A BIT OF HISTORY
JOSEPH PRIESTLEY
by Bill Weston

    Joseph Priestley was born on March 13, 1733 in Fieldhead, near 
Birstall, in Yorkshire, England. To give some perspective to this 
date, it was a year after the birth of George Washington.
    Joseph was one of 6 children born to Jonas Priestley, a wool 
dresser. His mother died in 1739 giving birth to her 6th child in 6 
years. Joseph spent much of his early childhood with his maternal 
grandfather and, after his mother's death, his father tried to 
raise him at home but, apparently couldn't manage it. When Joseph 
was 9 years old he was adopted by his father's sister, Mrs. 
Keighley. This was, probably, one of the best things that ever 
happened to Joseph Priestley. The Keighley's were people of 
substance who lived a few miles away from the Priestley home. Mr. 
Keighley was, in his younger days, a persecutor of Dissenters. A 
dissenter was anyone who belonged to a church other than the 
Church of England and, in those days, this included the Catholics, 
the Quakers, the Calvinists, the Presbyterians, etc. Mr. Keighley, 
hid himself in a dissenter's church in order to hear their heresies 
and report them to the law but, instead, he became converted to 
their doctrine. From then on he supported the dissenters and 
invited them to his house to espouse their views. 
     It can be imagined what effect this had on the young Joseph 
Priestley. He heard talk around the Keighley's dinner table which 
had to incite his curiosity. Soon after Priestley came to live with 
them, Mr. Keighley died leaving his considerable property to his 
widow who was determined to do good with her wealth. Her house was 
a center of nonconformity and a resort of all the dissenting 
ministers in the neighborhood. Priestley says, in his memoirs:
  ...there was hardly a day in the week in which there was not 
some meeting of one part of the congregation. On one evening there 
was a meeting of the young men ......This I constantly 
attended.  At my aunt's there was a monthly meeting of women who 
acquitted themselves in prayer as well as any men....I was 
permitted to attend their meetings....
    At an early age, Joseph decided to study for the ministry and, 
toward that goal, he learned Greek and Latin and Hebrew. He was so 
proficient that, at age 16, he tutored ministers in the study of 
Hebrew so that they could read the Hebrew bible. When it appeared 
that he was consumptive and would have to abandon his plan to study 
for the ministry he taught himself French, Italian, and German so 
that he might engage in a commercial occupation. However, his 
health recovered and he enrolled in the Academy at Daventry. 
           Joseph Priestley was clearly a brilliant scholar as a 
boy. He had decided he wanted to study for the ministry and, toward 
that end, he started his studies of Latin and Greek when he was 12 
years old. When he was about 16, his health deteriorated and it 
seemed that he wouldn't be able to pursue that career, so he taught 
himself French, German, and Italian to prepare himself for a career 
in business. He did, in fact, translate some letters for a counting 
house but his health recovered and he returned to his classical 
studies. He also mastered Hebrew by his late teens and tutored some 
local ministers in that language so that they could read the Hebrew 
Bible. At 19,  he was ready for college and Cambridge or Oxford 
would have been ideal for him. However, as a member of a Dissenting 
religion he was not allowed to enter either of them. His Aunt, 
Sarah Keighley, arranged for him to attend the best of the 
dissenting colleges, Daventry Academy.
     Joseph was, at that time, a devout and pious young man and 
still a Trinitarian. Before he went away to college, he wanted to 
become a member of the Calvinist Church which he and his aunt had 
faithfully attended. However, in order to become a member he was 
questioned by the church elders to see if he understood the church 
doctrines and he was asked to explain the doctrine of original sin. 
His answer, in short, was that he  didn't think this doctrine was 
contained in the scriptures and so, being, above all, an 
independent thinker, he  wasn't too sure that he believed in 
original sin.  Membership was thereupon denied him and he left for 
Daventry without a church.      
