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This article is about John Oswald an 18th century political revolutionary. Information related to the Canadian composer may be found at John Oswald (composer)

John Oswald, (17?? - Sept. 14, 1793) was a Scottish philosopher, writer, poet, social critic and revolutionary.

Early Life

Little is known for certain regarding Oswald's early life. His father is said to have been a coffee-house-keeper. It is said that Oswald learned Latin and Greek without a tutor, and later learned Arabic.

Oswald in India

Oswald served in the British army as a Lieutenant of the forty-second regiment of foot. He was dispatched first to America, and then in 1780 to the Malabar coast of India. Oswald's exposure to vegetarianism in India had an impact on his philosophy which he describes in "The Cry of Nature or An Appeal to Mercy and Justice on Behalf of the Persecuted Animals".

Return to Britain

Oswald returned to Britain in 1783, and began a period as an author of social criticism. During this period, Oswald wrote a sharp polemic in favor of republicanism, "Review of the Constitution of Great Britain".

Oswald in France

With the outbreak of the French Revolution of 1789, Oswald travelled to Paris, and soon joined the Jacobin club. In that body, he pressed for more energetic intervention by the Jacobins in British affairs, arguing that a revolution in England was essential for peace between the two nations. An address to a Manchester radical organization was sent by the Jacobins on Oswalds urgings. According to some reports, Oswald was sent to Ireland to offer French support for an Irish rebellion, but little appeared to come of this effort.

In March 1792, Oswald called for the universal arming of the masses, and began organizing a small army of sans-culottes in Paris known as the First Battalion of Pikers. With the outbreak of monarchist counter-revolution in La Vendee, the First Battalion proceeded against the insurgents. Oswald died in the battle of Ponts-de-Cee on Sept. 14, 1793

Works by John Oswald

• Review of the Constitution of Great Britain, London 1784 (3rd ed.), Paris 1792
• Ranae Comicae Evangelizantes: or the Comic Frogs turned Methodist (as Sylvester Otway) 1786
• The alarming Progress of French Politics, 1787
• Euphrosyne or an Ode to Beauty, London, 1788
• Poems, to which is added "The Humors of John Bull" an Operatic Farce, London 1789 (published under the pseudonym Sylvester Otway)
• The Cry of Nature, or An Appeal To Mercy and Justice On Behalf of the Persecuted Animals, 1791
• La Tactique du Peuple, Paris, 179?
• Le Gouvernment du Peuple, Paris, 1793

John Oswald was also editor of the 'The British Mercury', a periodical publication.