Friends of the People Society
Encyclopedia
The Society of the Friends of the People (full title The Society of the Friends of the People, Associated for the Purpose of Obtaining a Parliamentary Reform) was formed in Great Britain
by Whig
s at the end of the 18th century as part of a movement seeking radical
political reform that would widen electoral enfranchisement at a time when only a wealthy minority had the vote. The Society in England
was aristocratic and exclusive, in contrast to the Friends of the People in Scotland
who increasingly drew on a wider membership, before government clampdowns at the onset of the Napoleonic Wars
ended the Societies.
had increased parliamentary power with a constitutional monarchy
and the union of the parliaments had brought England and Scotland together, towards the end of the 18th century the monarch still had considerable influence over Parliament
which itself was dominated by the English aristocracy and by patronage. Candidates for the House of Commons stood as Whigs or Tories
, but once elected formed shifting coalitions of interests rather than splitting along party lines. At general election
s the vote was restricted to property owners, in constituencies which were out of date and did not reflect the growing importance of manufacturing towns or shifts of population, so that in many rotten borough
s seats could be bought or were controlled by rich landowners, while major cities remained unrepresented. Radical
s and more moderate Reformers called for reform of the system.
The American Revolutionary War
ended in humiliating defeat of a policy which King George III had fervently advocated, and in March 1782 the King was forced to appoint an administration led by his opponents which sought to curb Royal patronage. In November 1783 he took his opportunity and used his influence in the House of Lords
to defeat a Bill to reform the British East India Company
, dismissed the government and appointed William Pitt the Younger
as his Prime Minister. Pitt had previously called for Parliament to begin to reform itself, but he did not press for long for reforms the King did not like. Proposals Pitt made in April 1785 to redistribute seats from the "rotten borough
s" to London and the counties were defeated in the House of Commons by 248 votes to 174.
The French Revolution
in 1789 was welcomed by many in Britain with hopes for a mutual interest in Liberty and peace. The King recognised the hand of justice in limitation of the powers of the French king, who had lately assisted the American rebels. The Whig club of Dundee
described it as "the triumph of liberty and reason over despotism, ignorance and superstition." Thomas Paine
's The Rights of Man encouraged mass support for democratic reform and numerous reform Societies were formed across Britain, starting with the London Corresponding Society
which was founded by artisan
s and working men on 25 January 1792.
on the initiative of Lord Lauderdale
, Charles Grey
and Philip Francis
. Charles Grey was the leading figure and he stressed that the organisation would not engage in activities that would promote public disturbacnces.
The membership included 3 Whig Peers
and 28 Whig Members of Parliament
s, one being Richard Sheridan. Charles James Fox
was not a member, and it is argued that the society excluded him to separate themselves from the Whig party, with their only goal being the elimination of corrupt election practices. Fox stated that he did not wish to discourage the enthusiasts pressing for "more equal representation of the people in Parliament" and voted for Grey's motion in Parliament which was defeated by 284 votes to 41 in May 1793.
It has been stated that by November 1792 87 branches of the organisation had been formed. Another interpretation is that when Fox made a speech in Parliament associating the Friends of the People with proposals for Constitutional change, the original goal of the organization was delegitimized and radical groups calling themselves the Friends of the People sprang up around the country. In any event much of the wider membership was seen as quite radical
and some of their activities caused leading parliamentary reformers concern.
The Friends of the People caused divisions inside the Whigs. On 4 June 1792 John Cartwright
(a Friends of the People member) made a speech praising Thomas Paine
's book, The Rights of Man. Four Whig MPs resigned from the Whig group in parliament.
was founded in July 1792 with lower subscription rates than the English Society, attracting a wider membership which made it more like the London Corresponding Society
. It soon had imitators in towns and villages throughout Scotland.