     He was so advanced in his studies that he skipped all of the 
first year and some of the second year requirements.  He finished 
Daventry in 3 years and, in 1755, he entered the ministry at 
Needham Market at 20 pounds a year. He was not a success. He had an 
unfortunate speaking voice and a stammer and it soon became 
apparent that he was a believer in Arianism, a heresy that held 
that Jesus was not quite divine. This wasn't acceptable to many of 
his congregation and, after 3 years of dwindling membership, he was 
encouraged to go elsewhere.
    He applied at Sheffield but was turned down. The decision 
against him was prompted not so much because of his opinions or his 
delivery but because of his "gay and airy disposition". He was 
known to jump over the counter at the grocers for fun.
    In 1758, he did secure a church in Nantwich in Cheshire and he 
also started his first successful school. In a short time he had 
about 30 boys and 6 girls in class and some private pupils. He had 
long been a critic of the English school methods and curriculum and 
introduced many innovations. He didn't like the grammar books 
available so he wrote his own. He was a firm believer in the 
benefits of having his students compose essays in English. He 
bought some scientific apparatus and taught the pupils to use it 
and give demonstrations and do experiments for their parents.  He 
also introduced some radical innovations in the teaching of history 
and invented the Chart of History to reveal the principal events in 
various civilizations along a time line.
   He taught himself to play the flute and amused himself with it 
all his life. He wrote in his diary (to paraphrase) that everyone 
should learn to play an instrument and its better if they aren't 
too good at it, as I am not, because then they'll be less critical 
more easily pleased at mediocre performances.
     In 1760, when Joseph Priestley was 27 years old, his prospects 
as  a minister did not appear to be very bright. His second  
congregation at Nantwich was small when he took over and remained 
so. There were never more than 60 members and not enough children 
to form a Sunday School. His school prospered, however, and he 
seemed more suited to the field of education than the ministry.
     During this period he became acquainted with two families 
which were to affect his future life. A fellow dissenting minister 
was married to the sister of Josiah Wedgewood and Joseph and Josiah 
became good friends for life.
    One of his pupils was William Wilkinson, son of a very 
prosperous iron works owner and Joseph visited the Wilkinson home 
frequently. It soon became apparent, however, that his interest was 
less in his student, William, than it was in William's sister, 
Mary, who later became Mrs. Joseph Priestley.
    In 1761 he was offered the position of Professor of Languages 
at Warrington Academy so he gave up his church. The appointment to 
Warrington was a very important turning point in his life as he 
finally found himself surrounded by stimulating intellectuals and 
his social life was very congenial. In this environment he 
blossomed and some of his most interesting work, particularly in 
educational theory, came out of this period. He continued to be 
active in the ministry on a part-time basis and was ordained in 
1762.
    Characteristically, he believed in freedom in education as he 
did in politics. He encouraged his students to question what they 
were taught and to advance their own ideas for evaluation. He 
introduced many innovations in teaching theory and curricula. He 
introduced modern history, constitutional law, economics, and 
political science decades and, in some cases, a century before they 
became accepted parts of English teaching.
   Among other heretical ideas he advocated compulsory education 
for all citizens at government expense. 
    His career at Warrington was so illustrious that the University 
of Edinburgh, in 1765, conferred an LL.D. degree to honor his 
educational contributions. This was the first public recognition of 
his talents.
    Unfortunately, Warrington Academy did not prosper and 
Priestley's salary was a mere 100 pounds a year plus a house. He 
and Mary took in boarders to make ends meet. Finally, in 1767, his 
growing family made it impossible for him to continue as a teacher 
and he returned to full time ministry, accepting the invitation of 
the Mill Hill congregation at Leeds.
        In 1767, Joseph Priestley had to give up his professorship 
at Warrington Academy and he became the minister at Mill Hill 
Chapel in Leeds. The change was necessary because it became 
impossible on a professor's salary to support his growing family. 
His daughter, Sarah, was 4 years old and his second child was 
expected. 
