There lies before the writer a tube of glass, eleven and one half inches
in length and a quarter of an inch in diameter. Its walls are thin. At
one end there is evidence that an effort was made to bend this tube in
the flame. Ordinarily it would be tossed aside; but this particular tube
was given the writer years ago by a great-grandson of Joseph Priestley.
Attached to the tube is a bit of paper upon which appear the words
"piece of tubing used by Priestley." That legend has made the tube
precious in the heart and to the eye of the writer. Everything relating
to this wonderful figure in science, history, religion, politics and
philosophy is very dear to him. On all sides of him are relics and
reminders of Priestley. Not all, but many of his publications are near
at hand. After perusal of these at various times, and while reading the
many life sketches of Priestley, there has come the desire to know more
about his activities during the decade (1794-1804) he lived in America.
Isn't it fair to declare that the great majority of chemical students
think of Priestley as working only in England, his native land, and
never give thought to his efforts during the last ten years of his life?
It has been said that he probably inspired and incited the young
chemists of this country to renewed endeavor in their science upon his
advent here. There is no question that he influenced James Woodhouse and
his particular confreres most profoundly, as he did a younger
generation, represented by Robert Hare. Priestley again set in rapid
motion chemical research in the young Republic.[1] He must therefore
have done something himself. What was it? Is it worth while to learn the
character of this work? Modern tendencies are antagonistic to the past.
Many persons care nothing for history. It is a closed book. They do not
wish it to be opened, and yet the present is built upon the early work.
In reviewing the development of chemistry in this country everything,
from the first happening here, should be laid upon the table for study
and reflection. Thus believing, it will not be out of place to seek some
light upon the occupation of the discoverer of oxygen after he came to
live among us--with our fathers.
Noble-hearted, sympathetic Thomas E. Thorpe wrote:
If, too, as you draw up to the fire 'betwixt the gloaming and the
mirk' of these dull, cold November days, and note the little blue
flame playing round the red-hot coals, think kindly of Priestley,
for he first told us of the nature of that flame when in the exile
to which our forefathers drove him.
Right there, "the nature of the flame," is one thing Priestley did
explain in America. He discovered carbon monoxide--not in England, but
in "exile."[2] It may not be an epoch-making observation. There are not
many such and those who make them are not legion in number. It was an
interesting fact, with a very definite value, which has persisted
through many succeeding decades and is so matter-of-fact that rarely
does one arise to ask who first discovered this simple oxide of carbon.
Priestley was a man of strong human sympathies. He loved to mingle with
men and exchange thoughts. Furthermore, Priestley was a minister--a
preacher. He was ordained while at Warrington, and gloried in the fact
that he was a Dissenting Minister. It was not his devotion to science
which sent him "into exile." His advanced thought along political and
religious lines, his unequivocal utterances on such subjects,--proved
to be the rock upon which he shipwrecked. It has been said--
By some strange irony of fate this man, who was by nature one of
the most peaceable and peace-loving of men, singularly calm and
dispassionate, not prone to disputation or given to wrangling,
acquired the reputation of being perhaps the most cantankerous man
of his time....
There is a wide-spread impression that Priestley was a chemist. This is
the answer which invariably comes from the lips of students upon being
interrogated concerning him. The truth is that Priestley's attention was
only turned to chemistry when in the thirties by Matthew Turner, who
lectured on this subject in the Warrington Academy in which Priestley
labored as a teacher. So he was rather advanced in life before the
science he enriched was revealed to him in the experimental way. Let it
again be declared, he was a teacher. His thoughts were mostly those of a
teacher. Education occupied him. He wrote upon it. The old Warrington
Academy was a "hot-bed of liberal dissent," and there were few subjects
upon which he did not publicly declare himself as a dissenter.
He learned to know our own delightful Franklin in one of his visits to
London. Franklin was then sixty years of age, while Priestley was little
more than half his age. A warm friendship immediately sprang up. It
reacted powerfully upon Priestley's work as "a political thinker and as
a natural philosopher." In short, Franklin "made Priestley into a man of
science." This intimacy between these remarkable men should not escape
American students. Recall that positively fascinating letter (1788) from
Franklin to Benjamin Vaughan, in which occur these words:
Remember me affectionately ... to the honest heretic Dr.
Priestley. I do not call him honest by way of distinction, for I
think all the heretics I have known have been virtuous men. They
have the virtue of Fortitude, or they would not venture to own
their heresy; and they cannot afford to be deficient in any of the
other virtues, as that would give advantage to their many
enemies.... Do not however mistake me. It is not to my good
friend's heresy that I impute his honesty. On the contrary 'tis
his honesty that has brought upon him the character of heretic.
