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tholic has pointed in more vivid colors tlie oppression endured by nine-tenths of the Irih people * ^ I know not whether the Catholics beheld with much gratitude the efforts of an Unitarian in their favor ; but it is natural to imagine , that this diffusion of hi benevolence was not likely to
reconcile the Episcopalians to him ^ and we find that the hatred of the high-chiirch party was centered almost entirely in his person r ~ all who wrote against him ivere sure of an ample recompense ; many were rewarded with even bishoprics , which occasioned him jestingly to say , that it was fie who had the disposal pf English benefices . -
But the aversion he inspired was not shown merely h # these legal means , and it appears too true that the writings and fanatical sermons of some Episcopalian rbinisters contributed greatly to the persecutions of which he was the victim . This was the epoch at which the com - menccment of the French Revolution
had caused divisions , not only in France , but in every state , in every city , almost in every family in Europe . War was kindled in France alone , but contention Was heard in every place ; and it is
rerharkable that the countries which enjoyed the greatest liberty were most ardently desirous of a revolution . At one time the jpartizans of the Government of Great Britain saw no resource except in those methods which were then so
useful to the enemies of the government of France . The real or supposed revolulutionists were ttirniiltuously assailed . One of the most dreadful of the riots was that of Birmingham , on the 14 th of July 1791 . A number of persons of different sects , some of them church
ifien , were met to celebrate our Revolution : it was reported that Priestley had been the promoter of this festival ; forged letters of invitation , couched in the most seditious terns , . were * attributed to him ; it was also confidently asserted , that ridiculous or ill-designed ttfasts had been drunk , whilst those
given at the meeting were totally different . At length the enraged populace gathered together from all parts ; * calumny rapidly spread and augmented ^ arid the blackest p rojects vrcrc '\ charged on the company assembled ; the house in which they had met was attacked , broken into , and destroyed . The furious multitude could utter nothing but
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the na ^ e of Priestley ; ^ was the fni ^ tsj ; er of tfee" Dissenters , the ; '') Keatf : of ; ti ^ e revolutionists , who nidlwig ^ 'B e ^^ object of hatred to thigfchurch ; and this was the moment for vengeanice . 1 ' HFKe unfortunate Priestley was so ignorant of
ail < $ iat was imputed to him on that day , that he did hot l ^ bw what ^ ras pas sing in the town * nor had fie been j > feseri £ at the dinner ; but the mob woulctiisteii to tio arguments ; believing he had fied , they armed themselves with torches ana every instrument of destruction , ^ arict flew towards his house . This modest '
retreat , at half a mile ' s distance from Birmingham * , was the acquisition of his . frugality . There , with his wife - and two of his sons , he lived in all the sim * plicity of ancient manners ; there he had received the hoinage of the ftiany travellers , illustrious by birth s or merit , [ who
had determined tiet to leaive England without ^ ' becoming acquainted ifritit &k great a man ; ttiere , for the space of elel veh years , "fiis ; time had ; been divided between ; the" Stujdy of the sciences , the instruction of youth , and the exeircise ^ C charityv the principal duty © f ils office *
In this dweMiii ^ on ^ e ornament alon ^^ ras , seen ^ bu / t that \ vas irico ^ j ^ r ^ lSC ^ it "Wai an immense coliedtion of inst ^ umiE'ri t ^ most of which wei * e' invented and con « - structed by himself 5 ^— -a source of many novel truths , and of many dtscoyeries useful to the rioters themselves , who
were almost all workmen at 3 irming ^ ham ; and amongst the numerous ma ~ nufactures bf that place , there was scarcely one w ^ hich nad n ® t received some improvement ffom the discoveries of Priestley . But how feeble is gratitude opposed to party spirit ! and , besides , how little can the common people appre- *
ciate services of this nature ! Every thing vir a > reduced to ashes ; the instruments used in . experiments which had , occupied several months , and which , were to resolve important questions , were totally destroyed ^ registers of
observations , made during several years , were committed to the flames ; many works partly written * and a considerable library , containing various notes , additions , and commentaries , shared the same fate . In . a few minutes the house
Tvas burnt , or rafeed , to the ground . How dreadful was the moment in ( whi ^ i a ~' niat ) y ' bf ^ of age , thus Beheld the destruction o £ all ^ hat half a Tcentuiry 0 con&i&at aj 58 iduity , an 4
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p 32 Eulogy , on Dr . Priestley *
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1806, page 332, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1725/page/52/
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