       His life, other than his income,  while at Warrington was 
very enjoyable and much of that enjoyment came from his yearly 
trips to London where he met several of the leading intellectual 
and scientific leaders of his age. For example, he met Benjamin 
Franklin who encouraged him in his ambition to write a book about 
electricity. The book was completed within a year and was so 
impressive that he was proposed for membership in the Royal 
Society. His career as a scientist was launched. 
       He welcomed the opportunity to resume his ministry as he 
always considered that to be his most important life's work. By 
this move to Mill Hill Chapel he was, in a sense, going home, as he 
had grown up within 6 miles of Leeds. The congregation he took over 
he described as "liberal, friendly and harmonious"; it had been led 
by a Rev. Walker who had already introduced them to anti-
Trinitarian belief and who had rejected the doctrines of original 
sin and atonement.
        At Leeds Priestley clarified some of his beliefs about 
church organization and the role of the minister. He felt that the 
church should be governed by a body of elders or trustees who would 
be elected by vote of the congregation. The minister would have no 
special authority in running the church nor, in fact, in presiding 
at the worship service. Able lay persons in the congregation were 
just as well authorized to preside, he believed, and, in fact, 
later on, he advocated the establishment of lay-led churches. 
       It was also while at Leeds that he became a Socinian; that 
is, he came to believe in the teachings of the 16th century Polish 
writer, Socinus, that Christ was a mere man. He later expressed the 
opinion that Socinians were the only body of Christians who were 
entitled to be called Unitarians.        
        In the 6 years Priestley spent at Leeds he was engaged, 
extensively, in writing and speaking on the several theological 
questions which were being debated. He published a magazine called 
The Theological Repository and invited contributions from writers 
of all shades of opinion. Unfortunately, the orthodox ministers 
rarely contributed; their opposition to the dissenters mainly took 
the form of ignoring them.
        Priestley fought two enemies, those whom he felt were 
corrupt Christians and non-Christians or "unbelievers", a term 
Priestley also applied to the Deists. As the rational defender of 
historic Christianity he was often attacked from both sides.     
      His scientific career was not abandoned while at Leeds. In 
fact, it was here that he first became interested in the study of 
gases for which he became most famous. He lived across the street 
from a brewery and he discovered that he could collect a gas from 
the fermenting brew which had an effervescent quality; it made 
bubbles when added to a liquid. He thought it might be useful in 
making sparkling wines and he suggested that it might prevent 
scurvy in sailors on long voyages. He had, in fact, discovered 
carbon dioxide and he could be considered the father of the soft 
drink industry.
      His scientific reputation had grown to the point that he  
accepted an offer of a position as scientific adviser on Captain 
Cook's second voyage. However, the offer was withdrawn due to 
pressure from the orthodox clergy who objected to his religious 
opinions. After six years at Leeds he was offered a position in the 
Earl of Shelbourne's household as tutor, librarian, and companion 
to the Earl. The salary was very attractive and his family was 
still growing so he, reluctantly, once again gave up his ministry.
       In 1773, Priestley gave up his ministry at Leeds and went to 
work for the Earl of Shelbourne. He received 250 pounds a year and 
a house in Calne as librarian and literary companion to Shelbourne 
and a tutor to two young boys in the household. One drawback was 
that he was required to live in London in the winter months while 
his family stayed in Calne but, otherwise, it was an ideal 
position. He was financially secure, he moved in social circles 
where he was able to meet many important persons, his duties were 
light and agreeable to him, and, best of all, he had more time than 
ever before to do what he liked. 
   Although Priestley had started his experiments with gases in 
Leeds, his most important work dates from his time with Shelbourne 
when he had the money, equipment, and time for serious scientific 
experimentation and writing. Indeed, the first of his six volumes 
on Air, published in 1774, is dedicated to Lord Shelbourne. 
   As noted by Anne Holt in her biography, he could "never  resist 
the temptation of using his prefaces for these scientific books as 
gilding for a theological pill with which to dose his unbelieving 
scientific readers." Of course, as he often stated that he did 
science only in order to demonstrate God's wonders to man this is 
not too surprising.