Much of Priestley's thought was given to religious matters. In Leeds he
acknowledged himself a _humanitarian_, or
a believer in the doctrine that Jesus Christ was in nature solely
and truly a man, however highly exalted by God.
His home in Leeds adjoined a "public brew house." He there amused
himself with experiments on carbon dioxide (fixed air). Step by step he
became strongly attracted to experimentation. His means, however,
forbade the purchase of apparatus and he was obliged to devise the same
and also to think out his own methods of attack. Naturally, his
apparatus was simple. He loved to repeat experiments, thus insuring
their accuracy.
In 1772 he published his first paper on Pneumatic Chemistry. It told of
the impregnation of water with carbon dioxide. It attracted attention
and was translated into French. This soda-water paper won for Priestley
the Copley medal (1773). While thus signally honored he continued
publishing views on theology and metaphysics. These made a considerable
uproar.
Then came the memorable year of 1774--the birth-year of oxygen. How many
chemists, with but two years in the science, have been so fortunate as
to discover an element, better still probably the most important of all
the elements! It was certainly a rare good fortune! It couldn't help but
make him the observed among observers. This may have occasioned the hue
and cry against his polemical essays on government and church to become
more frequent and in some instances almost furious.
It was now that he repaired to London. Here he had daily intercourse
with Franklin, whose encouragement prompted him to go bravely forward in
his adopted course.
It was in 1780 that he took up his residence in Birmingham. This was
done at the instance of his brother-in-law. The atmosphere was most
congenial and friendly. Then, he was most desirous of resuming his
ministerial duties; further, he would have near at hand good workmen to
aid him in the preparation of apparatus for his philosophical pursuits.
Best of all his friends were there, including those devoted to science.
Faujar St. Fond, a French geologist has recorded a visit to Priestley--
Dr. Priestley received me with the greatest kindness.... The
building in which Dr. Priestley made his chemical and
philosophical experiments was detached from his house to avoid the
danger of fire. It consisted of several apartments on the ground
floor. Upon entering it we were struck with a simple and ingenious
apparatus for making experiments on inflammable gas extracted from
iron and water reduced to vapour.
If, only, all the time of Dr. Priestley in Birmingham had been devoted
to science, but alas, his "beloved theology" claimed much of it. He
would enter into controversy--he would dissent, and the awful hour was
advancing by leaps and bounds. The storm was approaching.
It burst forth with fury in 1791. The houses of worship, in which he was
wont to officiate, were the first to meet destruction, then followed his
own house in which were assembled his literary treasures and the
apparatus he had constructed and gathered with pains, sacrifice and
extreme effort. Its demolition filled his very soul with deepest sorrow.
Close at hand, the writer has a neat little chemical balance. It was
brought to this country by Priestley, and tradition has it, that it was
among the pieces of the celebrated collection of chemical utensils
rescued from the hands of the infuriated mob which sought even the life
of Priestley, who fortunately had been spirited or hidden away by loyal,
devoted friends and admirers. In time he ventured forth into the open
and journeyed to London, and when quiet was completely restored, he
returned to one of his early fields of activity, but wisdom and the calm
judgment of friends decided this as unwise. Through it all Priestley was
quiet and philosophical, which is evident from the following story:
A friend called on him soon after the riots and condoled with him
for his loss in general, then mentioned the destruction of his
books as an object of particular regret. Priestley answered, "I
should have read my books to little purpose if they had not taught
me to bear the loss of them with composure and resignation."
But the iron had entered his soul. He could not believe that in his own
England any man would be treated as he had been treated. His country was
dear to him. He prized it beyond expression, but he could not hope for
the peace his heart craved. His family circle was broken, two of his
sons having come to America, so in the end, deeply concerned for his
life-companion's comfort, the decision to emigrate was reached, and
their faces were turned to the West.
In reviewing the history of chemistry the remark is frequently heard
that one blotch on the fair escutcheon of French science was placed
there when the remorseless guillotine ushered Lavoisier into eternity.
Was not the British escutcheon of science dimmed when Priestley passed
into exile? Priestley--who had wrought so splendidly! And yet we should
not be too severe, for an illustrious name--Count Rumford--which should
have been ours--was lost to us by influences not wholly unlike those
which gained us Priestley. Benjamin Thompson, early in life abandoned a
home and a country which his fellow citizens had made intolerable.
