To the inhabitants of the town of Birmingham / [Joseph Priestley].

  • Priestley, Joseph, 1733-1804
Date:
[1791]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: To the inhabitants of the town of Birmingham / [Joseph Priestley]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    1/2
    fo the Inhabitants £/* the Town o/* Birmingham* My late Tonunfmen and Neighboursf A FTER living with you eleven years, in which you ^ had uniform experience of my peaceful behaviour, in my attention to the quiet ftudies of my profeffion, and thofe of philofophy, I was far froni expedihg the inju- ries which I arid my friends have lately received from you. But you have been mifled. By hearing the Dif- fenters, and particularly the Unitarian Diffenters, conti- nually railed at, as enemies to the prefent Government, in Church and State, you have been led to confider any injury done to us, as a meritorious thing; and not having been better informed, the means were not attended toi When the obje£t was right, you thought the means could not be wrong. By the difcourfes of your teachers, and the exclamations of your fuperiors in general, drinking confulion and damnation to us (which is well known to have been their frequent praftice), your bigotry has been excited to the higheft pitch, and nothing having been faid to you to moderate your paflions, but every thing to inflame them: hence, without any confideration on your part, or on theirs, who ought to have known, and taught you better—you were prepared for every fpecies of outrage; thinking, that whatever ybu could do to fpite and injure us, was for the fupport of Government, and cfpecially the Church. In defircying us, you have been led to think, you did God and your country the moil fubftantial /ervice. Happily, the minds of Englifhmen have a horror of murder, and therefore you did not, I hope, think of that; though, by your clamorous demanding of me at the Hotel, it is probable that, at that time, fomc of you intended me fome perfonal injury. But what is the value bf life, when every tbng is done to make it wretched. In many cafes, there would be greater mercy in difpatch- ing the inhabitants, than in burning their houfes. How- ever, I infinitely prefer what I feel from the Spoiling of my goods, to the difpofition of thofe who have milled you. You have deftroyed the ttioft truly valuable and ufeful apparatus of philofophical inftruments that perhaps any individual, in this or any other country, was ever pof- feffed of, in rriy ufe of which I annually fpent large fums, with no pecuniary view whatever, but only in the advancement of fcience, for the benefit of my country and of mankind. You have deftroyed a library corref- ponding to that apparatus, which no money can repur- chafe, except in a courfe of time^ But what I feel far more, you have deftroyed manufcripts, which have been the refult of the laborious ftudy of many years, and which I fhall never be able to recompofe; and this has been done to one who never did, or imagined you any harm. I know nothing more of the hand-hill, which is faid to have enraged you fo much, than any of yourfelves; and I difapprove of it as much ; tho’ it has been madfe the oftenlible handle of doing infinitely more mifehief than any thing of that nature could poflibly have done* In the celebration of the French Revolulion, at which I did not attend, the company affembled on the occafion only exprelTed their joy in the emancipation of a neighbour- ing nation from tyranny, without intimating a delire of any thing more than fuch an improvement of our own Conftitution, as all fober citizens, of every peifuallon, have long wilhed for. And though, in anfwer to the grofs and unprovoked calumnies of Mr. Mad an ana o- thers, I publicly vindicated my principles as a DilTenter, it was only with plain and fober argument and with per- fect good-humour. We are better inftrufled in the mild and forbearing fpirit of Chriftianityj than ever to think of having recourfe to violence; and can you think fuch conduft as yours, any recommendation of your religious principles, in preference to ours ? Yoii are ftill more miftaken, if you imagine that this condud of yours has any tendency to ferve your caufe, or to prejudice ours. It is nothing but reafon and argu- ment that can ever fupport any fyftem of religion. An- fwer our arguments, and your bufinefs is done; but your having recourfe to violence, is only a proof that you have nothing better to produce. Should you deftroy my- felf, as well as my houfe, library, and apparatus, ten more perfons, of equal or fuperior fpirit and ability, would inftantly rife up. If thofe ten were deftroyed, an hundred would appear; and believe me, that the Church of England, which you now think you are fupporting, has received a greater blow by this condud of yours, than I and all my friends have ever aimed at it. Befides, to abufe thofe who have no power of making refiftance, is equally cowardly and brutal, peculiarly un- worthy of Englifhmen, to fay nothing of Chriftianity, which teaches us to do as we would be done by. In this bufinefs we are the (heep, and you the wolves. We will preferve our charader, and hope you will change yours* At all events, we return you bleflirigs for curfes; and pray that you may foon return to that induftry, and thofe fober mannersi for which the inhabitants of Birmingham were formerly diftinguilhed. I am, your fincere well-wilher, J, PRIESTLEY* London, July ig, 1791. P. S. The account of the firft Toaft at the Revolu- tion Dinner in The Times of this morning, can be nothing lefs than a malicious lie. To prove this, a lift of the Toafts, with an account of all the proceedings of the day, will foon be publiflied. The firft of them was. The King and the Confitution ; and they were all fuch as the friends of liberty, and of the true principles of the Conftitution, would approve.