   A sample of Priestley's approach in all his endeavors can be 
seen in his first book on electricity. He was unable to find anyone 
to draw the illustrations of the instruments he described so he 
decided to do it himself. He looked for a book explaining 
perspective and, not finding a suitable one, he wrote one himself. 
This investigation into how we see things undoubtedly led him into 
his work which resulted in his second scientific study on Vision, 
Light, and Colors. 
   In all his accounts of his experiments Priestley never hesitated 
to describe the complete experience. He would recount not only his 
successes but would describe in detail his mistakes, false 
conclusions, and dead ends. One amusing illustration of this was 
his experiment with nitric oxide which he thought might work as a 
food preservative. He impregnated some meat with nitric oxide and, 
six months later, tried to eat it. He found it to be horrible.  His 
reputation as a scientist might very well have been greater if he 
had reported only his triumphs.
   In 1774 Priestley accompanied Lord Shelbourne on a tour of the 
continent. It was the only time Priestley ever crossed the channel. 
He made the acquaintance of many of the leading philosophers and 
scientists including the French chemist Lavoisier.     
      In London he was able to visit his many good friends and 
benefactors and he spent much time with Benjamin Franklin. They 
attended meetings of the Royal Society together and became very 
close. When, finally, Franklin had to return to America because of 
the worsening relations between England and the colony, he spent 
his last day entirely with Joseph Priestley. They were never to 
meet again but did manage to correspond even during the war.
      During this time, Priestley refrained from any political 
writing that might embarrass his employer. Priestley sympathized 
with the colonists case against the king and, in a letter to 
Shelbourne in 1778, encouraged him to use his influence in the 
government to recognize their independence. Shelbourne, however, 
continued to resist independence but tried to limit the war until 
reconciliation could be worked out.
      Relations between the two men grew increasingly difficult 
although cordial. Shelbourne was increasingly embarrassed by 
Priestley's unorthodox religious views and his support of the 
American revolution. There was also an unfounded charge that 
Shelbourne was corresponding with the enemy based on the fact that 
Priestley maintained correspondence with Benjamin Franklin.
     For these and other reasons it was decided that they should 
separate and they did so, in 1780. Priestley continued to receive 
150 pounds from Lord Shelbourne for the rest of his life.       
      After he left the employ of Lord Shelbourne, Joseph Priestley 
moved to Birmingham partly at the suggestion of his brother-in-law, 
John Wilkinson, who desired his sister to be closer. Priestley also 
had friends in Birmingham and there was a scientific society there 
which attracted him. Shortly after moving there he was asked to 
become the minister of New Meeting, a congregation which had the 
reputation of being the most liberal in England.
     Joseph Priestley's most important scientific work was done while 
he was employed by the Earl of Shelbourne. His time at Birmingham 
was marked by the production of his most important works in 
theology. In 1782 he published History of the Corruptions of 
Christianity a work that so offended the orthodox that it was 
officially burnt in Holland. In England he was attacked by several 
members of the orthodox clergy. One of his most vocal critics was 
Samuel Horsley, Arch-deacon of St. Albans who was so successful in 
his attacks on Priestley that he was made a Bishop. In fact, during 
this period it seemed that if you wanted to get ahead in the Church 
of England you had to be more of a Priestley-basher than anyone 
else.
    Priestley published a succession of controversial religious 
papers. He said that, until the Council of Nicea, where the 
doctrine of the Trinity was promulgated, the common people thought 
of Christ as a man and were, therefore, Unitarians. He studied 
extensively in preparing his books and stated that his search was 
only for the truth; if his investigations had proved him wrong he 
would have been happy to give up his beliefs just as he would give 
up a scientific theory if experiments proved it wrong.