Read Priestley's volumes on Air and on Natural Philosophy. They are
classics. All conversant with their contents agree that the experimental
work was marvelous. Priestley's discovery of oxygen was epoch-making,
but does not represent all that he did. Twice he just escaped the
discovery of nitrogen. One wonders how this occurred. He had it in hand.
The other numerous observations made by him antedate his American life
and need not be mentioned here. They alone would have given him a
permanent and honorable rank in the history of chemistry. Students of
the science should reserve judgment of Priestley until they have
familiarized themselves with all his contributions, still accessible in
early periodicals. When that has been done, the loss to English science,
by Priestley's departure to another clime will be apparent.
His dearest friends would have held him with them. Not every man's hand
was against him--on the contrary, numerous were those, even among the
opponents of his political and theological utterances, who hoped that he
would not desert them. They regretted that he had--
turned his attention too much from the luminous field of
philosophic disquisition to the sterile regions of polemic
divinity, and the still more thorny paths of polemic politics....
from which the hope was cherished that he would recede and devote all
his might to philosophical pursuits.
A very considerable number ... of enlightened inhabitants,
convinced of his integrity as a man, sincerity as a preacher, and
superlative merit as a philosopher, were his strenuous advocates
and admirers.
But the die had been cast, and to America he sailed on April 8, 1794, in
the good ship _Sansom_, Capt. Smith, with a hundred others--his fellow
passengers. Whilst on the seas his great protagonist Lavoisier met his
death on the scaffold.
Such was the treatment bestowed upon the best of their citizens by
two nations which considered themselves as without exception the
most civilized and enlightened in the world!
It is quite natural to query how the grand old scientist busied himself
on this voyage of eight weeks and a day. The answer is found in his own
words:
I read the whole of the Greek Testament, and the Hebrew bible as
far as the first Book of Samuel: also Ovid's Metamorphoses,
Buchanan's poems, Erasmus' Dialogues, also Peter Pindar's poems,
&c.... and to amuse myself I tried the heat of the water at
different depths, and made other observations, which suggest
various experiments, which I shall prosecute whenever I get my
apparatus at liberty.
The Doctor was quite sea-sick, and at times sad, but uplifted when his
eyes beheld the proofs of friendship among those he was leaving behind.
Thus he must have smiled benignantly on beholding the
elegant Silver Inkstand, with the following inscription, presented
... by three young Gentlemen of the University of Cambridge:
"To Joseph Priestley, LL.D. &c. on his departure into Exile,
from a few members of the University of Cambridge, who regret
that expression of their Esteem should be occasioned by the
ingratitude of their Country."
And, surely, he must have taken renewed courage on perusing the
valedictory message received from the Society of United Irishmen of
Dublin:
Sir,
SUFFER a Society which has been caluminated as devoid of all sense
of religion, law or morality, to sympathize with one whom calumny
of a similar kind is about to drive from his native land, a land
which he has adorned and enlightened in almost every branch of
liberal literature, and of useful philosophy. The emigration of
Dr. Priestley will form a striking historical fact, by which
alone, future ages will learn to estimate truly the temper of the
present time. Your departure will not only give evidence of the
injury which philosophy and literature have received in your
person, but will prove the accumulation of petty disquietudes,
which has robbed your life of its zest and enjoyment, for, at your
age no one would willingly embark on such a voyage, and sure we
are, it was your wish and prayer to be buried in your native
country, which contains the dust of your old friends Saville,
Price, Jebb, and Fothergill. But be cheerful, dear Sir, you are
going to a happier world--the world of Washington and Franklin.
In idea, we accompany you. We stand near you while you are setting
sail. We watch your eyes that linger on the white cliffs and we
hear the patriarchal blessing which your soul pours out on the
land of your nativity, the aspiration that ascends to God for its
peace, its freedom and its prosperity. Again, do we participate in
your feelings on first beholding Nature in her noblest scenes and
grandest features, on finding man busied in rendering himself
worthy of Nature, but more than all, on contemplating with
philosophic prescience the coming period when those vast inland
seas shall be shadowed with sails, when the St. Lawrence and
Mississippi, shall stretch forth their arms to embrace the
continent in a great circle of interior navigation: when the
Pacific Ocean shall pour into the Atlantic; when man will become
more precious than fine gold, and when his ambition will be to
subdue the elements, not to subjugate his fellow-creatures, to
make fire, water, earth and air obey his bidding, but to leave the
poor ethereal mind as the sole thing in Nature free and
incoercible.
