Delaware state journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1870-1883, 1874-08-08
A MARTYR OF SCIENCE.
4 Sketch OF DIR. Priestiey the
DiscOYerer of Oxygen.

considerable part of thc current
number Of the Popular Science Monthly
is devoted TO DR.. Priettley's discovery Of
oxygen gas, apropos Of the celebration OF
the centennial snuiyersary of that event
al Northumberland an the LIST of August
next. The circumstances under which
DR.. Priestoy was driven from England
and compelled TO seek an asylum in tue
United States, are thus described in an
interesting meuoir Of his life;
Opposed to a State church, liberal In
religion, fnd advocating freedom OF
thought and liberty Of discussion, he
was represented as the enemy o. the
government and the foe Of religion.
The French rec. gnized his eminent POSI-
Iion ss a champion Of liberal thought,
and he was halored by being made
citizen of France and a member Of the
Assembly. This made him In q high
degree obnoxious at home, and was laid
hold Of by his antagonists to convince
he people that he was an enemy to his
count, tnaJ he had abjured his rights
as an Eug.ishman and had adopted the
principles Of the hereditary enemies of
Great bfitz.- The clergy of the English
Church, who began about this time 10 be
alarmed for their establishment, of which
DR. Priestley was the openlenemy, were
particularly active, the press teemed
with their denunciatiors Of him, and The
minds OF their hearers were iuhamed
against him. Tbis vicious state Of feeling
at length broke bounds and Issued In
violence.
On the day OF the anniversary Of the
French revolution, in 1871, there was
riot 10 Birmingham, In which DR.. Priest
ley's meeting house and dwelling house
we're burned, his library and apparatus
destroyed, and many manuscripts, the
fruits OF years Of industry, were Goa.
sumed 10 the conhagratlOn. The houses
Of several Of his friends shared the same
fate, ana his son was only saved from
death by the care of friend who con-
cealed him for several days. DR.. Priest
ley was obliged to make bis escape to
! London, aud a seat was taken for him in
the mail coach under a borrowed name.
Such was the ferment against him that
il was believed he FOuld not be safe any
where else, and his friends would not
allow him for several weeks to walk
the streets. He was invited to hackney
TO succeed the celebrated Unitarian
clergymau Or. Price. He accepted, but
such was the dread OF his unpopulartiJ
that nobody would let him have house
from an apprehension that ii would be
burned by the pOpulace. He was obliged
to get friend 10 take the lease for him,
and 1t was with the utmost difficulty that
he could prevail with the landlord 10
| transfer the lease to him, as he alleged
that he was not only afraid that It would
be demolished, but that bis own residence,
twenty miles of, would 90 next.
When he got settled, his friends living
near were advised TO remove their valua-
] rnsfId - he inHmRHl
to stay with HIN, and his negGbors were
In fear Of damage by his presence. The
members Of the Royal Society, of which
he WAS fellow, declined admitting him
to their company, and he was obliged to
withdraw HE name froT1 the Society.
I His eldest son was Ia business 10 Man
chester. With a partner, who, although a
man Of liberality, was so plnic-stfuck by
the state of the public mind thet he dis
solved the business connections. DR..
Phestly was burned IN effigy with Paine,
and threatened and denounced 10 pIivste
letters. At dinner Of the prebendNries
OF q cathedral churs. he conversation
iurniug on tie rlols j. Birmingham, ana
on a Clergyman having said that II pr
Pricsilty we're mOunte' on n pi uf bis
publications he would set fire 10 them
snd buru him alive, t.,y all declared
that they would h2 reacy To 90 he same.
Dr.. Priestley had been friend of Edmund
Burke. who wrote furious book gainst
the Ffelch. This was replied 10 by
Plicst,ey so ably that the orator war
greatly exasperated and inveighc' against
his friends character repeatedly in the
House OF Commons. Or. Priestley denied
his charges and called on Lim Tor proof
again and agalr int he made no reply,
whereupon the 1octor published that
Burke " had ueither ability to ms.atsiu
his charge or virtue TO rttract it," Dr.
Prieslley vas Informed by person VII
was boarding at the sane house with
Burke at MArgale when the riots broke
out a. Birmingham, "that he coa.d not
contain his 10y, but running from place
10 place, b. expressed Il in the mosi
uptqulvocal manner"