    While at Birmingham he revived The Theological Repository 
and published another three volumes of controversial 
views.  Priestley wrote extensively on philosophical and metaphysical 
subjects and engaged most of the leading thinkers of England in 
dialogue. Probably the only time he agreed with the orthodox was on 
the subject of the abolition of the slave trade.
     While in Birmingham, Priestley became a member of the Lunar 
Society. This was an informal group that met monthly when the moon 
was full so that there would be light to drive home by. Naturally 
they were called, and called themselves, lunatics. The members were 
successful manufacturers and professional men who shared an 
interest in stimulating discussions on philosophy and science and 
almost any subject that was interesting. The participants included 
James Watt, Matthew Boulton, Dr. Darwin, and others.
        In addition to the lunatics, Priestley's circle of friends 
included Josiah Wedgewood and the Wilkinsons. He was also a member 
of an international community of scientists who visited and wrote 
regularly. All in all, his life at Birmingham from 1780 to 1791 was 
full and happy except for the growing animosity of the orthodox 
religious leaders. This animosity reached a peak in 1791 and, 
coupled with the fever-pitch emotions throughout England engendered 
by the American and French revolutions, resulted in the Birmingham 
riots. Joseph Priestley never fully recovered from the damage done 
to him at this time and the last 13 years of his life were pretty 
much all downhill.
             In July 1791, a mob went on a rampage of destruction 
in the city of Birmingham and destroyed several houses and 
churches. It is usually referred to as the Birmingham Riot but a 
careful study of the evidence over the years has convinced many 
writers that the events were more carefully organized and 
orchestrated than would have been true of a band of drunken 
rioters. All the victims were members of the dissenting religions 
and supporters of the French revolution with particular emphasis 
being paid to Joseph Priestley. His house, church, library, and 
scientific apparatus were all destroyed and he fled for his life to 
London just ahead of the mob.
    Much evidence has been presented that the "riot" was planned 
and instigated by the clergy of the Church of England with the 
active support and collaboration of the magistrates. It may well be 
that events got out of hand and the planners never intended as much 
damage as was done. However, the guilt of the authorities was 
sufficient that the City of Birmingham agreed to monetary 
restitution to the victims. Priestley claimed over 4,000 pounds for 
his loss.
    Life for Joseph and Mary was a shambles after the riot. The 
family was dispersed--.Joseph, Jr. in Manchester, Sally at Heath, 
Harry at Bristol, and William in France. For a time they thought 
they might be able to return to Birmingham but were advised not to 
do so. Feeling still ran high against him--the press and the 
Anglican pulpits continued their attacks; he was avoided by members 
of the Royal Society and other friends; shopkeepers, workmen, and 
servants shunned the Priestleys and their house. The news from 
France, where the revolution was becoming more bloody, increased 
the English hatred of its supporters.
   Although he tried, with the help of the Wilkinsons and other 
friends, to rebuild his library and laboratory and get back to 
work, he was unable to do so. He was particularly distressed by the 
fact that, because of his reputation, his sons were unable to find 
any suitable employment. They decided to go to America with some 
friends and purchase land there with the hope of founding a colony 
of English emigrants. They sailed in August 1793. 
   Whatever lingering doubts Priestley might have had about leaving 
England were soon removed by the harsher measures employed against 
dissenters and reformers. Friends were being deported for nothing 
more than criticizing the government and he decided it was only a 
matter of time before they focused on him. For a time he thought 
of going to France, where he had been offered an estate but 
eventually decided to join his sons in America. 
   By this time he finally received a settlement of his claim from 
the City of Birmingham of a little over 3,000 pounds and booked 
passage.  He preached for the last time in England at Hackney and 
voiced his sentiments:
    "I do not pretend to leave this country, where I have lived so 
long and so happily, without regret; but I consider it as necessary 
and I hope the same good providence that has attended me hitherto 
will attend me still. When the time for reflection shall come, my 
countrymen, I am confident, will do me justice."