Happy indeed would it be were men in power to recollect this
quality of the human mind. Suffer us to give them an example from
a science of which you are a mighty master, that attempts to fix
the element of mind only increase its activity, and that to
calculate what may be from what has been is a very dangerous
deceit.--Were all the saltpetre in India monopolized, this would
only make chemical researches more ardent and successful. The
chalky earths would be searched for it, and nitre beds would be
made in every cellar and every stable. Did not that prove
sufficient the genius of chemistry would find in a new salt a
substitute for nitre or a power superior to it.[3] It requires
greater genius than Mr. Pitt seems to possess, to know the
wonderful resources of the mind, when patriotism animates
philosophy, and all the arts and sciences are put under a state of
requisition, when the attention of a whole scientific people is
bent to multiplying the means and instruments of destruction and
when philosophy rises in a mass to drive on the wedge of war. A
black powder has changed the military art, and in a great degree
the manners of mankind. Why may not the same science which
produced it, produce another powder which, inflamed under a
certain compression, might impell the air, so as to shake down the
strongest towers and scatter destruction.
But you are going to a country where science is turned to better
uses. Your change of place will give room for the matchless
activity of your genius; and you will take a sublime pleasure in
bestowing on Britain the benefit of your future discoveries. As
matter changes its form but not a particle is ever lost, so the
principles of virtuous minds are equally imperishable; and your
change of situation may even render truth more operative,
knowledge more productive, and in the event, liberty itself more
universal. Wafted by the winds or tossed by the waves, the seed
that is here thrown out as dead, there shoots up and flourishes.
It is probable that emigration to America from the first
settlement downward, has not only served the cause of general
liberty, but will eventually and circuitously serve it even in
Britain. What mighty events have arisen from that germ which might
once have been supposed to be lost forever in the woods of
America, but thrown upon the bosom of Nature, the breath of God
revived it, and the world hath gathered its fruits. Even Ireland
has contributed her share to the liberties of America; and while
purblind statesmen were happy to get rid of the stubborn
Presbyterians of the North, they little thought that they were
serving a good cause in another quarter.--Yes! the Volunteers of
Ireland still live--they live across the Atlantic. Let this idea
animate us in our sufferings, and may the pure principles and
genuine lustre of the British Constitution reflected from their
Coast, penetrate into ourselves and our dungeons.
Farewell--great and good man! Great by your mental powers, by your
multiplied literary labours, but still greater by those household
virtues which form the only solid security for public conduct by
those mild and gentle qualities, which far from being averse to,
are most frequently attended with severe and inflexible
patriotism, rising like an oak above a modest
mansion.--Farewell--but before you go, we beseech a portion of
your parting prayer to the author of Good for Archibald Hamilton
Rowan, the pupil of Jebb, our Brother, now suffering imprisonment,
and for all those who have suffered, and are about to suffer in
the same cause--the cause of impartial and adequate
representation--the cause of the Constitution. Pray to the best of
Beings for Muir, Palmer, Skirving, Margarott and Gerald, who are
now, or will shortly be crossing, like you, the bleak Ocean, to a
barbarous land!--Pray that they may be animated with the same
spirit, which in the days of their fathers, triumphed at the
stake, and shone in the midst of flames. Melancholy indeed, it is
that the mildest and most humane of all Religions should have been
so perverted as to hang or burn men in order to keep them of one
faith.
It is equally melancholy, that the most deservedly extolled of
Civil Constitutions, should recur to similar modes of coercion,
and that hanging and burning are not now employed, principally,
because measures apparently milder are considered as more
effectual. Farewell! Soon may you embrace your sons on the
American shore, and Washington take you by the hand, and the shade
of Franklin look down with calm delight on the first statesman of
the age extending his protection to its first philosopher.
And how interestedly did America anticipate the arrival of the world
renowned philosopher is in a measure foreshadowed by the following
excerpt from the _American Daily Advertiser_ for Thursday, June 5, 1794:
Dr. Priestley, with about one hundred other passengers, are on
board the Sansom, which may be hourly expected.
In an editorial of the same paper, printed about the same date, there
appeared the following tribute:
It must afford the most sincere gratification to every well wisher
to the rights of man, that the United States of America, the land
of freedom and independence, has become the asylum of the greatest
characters of the present age, who have been persecuted in Europe,
merely because they have defended the rights of the enslaved
nations.
The name of Joseph Priestley will be long remembered among all
enlightened people; and there is no doubt that England will one
day regret her ungrateful treatment to this venerable and
illustrious man. His persecutions in England have presented to
him the American Republic as a safe and honourable retreat in his
declining years; and his arrival in this City calls upon us to
testify our respect and esteem for a man whose whole life has been
devoted to the sacred duty of diffusing knowledge and happiness
among nations.
