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Read this extract from Thomas Muir’s last address to his jury.

What can historians learn from this document?

This document is an extract from a published version of Thomas Muir’s last address to the jury at his
trial in 1793. Muir was on trial for sedition, for spreading seditious papers and making seditious
speeches. He delivered his speech to try to convince the jury he was not a dangerous criminal and
had not committed a crime. Muir was sentenced to 14 years in exile in Australia (Lawrence, 2017,
p.11). The document was published by Robertson in 1793 which leads us to question whether Muir
knew it was going to be published and they were using it to encourage radicalism. Firstly, it’s
intended audience would have been the jury and spectators in the courtroom, however when the
speech was published it could be read by members of the public and spread to encourage
radicalism.

One thing that historians can learn from this document is how scared politicians were of radicalism
at the time. In Muir’s speech he talks about how he has been accused of “crimes most foul and
horrible”. This would suggest that he is being accused of very bad crimes and “attempting to rear the
standards of civil war” when all he had done was give speeches at reform societies. At the time the
British government were very scared of a revolution happening like what had happened in France,
especially at a time were there were food shortages and rioting already. The revolution in France
was at first generally accepted as it was thought it would be good to move away from an absolute
monarchy in France. However, following the execution of the King and Queen of France and the
revolution becoming more violent politicians in Britain began to feel scared that these revolutionary
ideas could spread to Britain amid times of food shortages (Lawrence, 2017, pp.20-21). Ideas of
universal suffrage spreading through reform groups alarmed the elite and in 1794 habeas corpus
was suspended which meant radicals could be arrested without trial (Lawrence, 2017, p.21). This
shows how radicalism scared the elite and they responded by trying to quash reform societies and
individuals who were spreading radical political ideas, such as Muir, by punishing them

Another thing historians can learn from this document is how there was a rise in the working class in
the late 1700s. This is shown in Muir’s speech that he is an “active advocate for an equal
representation of the people”. This would suggest that he is standing up for rights of the ordinary
people. As reform societies began to appear in the 1790’s people began to identify more with the
working-class identity. Others such as E.P Thompson also argued that working class people began to
‘feel an identity of interest as between themselves, and as against rulers and employers’ (E.P.
Thompson, 1965, in Plassart, 2017, p.116). This shows how people started to come together with
similar ideas and feelings towards how the country was run. Firstly, they argued for an extension of
the franchise and after reading Paine’s ‘The Rights of Man’ wanted a complete overhaul of the
political system leading to the creation of reform societies. The reform movements in the 1790’s
showed working men organising to help disfranchised men, which is what Muir suggests he is doing
(Plassart, 2017, pp.117-118). This shows how people began to identify as working class and reform
groups like the ones Muir participated in helped to start to further the political interests of
disfranchised men and campaign for political reform.

Another thing historians can learn from this document is the new ways in which radicals began to
campaign for reform by using more peaceful methods. Muir states that he has been trying to
“impress upon them the necessity if peace, of good order, and of good morals”. This would suggest
that Muir is trying to encourage people not to riot but to campaign in a non-violent way. At the time
new methods were developing of political action. These were not the traditional rioting methods but
encouraged supporters to remain orderly when at meetings and started trying to relay messages

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through meetings and petitions (Plassart, 2017, pp.120-121). It was hoped that these new methods
would be more effective at spreading their message and for getting politicians to listen to them. This
was also in response to new laws emerging at the time which repressed and limited radical societies.
An example od this is the ‘Gagging Acts’ of 1975 which restricted the amount of people allowed in a
public meeting to 50. Therefore, the radicals needed new ways to spread their message which led to
these new methods (Plassart, 2017, pp.120-121). This shows that new ways or protesting and
demanding reform had come about in the late 1700’s and Muir encouraged people to use these new
peaceful methods as they thought it would be more effective in achieving their aims.

To conclude, there are many different things historians can learn from this document about the
political situation in Britain in the late 1700’s. The speech by Muir could have been intended to be
made public and to be read by people and to encourage the growth of radicalism in Britain so it is
important to bear that in mind when reading the document. However, historians can infer from the
document how politicians felt about radicalism at the time. It shows how scared they were of It as
they are accusing Muir of a heinous crime just for giving speeches. Also, it shows how there was a
rise in the working class in the late 1700’s as people started to feel a common identity and this is
shown by Muir thinking he is standing up for the disenfranchised and believing he is the voice of the
average man. Lastly it shows the new methods that were starting to be used to spread political
ideas, such as petitions and public meetings as they realised rioting was not successful and gagging
acts came into place. This shows that the political situation in the 1700’s was quite unstable, with
people calling for reform whilst others denied it.

(1008)

References:

Lawrence, P. (2017) ‘Unit 1 Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive’, in Lawrence, P. (ed.) Ambition and
Anxiety, 1789–1840, Milton Keynes, The Open University, pp.5-42.

Plassart, A. (2017) ‘Unit 3 The rose of the working class?’ in Lawrence, P. (ed.) Ambition and Anxiety,
1789–1840, Milton Keynes, The Open University, pp. 97-137.