The rank and file were usually described as "shopkeepers and artisan
s", and included most prominently weavers as well as tailors, cobblers, brewers, bakers, tanners, butchers and hairdressers. The membership generally did not include general labourers, agricultural workers, colliers, spinners, foundrymen, masons and the like. The government feared such wider support and outbreaks of rioting in many places in the summer and autumn of 1792 were officially attributed to "an almost universal spirit of reform and opposition to the established government and legal administrators which has wonderfully diffused through the manufacturing towns", but most of the riots were due to other grievances such as an unpopular turnpike
, the Corn laws
and the Enclosure
s. Radical demonstrations were evident, not just in the larger towns such as Perth
and Dundee
but also in smaller towns such as Auchtermuchty
, at each of which a "Tree of Liberty" was erected and there were cries of "Liberty and Equality", but the Friends of the People unhesitatingly condemned these disturbances and threatened to expel from their membership anyone joining the rioters.
Between December 1792 and October 1793 held three "general conventions" of the Societies, the last being open to English delegates. Each convention and its aftermath increasingly frightened the upper middle classes away from the reform movement.
The first convention in December 1792 was well patronised by some of the Edinburgh Advocate
s, by Lord Daer and by Lieutenant Colonel Dalrymple of Fordell, and given literary backing by the Member of Parliament
for Inverness
, Colonel Macleod. The effective leader at the radical
faction at this convention was the eloquent Glasgow
lawyer Thomas Muir
who was subsequently sentenced by Lord Braxfield
after a travesty of a trial to fourteen years transportation
to the convict settlement at Botany Bay
, Australia
. In the second convention a similar rôle was played by the Unitarian
minister Thomas Fyshe Palmer
from Dundee
who suffered a similar fate. The third convention was totally deserted by the lawyers, attended by Lord Daer for a few days only, and publicly renounced by Colonel Macleod.
The third "general convention" in October 1793 was held in Edinburgh and called a British Convention, with delegates from some of the English corresponding societies attending. The leaders of the convention were Joseph Gerrald
and Maurice Margarot
, representatives from the London Corresponding Society. The convention issued a manifesto demanding universal male suffrage with annual elections and expressing their support for the principles of the French Revolution. The convention was then broken up by the authorities and a number of men were arrested and tried for sedition
, with Gerrald and Margarot being sentenced to fourteen years transportation
along with Muir.
, and the government continued to persecute those who sought reform.
The London Corresponding Society
defied the government by supporting the Scots at an open-air meeting at Chalk Farm
in April 1794. On 2 May thirteen of them were arrested for High treason
and sent to the Tower of London
, including figures such as Thomas Hardy
, John Horne Tooke
and John Thelwall
. With the aid of the Whig lawyer Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron Erskine
in their defence they were all acquitted.
The Whig group continued to try and reform the electoral system through Parliament but met with a continued lack of success. The Prime Minister William Pitt
argued that reform would give encouragement to those who sought to emulate the French Revolution
. In 1794 a large proportion of the Whigs defaulted to Pitt, leaving Fox to lead one of the weakest Oppositions in Parliamentary history. Realising that they had little chance of success the leaders of the society wound down the Friends of the People and radical activity became the preserve of secret organisations such as the United Irishmen and the United Scotsmen.
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
by Whig
British Whig Party
The Whigs were a party in the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain, and Parliament of the United Kingdom, who contested power with the rival Tories from the 1680s to the 1850s. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule...
s at the end of the 18th century as part of a movement seeking radical
Radicalism (historical)
The term Radical was used during the late 18th century for proponents of the Radical Movement. It later became a general pejorative term for those favoring or seeking political reforms which include dramatic changes to the social order...
political reform that would widen electoral enfranchisement at a time when only a wealthy minority had the vote. The Society in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
was aristocratic and exclusive, in contrast to the Friends of the People in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
who increasingly drew on a wider membership, before government clampdowns at the onset of the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
ended the Societies.
Background
Although the Glorious RevolutionGlorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution, also called the Revolution of 1688, is the overthrow of King James II of England by a union of English Parliamentarians with the Dutch stadtholder William III of Orange-Nassau...
had increased parliamentary power with a constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution, whether it be a written, uncodified or blended constitution...
and the union of the parliaments had brought England and Scotland together, towards the end of the 18th century the monarch still had considerable influence over Parliament
Parliament of Great Britain
The Parliament of Great Britain was formed in 1707 following the ratification of the Acts of Union by both the Parliament of England and Parliament of Scotland...
which itself was dominated by the English aristocracy and by patronage. Candidates for the House of Commons stood as Whigs or Tories
Tory
Toryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...