The citizens of united America know well the honourable
distinction that is due to virtue and talents; and while they
cherish in their hearts the memory of Dr. Franklin, as a
philosopher, they will be proud to rank among the list of their
illustrious fellow citizens, the name of Dr. Priestley.
Quietly but with great inward rejoicing were the travel-worn
voyagers--the Doctor and his wife--received on the evening of June 4,
1794, at the old Battery in New York, by their son Joseph and his wife,
who had long awaited them, and now conducted them to a nearby lodging
house, which had been the head-quarters of Generals Howe and Clinton.
On the following morning the Priestleys were visited by Governor
Clinton, Dr. Prevost, Bishop of New York and most of the principal
merchants, and deputations of corporate bodies and Societies, bringing
addresses of welcome. Thus, among the very first to present their
sympathetic welcome was the Democratic Society of the City of New York,
which in the address of its President, Mr. James Nicholson, made June 7,
1794, said:
Sir,
WE are appointed by the Democratic Society of the City of New
York, a Committee to congratulate you on your arrival in this
country: And we feel the most lively pleasure in bidding you a
hearty welcome to these shores of Liberty and Equality.
While the arm of Tyranny is extended in most of the nations of the
world, to crush the spirit of liberty, and bind in chains the
bodies and minds of men, we acknowledge, with ardent gratitude to
the Great Parent of the Universe, our singular felicity in living
in a land, where Reason has successfully triumphed over the
artificial distinctions of European policy and bigotry, and where
the law equally protects the virtuous citizen of every description
and persuasion.
On this occasion we cannot but observe, that we once esteemed
ourselves happy in the relation that subsisted between us and the
Government of Great Britain--But the multiplied oppressions which
characterized that Government, excite in us the most painful
sensations, and exhibit a spectacle as disgusting in itself, as
dishonourable to the British name.
The governments of the old world present to us one huge mass of
intrigue, corruption and despotism--most of them are now basely
combined, to prevent the establishment of liberty in France, and
to affect the total destruction of the rights of man. Under these
afflicting circumstances we rejoice that America opens her arms to
receive, with fraternal affection, the friend of liberty and human
happiness, and that here he may enjoy the best blessings of
civilized society.
We sincerely sympathize with you in all that you have suffered,
and we consider the persecution with which you have been pursued
by a venal Court and an imperious and uncharitable priesthood, as
an illustrious proof of your personal merit, and a lasting
reproach to that Government from the grasp of whose tyranny you
are so happily removed.
Accept, Sir, of the sincere and best wishes of the Society whom we
represent, for the continuance of your health, and the increase of
your individual and domestic happiness.
To which Priestley graciously replied:
Gentlemen,
VIEWING with the deepest concern, as you do, the prospect that is
now exhibited in Europe, those troubles which are the natural
offspring of their forms of government originating, indeed, in the
spirit of liberty, but gradually degenerating in tyrannies,
equally degrading to the rulers and the ruled, I rejoice in
finding an asylum from persecution in a country in which these
abuses have come to a natural termination, and have produced
another system of liberty founded on such wise principles, as, I
trust, will guard it against all future abuses; those artificial
distinctions in society, from which they sprung, being completely
eradicated, that protection from violence which laws and
government promise in all countries, but which I have not found in
my own, I doubt not I shall find with you, though, I cannot
promise to be a better subject of this government, than my whole
conduct will evince that I have been to that of great Britain.
Justly, however, as I think I may complain of the treatment I have
met with in England I sincerely wish her prosperity, and, from the
good will I bear both that country and this I ardently wish that
all former animosities may be forgotten and that a perpetual
friendship may subsist between them.
And on Monday, June, 11, 1794, having taken the first opportunity to
visit Priestley, the Tammany Society presented this address:
Sir,
A numerous body of freemen who associate to cultivate among them
the love of liberty and the enjoyment of the happy Republican
government under which they live and who for several years have
been known in this city, by the name of the Tammany Society have
deputed us a Committee to express to you their pleasure and
congratulations on your safe arrival in this country.
Their venerable ancestors escaped, as you have done, from
persecutions of intolerance, bigotry and despotism, and they
would deem themselves, an unworthy progeny were they not highly
interested in your safety and happiness.
It is not alone because your various useful publications evince a
life devoted to literature and the industrious pursuit of
knowledge; not only because your numerous discoveries in Nature
are so efficient to the progression of human happiness: but they
have long known you to be the friend of mankind and in defiance of
calumny and malice, an asserter of the rights of conscience and
the champion of civil and religious liberty.
