d in Europe,
merely because they have defended the rights of the enslaved
nations.

The name of Joseph Priestley will be long remembered among all
enlightened people; and there is no doubt that England will one
day regret her ungrateful treatment to this venerable and
illustrious man. His persecutions in England have presented to
him the American Republic as a 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, an