       Joseph and Mary Priestley sailed from England on April 8, 
1794 and, after a long and rough passage, reached New York on June 
4th. They joined their sons who had preceded them and who were 
engaged in purchasing land in Pennsylvania where they hoped to 
found a settlement of English immigrants. Although Priestley was 
fully informed about this venture and had decided to join them in 
living in the settlement when it was established, he was not one of 
the planners and, in fact, was not overly enthusiastic about it. 
      During the 10 days he was in New York, he was visited by 
Governor Clinton and other leading citizens and several public 
expressions of welcome were made. However some of the local clergy 
used the occasion of Trinity Sunday, June 15th, to preach against 
Priestley's religious views. They appeared to fear his influence.
      On June 18th, Priestley went on to Philadelphia where he was 
also honored and invited to stay. However, he was determined to 
press on to Northumberland to join his sons. At this time he seemed 
to have some idea that he would be able to live in the country, in 
Northumberland, and make frequent trips into the city of 
Philadelphia. This would have duplicated the style of life he 
enjoyed for a time in England when he could commute into London in 
a few hours. The trip to Northumberland convinced him that this was 
impossible. It took five days over very poor roads, climbing 
mountains and fording rivers, and with very primitive accommodations 
in the inns along the way. He describes one tavern as so bad that 
he and Mary elected to sleep in the wagon instead of in the rooms 
available.
    The town of Northumberland, while growing and showing some 
promise, was still not far advanced over the wilderness outpost it 
had been a few years before. There were about 100 homes clustered 
at the junction of the two branches of the river and Joseph and 
Mary lived, in the beginning, in a small house with his son, 
Joseph's, family. 
    Within a short time the scheme of a settlement was given up and 
Priestley wrote to his friend, John Vaughan, to find him a house in 
Philadelphia. However, a month later, after the house had been 
procured, Joseph and Mary had changed their minds and decided to 
stay in Northumberland. Mary, in particular, enjoyed the beauty and 
tranquillity of the country and never wanted to live in a city 
again. Her health had been poor and was worsening; she had 
tuberculosis and, at times, was spitting blood. Not even the offer 
of the chair of the chemistry department at the University of 
Pennsylvania could tempt them to return to the city.
   By September, 1794, they had selected the site for their house 
and started to dry timber for its construction. It would take 4 
years to complete the house; years which brought several 
disappointments and some major calamities.
  During 1795, Joseph, Jr. was still engaged in selling some of the 
lands along the Loyalsock to immigrants even though the settlement 
scheme had been given up. The youngest son, Harry, decided to farm 
on some land a little distance up the river and, after a time, his 
brother, William, joined him.
  Joseph Priestley was somewhat lost without his library and 
laboratory but he continued his daily routine of writing. He was, 
by then, in his sixties; he gave up wearing a wig and he complained 
about losing some of his teeth but he took daily walks and, at 
times, worked with his sons on the farm. Meanwhile, carpenters, who 
had to be imported from Philadelphia, had started building the 
house.      
   In the summer of 1795, Harry contracted a fever and, after 
several recurrences, in December, at the age of 18, he died.       
       In February 1796, Joseph Priestley made the arduous trip 
from Northumberland to Philadelphia to set up a Unitarian 
congregation. Mary stayed in Northumberland due to her poor state 
of health, both physical and mental. For a period of three months 
after the death of their son, Harry, she was confined to her room. 
She had recovered, sufficiently, so that Joseph felt he could leave 
her in the care of his daughter-in-law, Margaret, William's wife. 
Margaret (Foulke) was the daughter of a local farmer. It was not a 
marriage that Joseph Priestley approved of but this was just 
another in a series of acts by William that caused distress to his 
father.
    While in Philadelphia, Priestley delivered a series of lectures 
in the only church made available to him, the Universalist church 
of Elhanan Winchester. The lectures were well-attended and the 
audience included Vice-President Adams and several members of 
Congress. Priestley also managed to have a very pleasant tea with 
President Washington.    