They have learned with regret and indignation the abandoned
proceedings of those spoilers who destroyed your house and goods,
ruined your philosophical apparatus and library, committed to the
flames your manuscripts, pryed into the secrets of your private
papers, and in their barbarian fury put your life itself in
danger. They heard you also with exalted benevolence return unto
them "blessings for curses:" and while you thus exemplified the
undaunted integrity of the patriot, the mild and forbearing
virtues of the Christian, they hailed you victor in this
magnanimous triumph over your enemies.
You have fled from the rude arm of violence, from the flames of
bigotry, from the rod of lawless power: and you shall find
refuge in the bosom of freedom, of peace, and of Americans.
You have left your native land, a country doubtless ever dear to
you--a country for whose improvement in virtue and knowledge you
have long disinterestedly laboured, for which its rewards are
ingratitude, injustice and banishment. A country although now
presenting a prospect frightful to the eyes of humanity, yet once
the nurse of science, of arts, of heroes, and of freeman--a
country which although at present apparently self devoted to
destruction, we fondly hope may yet tread back the steps of infamy
and ruin, and once more rise conspicuous among the free nations of
the earth. In this advanced period of your life, when nature
demands the sweets of tranquility, you have been constrained to
encounter the tempestous deep, to risk disappointed prospects in a
foreign land, to give up the satisfaction of domestic quiet, to
tear yourself from the friends of your youth, from a numerous
acquaintance who revere and love you, and will long deplore your
loss.
We enter, Sir, with emotion and sympathy into the numerous
sacrifices you must have made, to an undertaking which so
eminently exhibits our country as an asylum for the persecuted and
oppressed, and into those regretful sensibilities your heart
experienced when the shores of your native land were lessening to
your view.
Alive to the impressions of this occasion we give you a warm and
hearty welcome into these United States. We trust a country worthy
of you; where Providence has unfolded a scene as new as it is
august, as felicitating as it is unexampled. The enjoyment of
liberty with but one disgraceful exception, pervades every class
of citizens. A catholic and sincere spirit of toleration regulates
society which rises into zeal when the sacred rights of humanity
are invaded. And there exists a sentiment of free and candid
inquiry which disdains shackles of tradition, promising a rich
harvest of improvement and the glorious triumphs of truth. We
hope, Sir, that the Great Being whose laws and works you have
made the study of your life, will smile upon and bless
you--restore you to every domestic and philosophical enjoyment,
prosper you in every undertaking, beneficial to mankind, render
you, as you have been to your own, the ornament of this country,
and crown you at last with immortal felicity and honour.
And to this the venerable scientist was pleased to say:
Gentlemen,
I think myself greatly honoured, flying as I do, from ill
treatment in my native country, on account of my attachment to the
cause of civil and religious liberty, to be received with the
congratulations of "a Society of Freemen associated to cultivate
the love of liberty, and the enjoyment of a happy Republican
government." Happy would our venerable ancestors, as you justly
call them, have been, to have found America such a retreat for
them as it is to me, when they were driven hither; but happy has
it proved to me, and happy will it be for the world, that in the
wise and benevolent order of Providence, abuses of power are ever
destructive of itself, and favourable to liberty. Their strenuous
exertions and yours now give me that asylum which at my time of
life is peculiarly grateful to me, who only wish to continue
unmolested those pursuits of various literature to which, without
having ever entered into any political connexions my life has been
devoted.
I join you in viewing with regret the unfavourable prospect of
Great Britain formerly, as you say, the nurse of science, and of
freemen, and wish with you, that the unhappy delusion that country
is now under may soon vanish, and that whatever be the form of its
government it may vie with this country in everything that is
favourable to the best interests of mankind, and join with you in
removing that only disgraceful circumstance, which you justly
acknowledge to be an exception to the enjoyment of equal liberty,
among yourselves. That the Great Being whose providence extends
alike to all the human race, and to whose disposal I cheerfully
commit myself, may establish whatever is good, and remove whatever
is imperfect from your government and from every government in
the known world, is the earnest prayer of,
Gentlemen,
Your respectful humble servant.
As Priestley had ever gloried in the fact that he was a teacher, what
more appropriate in this period of congratulatory welcome, could have
come to him than the following message of New York's teaching body:
The associated Teachers in the city of New York beg leave to offer
you a sincere and hearty welcome to this land of tranquility and
freedom.
Impressed with the idea of the real importance of so valuable an
acquisition to the growing interests of science and literature, in
this country, we are particularly happy that the honour of your
first reception, has fallen to this state, and to the city of New
York.
