In the course of the year 1794, the mind of Dr. Parr was painfully agitated, by the cruel fate of one of his earlier pupils, the richly-gifted, the greatly imprudent, but dreadfully injured, Joseph Gerrald; to whom he was attached with a fondness truly paternal; and by whom he was beloved, with all the sincerity and warmth of filial affection.
He was a native of the West Indies, where he possessed an estate of 3000l. a year; but a large portion of it was consumed in the course of a
long litigation, in the expensive courts of that country. He was sent to England for his
education; and had the good fortune to be placed under the care of the master of Stanmore
School. He was a young man of high talents, and high attainments; of the nicest feelings of
rectitude, and the keenest sense of honour; of firmness never to be shaken, of courage
never to be daunted, in what he conceived to be a great or a good cause. Unhappily, he
suffered himself to be hurried into irregularities,
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In a course of dissipation, he soon wasted his fortune, and deeply injured his health; and yet, in the midst of all, he never renounced his virtuous principles, and never wholly neglected his intellectual improvement. He pursued, indeed, his pleasures and his studies, with nearly equal ardour; and though too eagerly bent on the gratification of low desires; yet he ever showed that noble passions still throbbed within him; and he never destroyed in those around him the hopes of seeing him rise, at length, to all that excellence, of which he was capable.
Leaving England early in life, he went to America; and practised, for some time, as an advocate in the courts of Pennsylvania. Fired with the love of liberty, first kindled by his study of Grecian and Roman history and literature, and afterwards reanimated by his residence in the land of republican freedom, he returned to England; and enrolled himself among the bold and ardent patriots, who, about the time of the French Revolution, stood forward in the great cause of political renovation, with more zeal, it must be owned, than discretion; with the greatest purity of intention, no doubt, but with too much theoretical extravagance, and too little practical wisdom. Several of these, of whom Mr. Gerrald was one, having met in what they called the “Convention of Delegates,” at Edinburgh, were suddenly apprehended on a charge of sedition; and were successively brought to trial, before the High Court of Justiciary.
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Being himself in London, at large on bail, when he first heard of the trial and conviction of his associates, he was seriously advised and earnestly entreated, by his revered tutor and by other friends, to save himself from a relentless persecution, by flight; and they generously offered to indemnify his bail against all pecuniary forfeiture. But every such proposal, though repeatedly urged upon him, he resolutely and even indignantly rejected, conceiving it to be a dereliction of duty, and a violation of honour. Though he knew himself prejudged and foredoomed, he hastened to his trial, with all the high and heroic spirit of the Athenian sage, placed in similar circumstances, and pressed by similar entreaties; who, rather than seem to elude the sentence of the law, or to shrink from the support of a good cause, nobly refused to escape, and greatly resolved to die.
“He heard my proposal attentively,” says Dr. Parr, in a written memorandum of this extraordinary
occurrence, “but with no emotion of joy. At first he paused; then, after calmly
discussing with me the propriety of the proposal, he peremptorily refused to accede to
it; and finally, after hearing my earnest entreaties, and affectionate remonstrances,
closed our conversation in words to the following effect:—‘In any ordinary
case,’ said he, ‘I should, without the smallest hesitation, and
with the warmest gratitude, avail myself of your offer. I readily admit that my
associates will not suffer more, because I suffer less. I am inclined to believe
with you, that the sense of their own sufferings will be alleviated by their
know-
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The trial came on March 3, 1794. The defence of the accused, by himself,
though an astonishing display of powerful reasoning and glowing eloquence, proved
unavailing. A most unrighteous and barbarous sentence of transportation for the term of
fourteen years was pronounced upon him; though it was strongly urged that such a sentence,
to one in his state of declining health, would be
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After remaining more than twelve months, immured in the prisons of London, on May 2, 1795, about three in the afternoon, just as he was lying down to take some repose, which his ill-health rendered necessary, he was suddenly called out of his apartment; and without being permitted to return, or to take leave of his infant daughter, the com-
1 Maurice’s Memoirs, part 2. p. 166. Beloe’s Sexagenarian, vol. i. p. 262. |
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In this manner, as Dr. Parr often related the story, the ill-fated Gerrald was needlessly and barbarously hurried away, from the shores of England; and not only was personal intercourse with his friends prohibited, but even communication by letter was interdicted. “Struck with amaze and horror at this flagitious conduct, useless in every way to justice, I sat up all night,” said Dr. Parr to a friend, “and wrote a letter of six sides to Wyndham. I never wrote any thing before or since so severe. I sent off the letter, to which I never got a reply; but an order was given to allow the communication. Wyndham must have felt that remonstrance, if ever he felt any thing in his life.”1
In a letter, dated “Portsmouth, May 16, 1795, on board the Hulks”—addressed to one of his warmly sympathising and kindly attentive friends, the much-injured Gerrald thus expresses the virtuous and grateful sentiments, which glowed in his breast, so honourable at once to himself and his preceptor.