  As a result of his activities while in Philadelphia, a Unitarian 
congregation was established in June and he was asked to be the 
minister. He declined once again to accept a post in Philadelphia.
    He returned to Northumberland in May 1796 to find Mary's health 
not much improved. She tried to keep busy with her ideas for the 
house but she was easily fatigued. She was never to enjoy the house 
which in large measure she had designed because, in September, she 
died. She was buried in the Quaker cemetery next to Harry.
    Joseph Priestley wrote to Wilkinson of his loss and stated, "I 
feel quite unhinged and incapable of the exertion I used to make."
    He also learned some distressing news about his daughter, 
Sarah, who had married William Finch and remained in England. Finch 
had failed in business and was hard-pressed for money.
    Joseph was unable to help the Finches as he, himself, was very 
concerned about finances. His house would cost more than double the 
original estimate, his investments in France paid nothing, and the 
Wilkinson's who had advanced money to him for years suddenly 
presented a demand for repayment of over 56,000 pounds. This turned 
out to be a misunderstanding but it caused him some anxious months.
     In the winter of 1797, he made his second trip to Philadelphia 
where he found the Unitarian Society flourishing. He was offered 
the presidency of the Philosophical Society but declined in favor 
of Jefferson. He called on the out-going president Washington and 
was invited to visit at Mt. Vernon and he had several visits with 
Vice-President elect Jefferson.
     When he returned to Northumberland the laboratory wing of his 
new house was finished and he was able to work in it while the 
carpenters continued on the main house. He continued to live with 
his son, Joseph, in a house nearby and had already determined that 
his son's family would occupy the new house with him when it was 
finished.
    In June he published a pamphlet entitled The Doctrine of 
Phlogiston Established, which was the last scientific paper he 
would publish. The title was ironic in that, by this time, the 
entire scientific community had given up the Phlogiston theory..   
        In March 1797, John Adams took office as President of the 
United States. Although Adams had been a friend and admirer of 
Priestley before he took office, and would be so again, years 
later, he found it politically expedient to distance himself from 
Priestley during his term of office.
   It was a time of worsening relations with France and, once 
again, Priestley came under attack because of his support of 
France. In particular, another ex-patriated Englishman, William 
Cobbett, writing under the name of Peter Porcupine, reviled 
Priestley as the enemy of religion, law, and order. It was alleged 
that Priestley was the head of a secret group that desired the 
overthrow of the English government. Porcupine attacked not only 
Priestley but, among others,  Franklin, Rush, Price, and 
Talleyrand. His attacks continued until 1799 when he lost a libel 
suit to Rush and was forced to leave the country.
   In July 1798, the Alien and Sedition acts were passed by 
congress which, in effect, abrogated free speech and  made it a 
federal offense to criticize the government. These acts were to 
have ominous implications for Priestley and for his friend, Thomas 
Cooper. Cooper had become a naturalized American citizen so that, 
as a result of his speeches and publication of articles critical of 
President Adams, he was fined and imprisoned.
  He had composed the critical articles while living in Priestley's 
house and it was rumored that Priestley might have written them or 
encouraged them but this was not the case. 
   In any case, Priestley had never given up his English 
citizenship so, under the Aliens Act, he could have been deported 
and, in fact, Secretary of State Pickering proposed to Adams that 
they do so. Fortunately, Adams decided to spare his former friend.
   In 1799 he published his Letters to the Inhabitants of 
Northumberland in which he gave an account of his religious and 
political principles and defended himself against the spurious 
charges of Peter Porcupine and others. 
  Finally, in 1800, Thomas Jefferson became President and Priestley 
wrote to a friend, 
   "To me the administration of Mr. Jefferson is the cause of 
peculiar satisfaction, as I now, for the first time in my life (and 
I shall soon enter my 70th year) find myself in any degree of 
favour with the government of this country in which I have lived, 
and I hope I shall die in the same pleasing situation."