, but once elected formed shifting coalitions of interests rather than splitting along party lines. At general election
General election
In a parliamentary political system, a general election is an election in which all or most members of a given political body are chosen. The term is usually used to refer to elections held for a nation's primary legislative body, as distinguished from by-elections and local elections.The term...
s the vote was restricted to property owners, in constituencies which were out of date and did not reflect the growing importance of manufacturing towns or shifts of population, so that in many rotten borough
Rotten borough
A "rotten", "decayed" or pocket borough was a parliamentary borough or constituency in the United Kingdom that had a very small electorate and could be used by a patron to gain undue and unrepresentative influence within Parliament....
s seats could be bought or were controlled by rich landowners, while major cities remained unrepresented. Radical
Radicalism (historical)
The term Radical was used during the late 18th century for proponents of the Radical Movement. It later became a general pejorative term for those favoring or seeking political reforms which include dramatic changes to the social order...
s and more moderate Reformers called for reform of the system.
The American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
ended in humiliating defeat of a policy which King George III had fervently advocated, and in March 1782 the King was forced to appoint an administration led by his opponents which sought to curb Royal patronage. In November 1783 he took his opportunity and used his influence in the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
to defeat a Bill to reform the British East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
, dismissed the government and appointed William Pitt the Younger
William Pitt the Younger
William Pitt the Younger was a British politician of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He became the youngest Prime Minister in 1783 at the age of 24 . He left office in 1801, but was Prime Minister again from 1804 until his death in 1806...
as his Prime Minister. Pitt had previously called for Parliament to begin to reform itself, but he did not press for long for reforms the King did not like. Proposals Pitt made in April 1785 to redistribute seats from the "rotten borough
Rotten borough
A "rotten", "decayed" or pocket borough was a parliamentary borough or constituency in the United Kingdom that had a very small electorate and could be used by a patron to gain undue and unrepresentative influence within Parliament....
s" to London and the counties were defeated in the House of Commons by 248 votes to 174.
The French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
in 1789 was welcomed by many in Britain with hopes for a mutual interest in Liberty and peace. The King recognised the hand of justice in limitation of the powers of the French king, who had lately assisted the American rebels. The Whig club of Dundee
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
described it as "the triumph of liberty and reason over despotism, ignorance and superstition." Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine
Thomas "Tom" Paine was an English author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States...
's The Rights of Man encouraged mass support for democratic reform and numerous reform Societies were formed across Britain, starting with the London Corresponding Society
London Corresponding Society
London Corresponding Society was a moderate-radical body concentrating on reform of the Parliament of Great Britain, founded on 25 January 1792. The creators of the group were John Frost , an attorney, and Thomas Hardy, a shoemaker and metropolitan Radical...
which was founded by artisan
Artisan
An artisan is a skilled manual worker who makes items that may be functional or strictly decorative, including furniture, clothing, jewellery, household items, and tools...
s and working men on 25 January 1792.
Friends of the People in England
In April 1792 The Society of the Friends of the People, Associated for the Purpose of Obtaining a Parliamentary Reform was formed by a group of advanced young WhigsBritish Whig Party
The Whigs were a party in the Parliament of England, Parliament of Great Britain, and Parliament of the United Kingdom, who contested power with the rival Tories from the 1680s to the 1850s. The Whigs' origin lay in constitutional monarchism and opposition to absolute rule...
on the initiative of Lord Lauderdale
James Maitland, 8th Earl of Lauderdale
James Maitland, 8th Earl of Lauderdale KT PC was Keeper of the Great Seal of Scotland, and a representative peer for Scotland in the House of Lords.-Early years:...
