America

On 30 March 1794 Priestley preached his last sermon in England. His boat sailed for New York on 8 April, and he arrived on 1 June. His arrival was anticipated, and he received a warm welcome from Governor George Clinton (no relation, I believe, of a current public intellectual) and other civic and church notables, as well as representatives of the academic community. A few days later he departed for Philadelphia and, as is well known, chose not to accept a college appointment but rather to build himself a house at Northumberland and set up yet another laboratory for his experiments. He continued his outpourings on politics and religion, remaining an angry young man well into old age. He died, we are told, just 40 minutes after giving instructions about three pamphlets that his friends had agreed to see through the press for him.

Perhaps provocatively, I have titled this piece “Joseph Priestley: Public Intellectual” because there is some current concern about the decline of the status and influence of intellectuals in today’s society and because Priestley fitted such a role in the 18th century, a position he held with a rigor that many feel is lacking today. We cannot doubt the standing of Priestley in his time. He willingly entered a range of intellectual frays and engaged fearlessly with those with whom he disagreed. He was a polemicist whose writings were intended to incite, perhaps even offend. He would not be silenced and he was, it must be said, a figure who caused many discomfort. In short, he was an obsessive. But we have to regard Priestley as a hero. As one admirer, Anna Aikin, wrote of him in verse:

Champion of Truth, alike through Nature’s field,
And where in sacred leaves she shines reveal’d, —
Alike in both, eccentric, piercing, bold,
Like his own lightnings, which no chains can hold;
Neglecting caution, and disdaining art,
He seeks no armour for a naked heart