Scottish Martyrs, The: Their Trials and Transportation to Botany Bay

Angus and Robertson, 1969. Hardcover in Dustjacket. Near Fine. Damaged dustjacket.. First Edition. [xvi], 191 p. illus. map 25 cm. #081221 Maps on lining papers. Bibliography: p. 189-191. New South Wales -- Biography. | Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1789-1820. ((Fine copy in jacket with significant edge-wear.)Scottish martyrs (act. 1792–1798), were the seven victims of the sedition and treason trials held in Scotland between 1793 and 1798. Not all of them were Scottish—Thomas Fyshe Palmer, Maurice Margarot, and Joseph Gerrald were English—nor did they act as a coherent body at any time, but six of the seven were transported to Botany Bay for seven or fourteen years each after being convicted by Scottish courts of seditious activities. The seventh martyr, Robert Watt, was hanged and beheaded for treason in October 1794.Mealmaker, who escaped the consequences of having written the handbill for which Palmer was transported, and who had been arrested in the wake of the discovery of the Pike Plot in May 1794, was eventually arrested in November 1797 for his leading role in the United Scotsmen and other clandestine radical networks that operated after the harsh government repression of 1793–4. He was found guilty of sedition and administering illegal oaths in January 1798, and sentenced to fourteen years' transportation.Muir, Palmer, Skirving, and Margarot, together with Margarot's wife and Palmer's friend James Ellis, were eventually all taken to Australia on board the same convict ship, the Surprise, which set sail on or about 2 May 1794. The opposition whigs, who had been protesting against the sentences ever since Muir's had been passed, had begun a further protest in both houses of parliament. Government ministers were clearly alarmed by the political temper of the country and, just a fortnight before they began to arrest leading English radicals on charges of treason, orders were given for the convict ship to set sail. Muir and Palmer had already been held on the hulk for several months. On the lengthy voyage, far from supporting each other in their mutual predicament, the radicals fell out, when Palmer and Skirving were accused before the ship's captain of conspiracy to incite a mutiny. Contemporaries tended to accept Palmer's version of events, which blamed Margarot for betrayal and exposing Palmer and Skirving to brutal retribution, but more recently historians have accepted that both men may have been at fault and that it is impossible now to recover an accurate version of these events.In Port Jackson the convicts were treated relatively well, as political prisoners rather than common criminals, and each was given a house and garden neighbouring the others. Skirving tried to return to agricultural pursuits, Palmer pursued commercial opportunities enthusiastically, and, after his arrival in November 1800, Mealmaker worked as a weaving manager. Only two of the six transported Scottish martyrs managed to return to Europe, however, with the others succumbing to ill health. Skirving and Gerrald (who had been detained in London for a further year before sailing on 2 May 1795 and arriving on 5 November) both died at the same time (Gerrald of tuberculosis on 16 March 1796 and Skirving of dysentery either on that day or more probably on 19 March). Palmer completed his seven-year sentence and purchased a ship on which to sail home with Ellis. They set sail in early 1801 and sailed to New Zealand, Fiji, and Macau, but they were forced then to put in at Guguan, one of the Ladrone Islands, east of the Philippines, ruled by Spain. There Palmer and Ellis were treated as prisoners of war, and Palmer died of dysentery on 2 June 1802. Mealmaker died in Parramatta, New South Wales, on 30 March 1808.Muir escaped from Botany Bay less than two years after his arrival, in February 1796, on an American trading vessel, the Otter. He crossed the Pacific, travelled on a Spanish ship from Nootka Sound to California, crossed Mexico, and sailed on further Spanish ships to Havana and then Cadiz, where he was wounded in action against Royal Navy warships in March 1797. He was detained in Cadiz as a British prisoner of war, but rescued by the French in September 1797, reaching Paris in December. He died in Chantilly on 26 January 1799. Margarot was the only martyr to return to Britain. He spent a considerable amount of his time in Port Jackson campaigning against the administration of the colony, notably the profiteering of military officers and privileged gentlemen, including Palmer. He was transferred to Norfolk Island in 1805, after his possible involvement in the convict rebellion in 1804; he was moved again soon afterwards to Van Diemen's Land, and to Newcastle in 1806. He and his wife returned to England in 1810 where, courageously, he continued to argue for political reform. He died in London on 11 November 1815. Elizabeth's Bookshops have been one of Australia's premier independent book dealers since 1973. Elizabeth's family-owned business operates four branches in Perth CBD, Fremantle (WA), and Newtown (NSW). All orders are dispatched within 24 hours from our Fremantle Warehouse. All items can be viewed at Elizabeth's Bookshop Warehouse, 23 Queen Victoria Street\, Fremantle WA. Hardcover in Dustjacket Near Fine. Damaged dustjacket.