    In April 1800, however, there was another blow to his 
happiness, a family scandal that was one of the bitterest 
experiences of his life. His son, William, was accused by an 
anonymous correspondent in a Reading newspaper of having attempted, 
while Joseph, Jr. was in Europe, to poison his father and the rest 
of the household by adding arsenic to the meal chest. William and 
his family had moved to Middle Paxton six days before the alleged 
incident. William denied it in a letter to the paper and sent them 
a letter from his father which stated,
    "I examined what remained of the flour and cannot say that I 
found any appearance of arsenic in it....... Since, therefore, no 
real mischief has been done and it cannot be proven that any was 
intended, I shall make no further enquiry into the business.
    I am. as ever, your affectionate father....  "
   William was heavily in debt and had left to try to make good 
elsewhere. Priestley had undertaken to pay his debts, a total of 
1300 pounds, and stated in a letter to Wilkinson
    "I must not wholly desert him and, indeed, I feel more 
compassion than resentment on his account. He is gone to seek a 
settlement in the Western Territory (Louisiana) and I do not expect 
or wish to see him any more; but I shall continue to write to him 
and give him my best advice" 
      In 1801, Joseph Priestley made his third visit to 
Philadelphia and it was almost the end of him. He contracted 
pleurisy and fever and was so ill that friends thought he might not 
recover. He was treated by Dr. Rush who, as usual, bled him often 
and consequently delayed his recovery.
     The visit was a disappointment in another respect in that he 
found the Unitarian Society he had helped to found was pretty well 
broken up. Many of the most influential members had died in the 
latest yellow fever epidemic and interest had waned.
     One bright spot was that, in March, Jefferson assumed the 
Presidency and, at that time, he wrote to the invalid:
     "Yours is one of the few lives precious to mankind, for the 
continuance of which every thinking man is solicitous. .....It is 
with heartfelt satisfaction that, in the first moments of my public 
action, I can hail you with welcome to our land, tender to you the 
homage of its respect and esteem, cover you under the protection of 
those laws which were made for the wise and the good like 
you..........science and honesty are replaced on their high ground 
and you, my dear Sir, as their great apostle, are on its pinnacle."
      This message helped Priestley to recover and he returned to 
Northumberland and resumed his scientific and literary work. 
Sometime afterwards he wrote, in a letter to a friend:
       "To me the administration of Mr. Jefferson is the cause of 
peculiar satisfaction, as I now, for the first time in my life find 
myself in any degree of favour with the government of this 
country...and I hope I shall die in the same pleasing situation."
        He was pleased to find that a whole new generation of men--
-men like Dalton and Davy and others---- were making great strides 
in scientific discoveries.  Priestley continued his experiments. He 
became interested in the new Voltaic pile and, in 1803, he 
experimented with algae to disprove Erasmus Darwin's theory of 
spontaneous generation.
     His health never fully recovered from the effects of the 
fever, however, and he decided to devote most of the time remaining 
to him to the completion of his theological works, particularly his 
General History of the Christian Church. His son, Joseph Junior 
describes his health as a general weakness, constant indigestion, 
and a progressively severe difficulty in swallowing. Toward the end 
he subsisted entirely on liquids and puddings. He had lost some of 
his hearing and, in 1802, ordered an ear trumpet. In 1803 he was 
forced to use crutches for a time as a result of a severe injury to 
his hip from a fall.
   In 1803 he made his last visit to Philadelphia but he did so 
reluctantly and only because his son and daughter-in-law were 
afraid to leave him behind. He preached to the Unitarian Society 
and the American Philosophical Society gave him a testimonial 
dinner.It was a short visit and, upon his return to Northumberland, 
he was finally forced to move into his library on the first floor 
to avoid the climb up the stairs. He continued to rise daily and 
shave and make his own fire and perform most of the daily chores 
until the very last few days.
     In January, 1804 his symptoms worsened and, on February 6, 
1804, after dictating some corrections to a manuscript to his son, 
Joseph, Jr., he died, at age 70, quite peacefully in his bed in his 
library.