November 24, 1921] 



NATURE 



395 



of Burke, and by what were then known as 

 " Treasury newspapers," controlled by the politi- 

 cal party in power. Priestley's position in this 

 country became so insecure that eventually he 

 determined to leave it and to join his sons, who 

 with certain other persons, mainly Englishmen, 

 were projecting a settlement near Northumberland 

 at the confluence of the north-east and west 

 branches of the Susquehanna. On April 8, 1794, he 

 and his wife sailed from London, and arrived at the 

 Old Battery, New York, on the evening of June 4. 



The good ship Sansom, under Captain 

 Smith, was not a very speedy craft to require 

 fifty-seven days to cross the Atlantic, and her 

 hundred passengers, with scant provision for their 

 comfort, must have had a wear\' time of it. 

 Priestley, however, in spite of occasional sea- 

 sickness, occupied himself, as was his wont, with 

 books. He relates that he read the whole of the 

 Greek Testament and the Hebrew Bible as far as 

 the first Book of Samuel; also Ovid's Meta- 

 morphoses, Buchanan's Poems, Erasmus's Dia- 

 logues, Peter Pindar's Poems, etc. To amuse him- 



If he tried the temperature of the water at dif- 

 terent depths, and made other observations which 

 suggested experiments to be prosecuted when- 

 ever he should be able to re-establish his labora- 

 tory. To solace him he had received sundry- 

 parting gifts, among them "an elegant silver 

 inkstand " from "three young gentlemen of the 

 University of Cambridge," who regretted that 



ich an "expression of their esteem should be 

 occasioned by the ingratitude of their country." 

 Also a characteristically florid and highly rhetori- 

 cal valedictory address from the Society of United 

 Irishmen of Dublin, enjoining him to pray for the 

 patriots who, like him, were about to cross the 

 bleak Ocean to a barbarous land — victims of 

 '■ purblind statesmen" like Mr. Pitt, 



Priestley was well received in America. His 

 fame as a man of science had preceded him, and 

 his well-known warm friendship for Franklin was 

 in his favour. Indeed, it was generally acknow- 

 ledged that this friendship reacted powerfully 

 upon Priestley's work as a political thinker and 

 as a natural philosopher. The American Daily 

 Advertiser, in an editorial article of welcome, 

 declared that it afforded 



■' the most sincere gratification to every 

 well-wisher to the rights of man, that the 

 United States of .America, the land of free- 

 dom and independence, has become the asvlum 

 of the greatest characters of the present age who 

 have been persecuted in Europe, merelv because 

 thev have defended the rights of the enslaved 

 nations. . . . The citizens of United America 

 NO. 2717. VOL. 108] 



know well the honourable distinction that is due 

 to virtue and t;ilents ; and. while they cherish in 

 their hearts the memory of Dr. Franklin, as a 

 philosopher, they will be proua to rank among the 

 list of their illustrious fellow -citizens, the name 

 of Dr. Priestley." 



For some days after their arrival the travel- 

 worn voyagers were busily occupied in receiving 

 visits from the principal inhabitants of New* York 

 and in replying to addresses of welcome from 

 corporate bodies and societies in the State. These 

 addresses, together with Priestley's replies, 

 occupy a considerable section of Prof. Smith's 

 book. The general character of the addresses is 

 very similar. There is much about the arm of 

 tyranny, corrupt Governments, venal Courts, an 

 imperious and uncharitable priesthood, etc., 

 all contrasted with liberty and equality and the 

 system of beauty and excellence and " of virtuous 

 simplicity " which characterised the happy Repub- 

 lican Government of America, where Reason had 

 triumphed over the artificial distinctions of Euro- 

 pean policy and bigotry, and " where Providence 

 had unfolded a scene as new as it is august, as 

 felicitating as it is unexampled." Priestley's 

 rephes were couched, as might be expected, in 

 less turgid rhetoric ; but it is obvious from their 

 terms that he was much affected by and grateful 

 for the warmth of his welcome. 



Amidst the general chorus there was, however, 

 one dissonant note. It came from William 

 Cobbett, and was sounded with characteristic 

 violence. His pamphlet, " Observations on the 

 Emigration of a Martyr to the Cause of Liberty," 

 was a scurrilous attack on Priestley. It was the 

 first of a series of lampoons signed " Peter Porcu- 

 pine," mainly directed against American states- 

 men, which resulted in convictions for libel, and 

 Cobbett was forced to leave the country. 



After a fortnight's stay in New York Priestley 

 moved to Philadelphia, then the seat of Govern- 

 ment, where he was welcomed by the American 

 Philosophical Society, which had been founded 

 in 1727 by his friend Franklin. But Philadelphia 

 had few attractions for him. He found it 

 " unpleasant, unhealthy and intolerably expen- 

 sive " — "only a place for business and to get 

 money in," and he soon moved to Northumber- 

 land, where, with the exception of an occasional 

 visit to Philadelphia either to lecture or to preach, 

 he remained to the end of his days. He was 

 invited to accept a professorship of chemistry 

 in the Medical College of Philadelphia, but as 

 this would require his residence for at least four 

 months of the year in that city he declined it. 



At Northumberland he occupied himself in help- 



