The first edition in Portuguese of this unrecorded reference to Botany Bay.

The first edition in Portuguese of this unrecorded reference to Botany Bay.

First published in 1789 in Paris, Barère de Vieuzac's La Liberté des Mers was an invective against the British government, whose maritime supremacy he described in such terms as "despotism" and "tyranny".

This volume is a translation from a Spanish edition of Barère published circa 1820. In the Introduction, Barère charges the British with a multitude of crimes, including responsibility for the evils of the French Revolution; conspiring with American Indians to attack non-British settlers; aiding and abetting pirates; and exiling Irish and Scottish political prisoners to Botany Bay. This reference consists of seven lines of text which appear on p. xv:

'"Quem concebeo e executou o terrivel plano de desterrar para o arido Solo de Botany-Bay aos Irlandezes e Escocezes, e de assassinar em Hollanda, Italia, França e America todos os Virtuaosos patriotas, que sustentavão com energia a liberdade, e gloria de seu paiz". O Gevenrno Britanico'.

Barère (1755-1841) was born in Gascony and practiced law until elected to the States-General in 1789. Elected president of the Convention in December 1792, Barère presided over the trial and execution of Louis XVI. This is the first edition to have appeared in Portuguese. None of the editions in Spanish or French have been traced in Ferguson.