from Thomas Muir, Esq of Botany Bay, to the Hon. Henry Erskine, late Dean of Faculty
The pamphlet is a literary squib of c.1795, a poem purporting to be a letter written from Botany Bay by Thomas Muir (the Scots lawyer convicted of sedition for his calls for radical reform,) to Henry Erskine, one of the leaders of the Whig party which called for moderate political reform.
The poem in fact is written by a political opponent of reform, and warns reformers such as Henry Erskine that, like the savage who sets a fire to clear the forest scrub, they may find that the fire of reform cannot be put out, but will destroy everything in its path.
Henry Erskine, younger brother of the 11th Earl of Buchan, was the leading advocate of his day, a famous wit, and a proponent of moderate reform. He designed and built the house of Almondell by the River Almond near Broxburn, died in 1817 and is buried in Uphall (Strathbrock St Nicholas') Parish Church.
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