As labourers in those fields which you have occupied with the most
distinguished eminence, at the arduous and important task of
cultivating the human mind, we contemplate with peculiar
satisfaction the auspicious influence which your personal
residence in this country, will add to that of your highly
valuable scientific and literary productions, by which we have
already been materially benefited.
We beg leave to anticipate the happiness of sharing in some
degree, that patronage of science and literature, which it has
ever been your delight to afford. This will give facility to our
expressions; direct and encourage us in our arduous employments;
assist us to form the man, and thereby give efficacy to the
diffusion of useful knowledge.
Our most ardent wishes attend you, good Sir, that you may find in
this land a virtuous simplicity, a happy recess from the
intriguing politics and vitiating refinements of the European
world. That your patriotic virtues may add to the vigour of our
happy Constitution and that the blessings of this country may be
abundantly remunerated into your person and your family.
And we rejoice in believing, that the Parent of Nature, by those
secret communications of happiness with which he never fails to
reward the virtuous mind, will here convey to you that
consolation, support, and joy, which are independent of local
circumstances, and "Which the world can neither give nor take
away."
Touched, indeed was Priestley by this simple, outspoken greeting from
those who appreciated his genuine interest in the cause of education.
Hence his reply was in a kindred spirit:
A welcome to this country from my fellow labourers in the
instruction of youth, is, I assure you, peculiarly grateful to me.
Classes of men, as well as individuals, are apt to form too high
ideas of their own importance; but certainly one of the most
important is, that which contributes so much as ours do to the
cummunication of useful knowledge, as forming the characters of
men, thereby fitting them for their several stations in society.
In some form or other this has been my employment and delight; and
my principal object in flying for an asylum to this country, "a
land," as I hope you justly term it, "of virtuous simplicity, and
a recess from the intriguing politics, and vicious refinements of
the European world," is that I may, without molestation, pursue my
favourite studies. And if I had an opportunity of making choice of
an employment for what remains of active exertion in life, it
would be one in which I should as I hope I have hitherto done,
contribute with you, to advance the cause of science, of virtue,
and of religion.
Further, The Medical Society of the State of New York through Dr. John
Charlton, its President, said:
PERMIT us, Sir, to wait upon you with an offering of our sincere
congratulations, on your safe arrival, with your lady and family
in this happy country, and to express our real joy, in receiving
among us, a gentleman, whose labours have contributed so much to
the diffusion and establishment of civil and religious liberty,
and whose deep researches into the true principles of natural
philosophy, have derived so much improvement and real benefit, not
only to the sciences of chemistry and medicine, but to various
other arts, all of which are necessary to the ornament and utility
of human life.
May you, Sir, possess and enjoy, here, uninterrupted contentment
and happiness, and may your valuable life be continued a farther
blessing to mankind.
And in his answer Dr. Priestley remarked:
I THINK myself greatly honoured in being congratulated on my
arrival in this country by a Society of persons whose studies bear
some relation to my own. To continue, without fear of molestation,
on account of the most open profession of any sentiments, civil or
religious, those pursuits which you are sensible have for their
object the advantage of all mankind, (being, as you justly
observe, "necessary to the ornament and utility of human life") is
my principal motive for leaving a country in which that
tranquility and sense of security which scientificial pursuits
require, cannot be had; and I am happy to find here, persons who
are engaged in the same pursuits, and who have the just sense that
you discover of their truly enviable situation.
As a climax to greetings extended in the City of New York, The
Republican Natives of Great Britain and Ireland resident in that city
said,
WE, the Republican natives of Great Britain and Ireland, resident
in the city of New York, embrace, with the highest satisfaction,
the opportunity which your arrival in this city presents, of
bearing our testimony to your character and virtue and of
expressing our joy that you come among us in circumstances of such
good health and spirits.
We have beheld with the keenest sensibility, the unparallelled
persecutions which attended you in your native country, and have
sympathized with you under all their variety and extent. In the
firm hope, that you are now completely removed from the effects of
every species of intolerance, we most sincerely congratulate you.
After a fruitless opposition to a corrupt and tyrannical
government, many of us have, like you, sought freedom and
protection in the United States of America; but to this we have
all been principally induced, from the full persuasion, that a
republican representative government, was not merely best adapted
to promote human happiness, but that it is the only rational
system worthy the wisdom of man to project, or to which his reason
should assent.
