Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/147

Rh a riot in Birmingham, during which his meeting- house and his dwelling-house were burned, and his library and apparatus were destroyed, and many manuscripts, the fruits of years of industry, per- ished in the flames. Priestley escaped to London. Vhcn the popular excitement had somewhat ceased in llinninghain he sought compensation in the courts for the destruction of his property, and prrsrntc'd a claim for 3,038, but, during a trial of nine years, it was cut down to 2,502. He sailed from" London on 7 April, 1794, and on 4 June landed in New York, where he was received by delegations from scientific societies and invited to give a course of lectures on experimental phi- losophy, for which a hundred subscriptions at $10 each were soon obtained. But he refused, and proceeded at once to Philadelphia, where he re- ceived a complimentary address from the Ameri- can philosophical society. He was offered the professorship of chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania with a good salary, but declined the appointment, preferring to choose his own occupa- tions in retirement. His sons had previously set- tled in Northumberland, Pa., whither he followed, making his home in the midst of a garden over- looking one of the finest views of the Susquehanna. A laboratory was built for him, which was finished in 1707. and" he was able to arrange his books and renew his experiments with every possible facility. Thomas Jefferson consulted him in regard to the founding of the University of Virginia, and he was offered the presidency of the University of North Carolina. In the spring of 1796 he delivered a serirs of " Discourses relating to the Evidences of l,Yealed Religion" (Philadelphia, 1796), which were attended by crowded audiences, including many members of congress and the executive of- ficer-; of the government, and in 1797 he delivered a second series, which were less favorably received. The first of these, when published, was dedicated to John Adams, who was then his hearer and admirer, but later, when Adams (q, v.) became president, Priestley opposed the administration, and it was intimated that the " alien law " was directed against him. His time was chiefly spent in literary work, and he wrote the continuation of his " General History of the Christian Church to the Fall of the Western Empire" (4 vols., Northumberland, 1802 '3), which he dedicated to Thomas Jefferson : also "Answer to Mr. Paine's Age of Reason " (1795) ; "Comparison of the Institutions of Moses with those of the Hindoos and other Nations " (1799) : " Notes on all the Books of Scripture "' (1803) ; and The Doctrines of Heathen Philosophy compared with those of Revelation " (1804). There are many memoirs of his life, of which the most important are John Corry's " Life of J. Priestley " (Birming- ham, 1805) and " Memoirs of Dr. Joseph Priestley to the Year 1795, written by Himself ; with a Con- tinuation to the Time of his Decease, by his Son, Joseph Priestley" (2 vols., London, 1806-57). His "Theological and Miscellaneous Works" (exclud- ing the scientific) were collected by John T. Rutt and published in twenty-six volumes (Hackney, 1817-'32). His old congregation in Birmingham erected a monument to his memory in their place of worship after his death, and a marble statue was placed in 1860 in the corridor of the museum at Oxford. The centennial of the discovery of oxygen v:i~ celebrated on 1 Aug., 1874. by the unveiling of a statue to his memory in Birmingham, an ad- dress in Paris, and in this country by a gathering of chemists at his grave in Northumberland, Pa., where appropriate exercises were held, including addresses by T. Sterry Hunt, Benjamin Silliman, and other scientists. Dr. H. Carrington Bolton, who delivered an address on Priestley before the New York genealogical and biographical society in April, 1888, has in preparation " The Scientific Cor- respondence of the Rev. Joseph Priestley."

PRIETO, Joaquin (pre-ay'-to). Chilian soldier. b. in Concepcion, 20 Aug.. 1786; d. in Valparaiso, 22 Nov., 1854. In August, 1805. he enlisted in the militia of Concepcion, and in April, 1806, he ac- companied Gen. Luis de la Cruz across the Andes. In 1811, as captain of dragoons, he formed part of an auxiliary army that went to aid the patriotic movement of Buenos Ay res. On his return he served in the southern campaign of Chili, and in 1S14 was governor of Talca. After the defeat of Rancagua he went to the Argentine Republic and established himself in Buenos Ayres. He joined the Chilian-Argentine army, in 1817 was present at the battle of Chacabuco, and afterward was ap- pointed commander of Santiago and director of the arsenal. He equipped the army and took part in the battle of Maypu as commander of the re- serve. In 1821 he was sent to the south, which had revolted under Benavides, and defeated the latter in the battle of Vegas de Saldias. He was elected deputy to congress and senator in 1823, took an active part in the civil war of 1829-'30, and after the battle of Lircoy he was appointed provisional president of the republic. Six months aftrrward. 18 Sept.. 1N31, he was elected constitu- tional president. On 25 May, 1833, the new con- stitution of the country was promulgated. He was re-elected in 1836, and, after retiring in 1841, became councillor of state, senator, and command- er of Valparaiso.

PRIME, Ebenezer, clergymen, b. in Milford, Conn., 21 July, 1700; d. in Huntington, L. L, 25 Sept., 1779. He was the grandson of James, who, with his brother, Mark Prime, came from England to escape religious persecution about 1638. Ebene- /!! VMS graduated at Yale in 1718, studied divinity, and the following year was called to Huntington, L. I., where he became an assistant to Rev. Eliphalet Jones. On 5 June, 1723, he was ordained pastor of the same church, which office he continued to hold until his death. A register of the sermons that he preached, with texts, dates, and places of delivery, shows that he prepared more than 3,000, many of which are still preserved. Although he was educated as a Congregationalist, in 1747 his own church and the others in the county of Suffolk formed themselves into a presbytery and adopted the Presbyterian form of government, Mr. Prime being chosen the first moderator. In the war of the Revolution Mr. Prime's church was turned into a military depot by the British, and the pulpit and pews were burnt for fuel. The parsonage was occupied by troops: the pastor's valuable library was used for lighting fires, and otherwise mutilated. Driven from home in his seventy-seventh year, an object of special hostility on account of his decided patriotic opinions, he retired to a quiet part of the parish and preached in private houses, or wherever he could gather his people together. Toward the close of the war Col. Benjamin Thompson, afterward Count Rumford, was ordered to occupy the village. He tore down the church, and used the materials in building barracks and block-houses in the graveyard. Ascertaining where the venerable pastor lay buried, he directed that his own tent should be pitched at the head of the grave, that, as he expressed it, he might have the satisfaction of treading on the " d old rebel " every time he entered and left it. Mr. Prime is described by a contemporary as " a