Priestley in America | Page 6

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: