PRIESTLEY 51 



Thursday, 14th July 1791, the second anniversary of 

 the taking of the Bastille, was celebrated by eighty of 

 Priestley's friends in Birmingham by a dinner at an hotel 

 in Temple Row, and in spite of the plainest symptoms 

 of an intended riot. " Church and King/' " Down with 

 Dissenters," were heard everywhere. These cries exasper- 

 ated the mob to such an extent that they smashed the 

 windows of the hotel, and burnt the chapels and houses of 

 the dissenters. The full hatred of the mob was directed 

 against Priestley, who, with his wife and family, narrowly 

 escaped with their lives, leaving his valuable library, 

 philosophical instruments, furniture, and the manuscripts 

 of works which had cost him years of labour a prey to the 

 flames. 



Several persons were arrested for this disgraceful riot, 

 and three were executed. 



The riots may be looked at from two standpoints : 

 either as a struggle to preserve the privileges of the Church 

 of England, or as a rebellion of an excited contingent 

 of the population enraged by the party spirit of the times. 

 Meetings had been organised which were declared by some 

 to be dangerous to the peace of the country. The spirit 

 of democracy had spread in England, and those in favour 

 of the French Revolution entertained the idea of over- 

 turning the Constitution of the Empire. Inflammatory 

 pamphlets had been issued and circulated in Great Britain 

 in favour of upholding the doctrine of the Revolution. 



