Joseph Gerrald

Joseph Gerrald (9 February 1763 – 16 March 1796) Gerrald returned to London in 1788, but in 1789 he moved to Bath due to his declining health.

Political reformer After Gerrald's return to England, he began writing anonymous letters about politics and joined the Society for Constitutional Information and the more radical London Corresponding Society. He became popular among radical reform groups due to his eloquence and pleasant demeanor.

A Convention the Only Means of Saving Us from Ruin Gerrald sets the tone of the letter by discussing how legislators and the government may be offended by the criticisms he presents, but states that the government exists to represent the people and should learn from their suggestions. He draws on the trajectories and repercussions of the wars of the 18th century, including the American Revolution, to form his argument that the British should not have engaged in the current war, which Prime Minister William Pitt was carrying through.

Throughout this pamphlet, Gerrald addresses the people of England on the need for common folk to be involved in politics. He believed that this was important because of the outbreak of war between Britain and France in 1793 over tensions caused by the French Revolution. He argues that even though governments declare war, their decision is made possible only because of the contributions of others – in the form of taxes and soldiers – and thus publics are morally obliged to understand and justify such wars. On this front, Gerrald uses the young United States, an example showing that there exists a country that doesn't go to war unless its citizens decide to.

Gerrald also found civic involvement necessary because the wars themselves were not constructive. He suggests that negotiations could have made a larger impact on the people because the outcomes of the wars left civilians in a worse state than they had started with. In addition, he refers to the Society of the Friends of the People's report that many current representatives are self-elected or are tools for the aristocracy, and that the current system favors neither wealth nor population size. To overcome these issues, Gerrald suggests a plan where people can elect representatives who will follow instructions set by the general body.

Plans for the convention The convention will have 250 deputies from England and 125 from Scotland and these 375 men will speak out for the welfare of both England and Scotland. Any male can be elected to the convention unless a jury has found him to be a criminal, idiot, or lunatic.

In order to determine the deputies in the convention, there will first be a primary assembly for each parish, 1250 in total. In this assembly, any males that are 21 and over and not deemed a criminal, lunatic, or idiot can vote. The members of the parish will vote for ten members to form a second assembly composed of the elected individuals from ten parishes. Each second assembly will then choose two deputies for the national convention. This process results in every deputy representing 5000 males each. Gerrald argues that because the deputies are elected with the specific purpose of speaking for their constituents, the people will have more political liberty while politics will have less corruption. He also states that war will be eliminated, as people will now have a voice in the declaration of it. While attending, Gerrald took a trip to the Scottish countryside to publicize the reform movement. This convention was considered incendiary because of its goals of universal suffrage and annual parliaments and Gerrald's participation in the convention is what led to his arrest. his son, Joseph, was cared for by Dr. Parr. Gerrald's associates included Thomas Muir, Thomas Fyshe Palmer, William Skirving and Maurice Margarot.