrald (1763-1796), political reformer, was one of the 'Scottish Martyrs' transported to Australia for sedition. At the British Convention of the Delegates of the People, a convention of political reformers calling for universal suffrage and annual parliaments, held in Edinburgh in late 1793, Gerrald's 'impassioned and indeed revolutionary eloquence made him one of the outstanding figures of that assembly which modelled its procedures and modes of address on that of the French revolutionaries. This and the increasing public clamour greatly alarmed the Tory government and on 5 December 1793 he ... [was] arrested for sedition.... Brought to trial at Edinburgh on 3 March 1794 before a prejudiced bench and jury, he conducted himself with great dignity, and although the reasoned eloquence of his defence drew admiration from all present he was convicted and sentenced to fourteen years transportation. The severe and perhaps illegal sentences passed on Gerrald and his fellow reformers caused widespread indignation from those advocating reasonable change in public affairs and formed the subject of debate in parliament. Despite this outcry, and although in failing health, Gerrald was kept for over twelve months in Newgate gaol.... On 2 May 1795, without warning or being able to make any preparation for the voyage, he was taken from his sick bed' and transported to New South Wales. When he arrived at Sydney on 5 November 1795, he was far advanced with tuberculosis, and he died on 16 March 1796 ('Australian Dictionary of Biography'). Ferguson 179.
Item #139462
Price (AUD):
$550.00