, Charles Grey
Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey
Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, KG, PC , known as Viscount Howick between 1806 and 1807, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 22 November 1830 to 16 July 1834. A member of the Whig Party, he backed significant reform of the British government and was among the...
and Philip Francis
Philip Francis (English politician)
Sir Philip Francis was an Irish-born British politician and pamphleteer, the possible author of the Letters of Junius, and the chief antagonist of Warren Hastings. His accusations against the latter led to the Impeachment of Warren Hastings by Parliament.-Early life:Born in Dublin, he was the only...
. Charles Grey was the leading figure and he stressed that the organisation would not engage in activities that would promote public disturbacnces.
The membership included 3 Whig Peers
Peerage
The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...
and 28 Whig Members of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
s, one being Richard Sheridan. Charles James Fox
Charles James Fox
Charles James Fox PC , styled The Honourable from 1762, was a prominent British Whig statesman whose parliamentary career spanned thirty-eight years of the late 18th and early 19th centuries and who was particularly noted for being the arch-rival of William Pitt the Younger...
was not a member, and it is argued that the society excluded him to separate themselves from the Whig party, with their only goal being the elimination of corrupt election practices. Fox stated that he did not wish to discourage the enthusiasts pressing for "more equal representation of the people in Parliament" and voted for Grey's motion in Parliament which was defeated by 284 votes to 41 in May 1793.
It has been stated that by November 1792 87 branches of the organisation had been formed. Another interpretation is that when Fox made a speech in Parliament associating the Friends of the People with proposals for Constitutional change, the original goal of the organization was delegitimized and radical groups calling themselves the Friends of the People sprang up around the country. In any event much of the wider membership was seen as quite radical
Radicalism (historical)
The term Radical was used during the late 18th century for proponents of the Radical Movement. It later became a general pejorative term for those favoring or seeking political reforms which include dramatic changes to the social order...
and some of their activities caused leading parliamentary reformers concern.
The Friends of the People caused divisions inside the Whigs. On 4 June 1792 John Cartwright
John Cartwright (political reformer)
John Cartwright was an English naval officer, Nottinghamshire militia major and prominent campaigner for parliamentary reform. He subsequently became known as the Father of Reform...
(a Friends of the People member) made a speech praising Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine
Thomas "Tom" Paine was an English author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States...
's book, The Rights of Man. Four Whig MPs resigned from the Whig group in parliament.
Friends of the People in Scotland
In Scotland The Friends of the People Society in EdinburghEdinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
was founded in July 1792 with lower subscription rates than the English Society, attracting a wider membership which made it more like the London Corresponding Society
London Corresponding Society
London Corresponding Society was a moderate-radical body concentrating on reform of the Parliament of Great Britain, founded on 25 January 1792. The creators of the group were John Frost , an attorney, and Thomas Hardy, a shoemaker and metropolitan Radical...
. It soon had imitators in towns and villages throughout Scotland.
The rank and file were usually described as "shopkeepers and artisan
Artisan
An artisan is a skilled manual worker who makes items that may be functional or strictly decorative, including furniture, clothing, jewellery, household items, and tools...
s", and included most prominently weavers as well as tailors, cobblers, brewers, bakers, tanners, butchers and hairdressers. The membership generally did not include general labourers, agricultural workers, colliers, spinners, foundrymen, masons and the like. The government feared such wider support and outbreaks of rioting in many places in the summer and autumn of 1792 were officially attributed to "an almost universal spirit of reform and opposition to the established government and legal administrators which has wonderfully diffused through the manufacturing towns", but most of the riots were due to other grievances such as an unpopular turnpike
Turnpike trust
Turnpike trusts in the United Kingdom were bodies set up by individual Acts of Parliament, with powers to collect road tolls for maintaining the principal highways in Britain from the 17th but especially during the 18th and 19th centuries...
