Thomas Muir, the son of a hop merchant, was born in Glasgow
on 25th August 1765. He began attending Glasgow Grammar School in
1770 and at the age of ten was admitted to Glasgow
University. Thomas Muir's parents were Calvinists and at their
request he embarked upon the study of divinity. However, in 1782 he
abandoned his studies for the Church and began attending the classes
of John Millar, one of Britain's first sociologists. Millar was a
republican and a supporter of parliamentary reform and had a profound
influence on the development of Muir's political ideas.
In 1783 Thomas Muir became involved in a conflict with the Principal
of Glasgow University when he organised a petition against the suspension
of Professor John Anderson. As a result of his campaign to have Anderson
reinstated, Muir was expelled from the university. With the help of
Millar, Muir finished his studies at Edinburgh
University and entered the Faculty of Advocates in 1787.
Muir soon developed a reputation as a lawyer who was willing to appear
in court on behalf of poor clients who could not afford to pay a fee.
He also became a fierce critic of a legal system that he believed
was biased in favour of the rich.
The French Revolution in 1789 inspired supporters of parliamentary
reform all over Britain. Young members of the Whigs in London formed
the Society of the Friends of the People
in April 1792. Groups were soon formed in other parts of Britain and
on 26th July 1792, Thomas Muir and William
Skirving established the Scottish Association of the Friends of
the People. Branches were formed in Perth, Dundee,
Glasgow and Edinburgh.
By November there were eighty-seven branches of the Society
of Friends in Britain. Thomas Muir now began to organize a General
Convention of these Societies in order to develop a strategy for the
achievement of parliamentary reform.
The British government became concerned about Thomas Muir and a spy
was recruited to gather information about his political activities.
After the spy had gathered what was considered enough evidence, Thomas
Muir was arrested on 2nd January, 1793, and charged with sedition.
After being interrogated for several hours he was released on bail.
Muir now travelled to London where he had talks with the leaders of
the Friends of the People. The leaders
of the movement were concerned about the violence taking place in
France. Muir agreed to go to France and join Tom
Paine in his attempts to persuade the leaders of the revolution
to abandon the plan to execute Louis XVI.
Muir was unsuccessful and after having talks with the Girondist leaders,
he returned to Scotland on 23rd August. The following day Muir was
arrested and after being imprisoned in Edinburgh
was tried for sedition before Lord Braxfield
and a hand-picked jury of anti-reformers. Muir was found guilty and
sentenced to fourteen years' transportation. Afraid that Scottish
reformers would attempt to rescue Muir, he was quickly removed to
London. Soon afterwards he was joined by other leaders of the movement,
Fyshe Palmer, William
Skriving and Maurice Margarot.
Radicals
in the House of Commons immediately began a campaign to save the men
now being described as the Scottish Martyrs. On 24th February, 1793,
Richard Sheridan presented a petition
to Parliament that described the men's treatment as "illegal,
unjust, oppressive and unconstitutional". Charles
Fox pointed out in the debate that followed that Palmer had done
"no more than what had done by William Pitt
(now Prime Minister of Britain) and the Duke
of Richmond" when they campaigned for parliamentary reform.
Attempts to stop the men being transported failed and on 2nd May 1794,
The Surprise left Portsmouth and began its 13,000 mile journey
to Botany Bay. The men arrived on 25th October to join the Colony
of 1,908 convicts (1362 male, 546 female). As a political prisoner,
Muir was given more freedom than most convicts and he was allowed
to buy a small farm close to Sydney Cove.
After two years at Port Jackson, New South Wales, Thomas Muir escaped
with the help of Francis Peron, the chief mate of the American ship,
the Otter of Boston. Muir reached Vancouver Island but after
being offered help by a Spanish captain, he was arrested and taken
on board the Ninfa. While on the way to Cadiz the Ninfa
was attacked by the British warship Irresistible. During the
battle Thomas Muir was hit by a glancing blow from a cannonball which
smashed his left cheekbone and seriously injured both his eyes.
For several
days Muir's condition was so bad he was expected to die. When the
French government heard about what had happened to Muir they tried
to persuade the Spanish authorities to release him. The Spanish eventually
agreed and Muir arrived in Bordeaux in November 1797.
Muir joined up with Tom Paine in Paris where
they continued the fight for parliamentary reform in Britain. However,
Muir had never fully recovered from the wound he received on the Ninfa
and his health began to deteriorate at the end of 1798. Thomas Muir
was taken to Chantilly where he died on 26th January, 1799.
In 1845
Thomas Hume, the Radical MP organised the
building of a 90 feet high monument in Waterloo Place, Edinburgh.
It contained the following inscription: "To the memory of Thomas
Muir, Thomas Fyshe Palmer, William Skirving, Maurice Margarot and
Joseph Gerrald. Erected by the Friends of Parliamentary Reform in
England and Scotland." On the other side of the obelisk, based
on the model of Cleopatra's Needle in London, is a quotation from
a speech made by Muir on 30th August, 1793: "I have devoted myself
to the cause of the people. It is a good cause - it shall ultimately
prevail - it shall finally triumph."
(1)
Charges made against Thomas Muir in August 1793.
(1) That he attended meetings at Kirk-in-Tilloch and Milton,
of a society for reform, in which he had delivered speeches in which
he seditiously endeavoured to represent the government as oppressive
and tyrannical.
(2) That he exhorted three people residing in Cadder, to buy and read
Paine's Rights of Man.
(3) That he circulated the work of Thomas Paine, A Declaration of
Rights, to the friends of reform in Paisley.
(2)
Lord Braxfield explained why he had to sentence Thomas Muir and the
other leaders of the Convention in Edinburgh to be transported to
Australia for fourteen years.
The British constitution is the best that ever was since the creation
of the world, and it is not possible to make it better. Yet Mr. Muir
has gone among the ignorant country people and told them Parliamentary
Reform was absolutely necessary for preserving their liberty.
(3)
Thomas Muir, speech made at his trial on 30th August 1793.
What has been my crime? Not the lending to a relation of mine
a copy of Mr Paine's work; not the giving away a few copies of an
innocent and constitutional publication; but for having dared to be
a strenuous and active advocate for an equal representation of the
people, in the House of the people.
(4)
Thomas Muir, writing to the London Corresponding
Society from prison on 24th April, 1794.
The spirit of freedom is not extinguished, but still remains its
formal energy, in defiance of the artifices and the violence of despotism.
Engaged in the sacred cause of Man, individual man is an atom of little
value and when he recollects and contemplates the principles of his
conduct, should disdain to use the term suffering. Without a vain
affection for myself, I disdain the assumption of extraordinary merit.
The man who has acted in obedience to the law of his conscience, has
simply discharged his duty.
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