Not for Sale

Sir Humphry Davy pleads with Britain’s scientists not to be bought by Napoleon’s gold.

1803

King George III 1760-1820

From the Chemical Heritage Foundation, via Wikimedia Commons. Licence: Public domain.

Sir Humphry Davy, by Sir John Barrow. Davy saw science as a natural partner with private sector commerce, not with government, and believed that real progress came from individuals who were free to think as they pleased. He guessed, however, that Napoleon’s plans for Europe might tempt some scientists to think that they would receive more funding if Britain were absorbed into a superstate fostered by aggressively rationalist and stridently anti-religious France.

Introduction

Soon after Napoleon Bonaparte embarked on his quest for a united Europe in 1803, Sir Humphry Davy gave a lecture in which he urged Britain’s scientists to support their country’s sovereignty and commercial freedom, rather than sell out their country in the expectation of funding from Napoleon’s Europe.

by Sir Humphry Davy 1778-1829

SCIENCE for its progression requires patronage, — but it must be a patronage bestowed, a patronage received, with dignity. It must be preserved independent. It can bear no fetters, not even fetters of gold, and least of all those fetters in which ignorance or selfishness may attempt to shackle it.

And there is no country which ought so much to glory in its progress, which is so much interested in its success, as this happy island. Science has been a prime cause of creating for us the inexhaustible wealth of manufactures, and it is by science that it must be preserved and extended. We are interested as a commercial people, — we are interested as a free people.

The age of glory of a nation is likewise the age of its security. The same dignified feeling, which urges men to endeavour to gain a dominion over nature, will preserve them from the humiliation of slavery. Natural, and moral, and religious knowledge, are of one family; and happy is that country, and great its strength, where they dwell together in union.

by Sir Humphry Davy 1778-1829

As quoted in ‘Sir Humphry Davy: Poet and Philosopher’ (1896), by T. E. Thorpe.

Précis

Shortly after the rise of Napoleon, pioneering scientist Sir Humphry Davy urged his colleagues not to support French Emperor’s bid for European domination, even if they thought it would mean extra funding for science. He declared that science was a more natural partner with industry than with government, and that a strong economy and harmonious society depended on it.

Questions for Critics

1. What is the author aiming to achieve in writing this?

2. Note any words, devices or turns of phrase that strike you. How do they help the author communicate his ideas more effectively?

3. What impression does this passage make on you? How might you put that impression into words?

Based on The English Critic (1939) by NL Clay, drawing on The New Criticism: A Lecture Delivered at Columbia University, March 9, 1910, by J. E. Spingarn, Professor of Comparative Literature in Columbia University, USA.

Sevens

Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.

How did Sir Humphry think science should be funded?

Jigsaws

Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.

Science must be funded. Science must be independent.

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