, the Corn laws
Corn Laws
The Corn Laws were trade barriers designed to protect cereal producers in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland against competition from less expensive foreign imports between 1815 and 1846. The barriers were introduced by the Importation Act 1815 and repealed by the Importation Act 1846...
and the Enclosure
Enclosure
Enclosure or inclosure is the process which ends traditional rights such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on common land. Once enclosed, these uses of the land become restricted to the owner, and it ceases to be common land. In England and Wales the term is also used for the...
s. Radical demonstrations were evident, not just in the larger towns such as Perth
Perth, Scotland
Perth is a town and former city and royal burgh in central Scotland. Located on the banks of the River Tay, it is the administrative centre of Perth and Kinross council area and the historic county town of Perthshire...
and Dundee
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
but also in smaller towns such as Auchtermuchty
Auchtermuchty
Auchtermuchty is a town in Fife, Scotland, situated beside Pitlour Hill nine miles north of Glenrothes. Until 1975 it was a royal burgh, established under charter of King James V in 1517. There is evidence of human habitation in the area dating back over 2,000 years, and the Romans are known to...
, at each of which a "Tree of Liberty" was erected and there were cries of "Liberty and Equality", but the Friends of the People unhesitatingly condemned these disturbances and threatened to expel from their membership anyone joining the rioters.
Between December 1792 and October 1793 held three "general conventions" of the Societies, the last being open to English delegates. Each convention and its aftermath increasingly frightened the upper middle classes away from the reform movement.
The first convention in December 1792 was well patronised by some of the Edinburgh Advocate
Advocate
An advocate is a term for a professional lawyer used in several different legal systems. These include Scotland, South Africa, India, Scandinavian jurisdictions, Israel, and the British Crown dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man...
s, by Lord Daer and by Lieutenant Colonel Dalrymple of Fordell, and given literary backing by the Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Inverness
Inverness
Inverness is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for the Highland council area, and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland...
, Colonel Macleod. The effective leader at the radical
Radicalism (historical)
The term Radical was used during the late 18th century for proponents of the Radical Movement. It later became a general pejorative term for those favoring or seeking political reforms which include dramatic changes to the social order...
faction at this convention was the eloquent Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
lawyer Thomas Muir
Thomas Muir (radical)
Thomas Muir was a Scottish political reformer.Muir was the son of James Muir, a hop merchant, and was educated at Glasgow Grammar School, before attending the University of Glasgow to study divinity...
who was subsequently sentenced by Lord Braxfield
Robert Macqueen, Lord Braxfield
Robert McQueen, Lord Braxfield was a Scottish lawyer and judge.McQueen was born near Lanark, son of John McQueen of Braxfield.He studied in Edinburgh and was called to the Bar in 1744. In 1759 he was appointed an Advocate Depute appearing for the Crown in prosecutions. He often appeared in more...
after a travesty of a trial to fourteen years transportation
Penal transportation
Transportation or penal transportation is the deporting of convicted criminals to a penal colony. Examples include transportation by France to Devil's Island and by the UK to its colonies in the Americas, from the 1610s through the American Revolution in the 1770s, and then to Australia between...
to the convict settlement at Botany Bay
Botany Bay
Botany Bay is a bay in Sydney, New South Wales, a few kilometres south of the Sydney central business district. The Cooks River and the Georges River are the two major tributaries that flow into the bay...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. In the second convention a similar rôle was played by the Unitarian
Unitarianism
Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....
minister Thomas Fyshe Palmer
Thomas Fyshe Palmer
Thomas Fyshe Palmer was an English-born Unitarian minister, political reformer and political exile.-Early life:Palmer was born in Ickwell, Bedfordshire, England, the son of Henry Fyshe who assumed the added name of Palmer because of an inheritance, and Elizabeth, daughter of James Ingram of...
from Dundee
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
who suffered a similar fate. The third convention was totally deserted by the lawyers, attended by Lord Daer for a few days only, and publicly renounced by Colonel Macleod.
The third "general convention" in October 1793 was held in Edinburgh and called a British Convention, with delegates from some of the English corresponding societies attending. The leaders of the convention were Joseph Gerrald
Joseph Gerrald
Joseph Gerrald was a political reformer, one of the "Scottish Martyrs".-Early life:Gerrald was born on Saint Kitts, in the West Indies, the only son of an Irish planter. Gerrald was brought to England whilst still a child and educated at Stanmore school, under Dr. Samuel Parr, where he showed...
and Maurice Margarot
Maurice Margarot
Maurice Margarot is most notable for being one of the founding members of the London Corresponding Society, a radical society demanding parliamentary reform in the late eighteenth century.-Early life:...