Participating in the many blessings which the government of this
country is calculated to insure, we are happy in giving it this
proof of our respectful attachment:--We are only grieved, that a
system of such beauty and excellence, should be at all tarnished
by the existence of slavery in any form; but as friends to the
Equal Rights of Man, we must be permitted to say, that we wish
these Rights extended to every human being, be his complexion what
it may. We, however, look forward with pleasing anticipation to a
yet more perfect state of society; and, from that love of liberty
which forms so distinguishing a trait in American character, are
taught to hope that this last--this worse disgrace to a free
government, will finally and forever be done away.
While we look back on our native country with emotions of pity and
indignation at the outrages which humanity has sustained in the
persons of the virtuous Muir, and his patriotic associates; and
deeply lament the fatal apathy into which our countrymen have
fallen; we desire to be thankful to the Great Author of our being
that we are in America, and that it has pleased Him, in his Wise
Providence, to make the United States an asylum not only from the
immediate tyranny of the British Government, but also from those
impending calamities, which its increasing despotism and
multiplied iniquities, must infallibly bring down on a deluded and
oppressed people.
Accept, Sir, of our affectionate and best wishes for a long
continuance of your health and happiness.
The answer of the aged philosopher to this address was:
I think myself peculiarly happy in finding in this country so many
persons of sentiments similar to my own, some of whom have
probably left Great Britain or Ireland on the same account, and to
be so cheerfully welcomed by them on my arrival. You have already
had experience of the difference between the governments of the
two countries, and I doubt not, have seen sufficient reason to
give the decided preference that you do to that of this. There all
liberty of speech and of the press as far as politics are
concerned, is at an end, and a spirit of intolerance in matters of
religion is almost as high as in the time of the Stuarts. Here,
having no countenance from government, whatever may remain of this
spirit, from the ignorance and consequent bigotry, of former
times, it may be expected soon to die away; and on all subjects
whatever, every man enjoys invaluable liberty of speaking and
writing whatever he pleases.
The wisdom and happiness of Republican governments and the evils
resulting from hereditary monarchical ones, cannot appear in a
stronger light to you than they do to me. We need only look to the
present state of Europe and of America, to be fully satisfied in
this respect. The former will easily reform themselves, and among
other improvements, I am persuaded, will be the removal of that
vestige of servitude to which you allude, as it so ill accords
with the spirit of equal liberty, from which the rest of the
system has flowed; whereas no material reformation of the many
abuses to which the latter are subject, it is to be feared, can be
made without violence and confusion.
I congratulate you, gentlemen, as you do me, on our arrival in a
country in which men who wish well to their fellow citizens, and
use their best endeavours to render them the most important
services, men who are an honour to human nature and to any
country, are in no danger of being treated like the worst felons,
as is now the case in Great Britain.
Happy should I think myself in joining with you in welcoming to
this country every friend of liberty, who is exposed to danger
from the tyranny of the British Government, and who, while they
continue under it, must expect to share in those calamities, which
its present infatuation must, sooner or later, bring upon it. But
let us all join in supplications to the Great Parent of the
Universe, that for the sake of the many excellent characters in
our native country its government may be reformed, and the
judgments impending over it prevented.
The hearty reception accorded Dr. Priestley met in due course with a
cruel attack upon him by William Cobbett, known under the pen-name of
Peter Porcupine, an Englishman, who after arrival in this country
enjoyed a rather prosperous life by formulating scurrilous
literature--attacks upon men of prominence, stars shining brightly in
the human firmament.
An old paper, the _Argus_, for the year 1796, said of this Peter
Porcupine:
When this political caterpillar was crawling about at St. John's,
Nova Scotia, in support of his Britannic Majesty's glorious cause,
against the United States, and holding the rank of serjeant major
in the 54th regiment, then quartered in that land, "flowing with
milk and honey," and GRINDSTONES, and commanded by Colonel Bruce;
it was customary for some of the officers to hire out the soldiers
to the country people, instead of keeping them to military duty,
and to pocket the money themselves. Peter found he could make a
_speck_ out of this, and therefore kept a watchful eye over the
sins of his superiors. When the regiment was recalled and had
returned to England--Peter, brimful of amor patriæ, was about to
prefer a complaint against the officers, when they came down with
a round sum of the ready rino, and a promise of his discharge, in
case of secrecy.--This so staggered our incorruptible and
independent hero and quill driver, that he agreed to the terms,
received that very honorable discharge, mentioned with so much
emphasis, in the history of his important life--got cash enough to
come to America, by circuitous route and to set himself up with
the necessary implements of scandal and abuse.
This flea, this spider, this corporal, has dared to point his
impotent spleen at the memory of that illustrious patriot,
statesman and philosopher, Benjamin Franklin.