“My dear Mr. Philips—I know not how to express the rising sentiments of my heart, for your unbounded kindness to me. The best return, the only return I can make, is, to convince you, by the virtue and energy of my conduct, that I am not
1 New Monthly Mag. May, 1826. |
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On his part, the kind and considerate preceptor was not unmindful of his
injured and suffering pupil. As Gerrald was removed,
without the allowance of one moment of time for preparation, and almost without the common
necessaries of life, Dr. Parr immediately raised for
him a small sum, by subscription among his friends, and accompanied that seasonable supply
with a letter, most worthy, indeed, of himself; which, for the soft and gentle tone of its
reproof—for the wise and holy strain of its admonition—and, for the soft and soothing
tenderness of its consolation, it is impossible to read, without admiring and revering the
kind friend and comforter, or without deeply commiserating, and yet in some degree
congratulating, the sufferer:—Cujus fato illacrymans soleo, hanc epistolam
legens. The pecuniary contribution found its way, at
length, to the unfortunate person for whom it was intended;
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“Dear Joseph,—I
hear with indignation and horror that the severe sentence, passed upon you in
Scotland, will shortly be carried into execution; and remembering that I was
once your master, that I have long been your friend, and that I am your
fellow-creature, made so by the hand of God; and that by every law of that
religion, in which I hope to live and die, I ought to be your comforter; now,
dear Joseph, I am for the last time writing to you. Oh! my
dear friend, at this moment my heart sinks within me; and, with a wish to say a
thousand things, I am hardly able to say one. But you shall not leave this land
without one sincere—one affectionate—one solemn farewell.
Joseph, before we meet again, that bosom which now
throbs for you, and the tongue which now dictates, will be laid in the cold
grave. Be it so. Yet, my dear friend, I must cherish the hope, that death is
not the end of such a being as man. No! Joseph,
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“Pray write to me—God Almighty bless you, Joseph—farewell.”
The promise which he here gave, and which he had before given, to take charge of one of his two children, a son, thus cruelly bereaved of their only surviving parent, Dr. Parr most faithfully and anxiously performed. Amongst other important services, he had the good fortune to obtain for him the favourable notice of Dr. Howley, the present highly venerated and truly excellent Bishop of London; and, in his last will, Dr. Parr warmly expresses his sense of obligation to that prelate, “for his humane and generous behaviour to Joseph Gerrald, whom an unfortunate, rash, but most ingenious and most eloquent father, in the anguish of his spirit, committed to his friendly protection.”
Setting sail, towards the end of May, 1795, Mr.
Gerrald left the shores of that country, to which he returned no more.
During his voyage, he suffered much from bodily disorder, and still more, if possible, from
the degrading and painful circumstances of his situation. It is related, by his former
school-fellow, Mr. Maurice, that a mutiny of the
convicts, on board the same vessel, was suppressed, and a massacre of the officers
prevented, by his influence and his exertions. Mr. Maurice also
mentions, with much approbation, that of the
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Early in November, Mr. Gerrald reached the place of his final destination. He arrived in a very feeble and declining state of health; and, gradually growing worse, at the end of about five months, he found a refuge from all his sufferings in the grave. A few hours before he expired, calling some friends to his bed-side, he said, “I die in the best of causes; and, as you witness, without repining.” He was buried in a garden forming part of a little plot of ground, which he had purchased at Farm Cove in Port Jackson. The inscription on his tomb records that “he died a martyr to the liberties of his country, March 16, 1796, in the thirty-fifth year of his age.”2
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1 Maurice’s Memoirs, part 2. p. 166. 2 “On the 5th of Nov. 1795, arrived Mr. Joseph Gerrald, a prisoner, in a very weak and impaired state of health. In this gentleman we saw, that not even elegant manners, great abilities, the gifts of nature matured by education (because he misapplied them), could save him from landing an exile on a barbarous shore; where the few who were civilised must pity while they admired him.”—“At three in the morning, 10th March, 1796, Mr. Gerrald breathed his last; glorying in being a martyr to the cause which he termed that of freedom, and considering as an honour that exile, which brought him to an untimely grave.”—Collins’ Hist, of New South Wales, p. 433. 469. |
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