, representatives from the London Corresponding Society. The convention issued a manifesto demanding universal male suffrage with annual elections and expressing their support for the principles of the French Revolution. The convention was then broken up by the authorities and a number of men were arrested and tried for sedition
Sedition
In law, sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent to lawful authority. Sedition may include any...
, with Gerrald and Margarot being sentenced to fourteen years transportation
Penal transportation
Transportation or penal transportation is the deporting of convicted criminals to a penal colony. Examples include transportation by France to Devil's Island and by the UK to its colonies in the Americas, from the 1610s through the American Revolution in the 1770s, and then to Australia between...
along with Muir.
Government persecution of reformers
The political climate had changed as initial hopes of peace with France gave way to the onset of the Napoleonic WarsNapoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
, and the government continued to persecute those who sought reform.
The London Corresponding Society
London Corresponding Society
London Corresponding Society was a moderate-radical body concentrating on reform of the Parliament of Great Britain, founded on 25 January 1792. The creators of the group were John Frost , an attorney, and Thomas Hardy, a shoemaker and metropolitan Radical...
defied the government by supporting the Scots at an open-air meeting at Chalk Farm
Chalk Farm
Chalk Farm is an area of north London, England. It lies directly to the north of Camden Town and its underground station is the closest tube station to the nearby, upmarket neighbourhood of Primrose Hill....
in April 1794. On 2 May thirteen of them were arrested for High treason
High treason
High treason is criminal disloyalty to one's government. Participating in a war against one's native country, attempting to overthrow its government, spying on its military, its diplomats, or its secret services for a hostile and foreign power, or attempting to kill its head of state are perhaps...
and sent to the Tower of London
Tower of London
Her Majesty's Royal Palace and Fortress, more commonly known as the Tower of London, is a historic castle on the north bank of the River Thames in central London, England. It lies within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, separated from the eastern edge of the City of London by the open space...
, including figures such as Thomas Hardy
Thomas Hardy (political reformer)
Thomas Hardy was an early Radical, the founder and also the first Secretary of the London Corresponding Society....
, John Horne Tooke
John Horne Tooke
John Horne Tooke was an English politician and philologist.-Early life and work:He was born in Newport Street, Long Acre, Westminster, the third son of John Horne, a poulterer in Newport Market. As a youth at Eton College, Tooke described his father to friends as a "turkey merchant"...
and John Thelwall
John Thelwall
John Thelwall , was a radical British orator, writer, and elocutionist.-Life:Thelwall was born in Covent Garden, London, but was descended from a Welsh family which had its seat at Plas y Ward, Denbighshire...
. With the aid of the Whig lawyer Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron Erskine
Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron Erskine
Thomas Erskine, 1st Baron Erskine KT PC KC was a British lawyer and politician. He served as Lord Chancellor of the United Kingdom between 1806 and 1807 in the Ministry of All the Talents.-Background and childhood:...
in their defence they were all acquitted.
The Whig group continued to try and reform the electoral system through Parliament but met with a continued lack of success. The Prime Minister William Pitt
William Pitt the Younger
William Pitt the Younger was a British politician of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He became the youngest Prime Minister in 1783 at the age of 24 . He left office in 1801, but was Prime Minister again from 1804 until his death in 1806...
argued that reform would give encouragement to those who sought to emulate the French Revolution
French Revolution
The French Revolution , sometimes distinguished as the 'Great French Revolution' , was a period of radical social and political upheaval in France and Europe. The absolute monarchy that had ruled France for centuries collapsed in three years...
. In 1794 a large proportion of the Whigs defaulted to Pitt, leaving Fox to lead one of the weakest Oppositions in Parliamentary history. Realising that they had little chance of success the leaders of the society wound down the Friends of the People and radical activity became the preserve of secret organisations such as the United Irishmen and the United Scotsmen.
External links
The Transatlantic 1790s: Project:Loyalists - Radical Activities- Scottish Republican and Reformer Thomas Muir (source of first section: Steel's "Scotland's Story").