CROSSROADS OF ENLIGHTENMENT 1685-1850: EXPLORING EDUCATION, SCIENCE, AND INDUSTRY ACROSS THE DELESSERT NETWORK A Dissertation Submitted to the College of Graduate Studies and Research in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of History University of Saskatchewan Saskatoon By J. Marc MacDonald © Copyright J. Marc MacDonald, March 2015. All rights reserved PERMISSION TO USE I agree, in presenting this dissertation in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Postgraduate degree from the University of Saskatchewan, that this University’s Libraries may make the dissertation freely available for consultation. Furthermore, I agree that permission for copying material from this dissertation in any form, in part or in its entirety, for scholarly purposes may be granted by the professors who supervised my dissertation work or, in their absence, by the Head of the History Department or the Dean of the College of Arts, in which I completed this dissertation. It is understood that any copying or publication or use of this dissertation or parts thereof for financial gain shall not be allowed without my written permission. It is also understood that due recognition shall be given to me and to the University of Saskatchewan in any scholarly use that may be made of any material in my dissertation. Request for permission to copy or to make other uses of materials in this dissertation in whole or part should be addressed to: Head of the Department of History University of Saskatchewan 9 Campus Drive, Room 522 Arts Building Saskatoon, SK S7N 5N5 Canada OR Dean College of Graduate Studies and Research University of Saskatchewan, Room C180 105 Administration Place Saskatoon, SK S7N 5A2 Canada i ABSTRACT The Enlightenment did not end with the French Revolution but extended into the nineteenth century, effecting a transformation to modernity. By 1850, science became increasingly institutionalized and technology hastened transmission of cultural exchange. Restricting Enlightenment to solitary movements, philosophic text, or national contexts ultimately creates insular interpretations. The Enlightenment was instead a transnational phenomenon, of interconnected communities, from diverse geographical and cultural spaces. A revealing example is the Delessert family. Their British-Franco-Swiss network demonstrates the uniqueness, extent, and duration of the Enlightenment. This network’s origins lie in the 1680s. French and British desires for stability resulted in contrasting policies. Toleration, through partial rights, let British Dissenters become leading educators, manufacturers, and natural philosophers by 1760. Conversely, Huguenots were stripped of rights. Thousands fled persecution, and France’s rivals profited by welcoming waves of industrious Huguenots. French refugee communities became vital printing centres, specializing in Enlightenment attacks on the Ancien régime, and facilitated the expansion of the Delessert network. The Delessert banking family made a generational progression from Geneva to Lyon to Paris, linking them to Jean-Jacques Rousseau. His friendship fostered passions for botany and education. The Delesserts parlayed this into participation in Enlightenment science and industry, connecting them to the Lunar Society, Genevan radicals, and British reformers. By 1780, a transition toward modernity began. Grand Tours shifted from places of erudition to practical sites of production. Lunar men sent sons to the Continent for ii practical education, as Franco-Swiss visited English manufactories and Scottish universities to expand knowledge. Moderates greeted the French Revolution with enthusiasm. In the early 1790s this changed significantly. Royalist mobs threatened Lunar men, destroying property, in Birmingham. In France, moderates tried to defend the monarchy from republican mobs. Even so, the network, fragmented both by revolution and war, continued espousing reform and assisting members who were jailed, endangered, or escaping to America. The Delessert network reconnected in 1801. Franco-Swiss toured Britain as Britons visited Paris, gathering at the hôtel Delessert, a crossroads of the Enlightenment. New societies encouraged science, industry, and philanthropy. Enlightenment exchange continued, despite warfare, into the nineteenth century. Industrial partnerships and scientific collaborations, formed during the peace, circumvented trade barriers. Over three generations (1760-1850) cosmopolitanism helped usher in a transition to modernity. Ultimately, the Delessert network’s endurance challenges traditional interpretations of the Enlightenment, and the Industrial Revolution. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Foremost, I would like to acknowledge the guidance and patience of my Supervisor, Dr Larry Stewart. He was, despite many obligations, instrumental in supporting my research and work, as well as in the writing and editing process. I would also like to acknowledge the support and advice of my Advisory Committee: Dr Frank Klaassen, Dr Mark Meyers, and Dr Alison Muri, as well as Dr Matthew Neufeld. Finally, I would like to thank my External Examiner, Dr Joel Mokyr, for his insightful suggestions and constructive criticism. I must also acknowledge research advice and kindness of Dr Peter Jones, Dr Philip Rieder, Dr Thierry Hoquet, Dr Trevor Levere, and Dr Margaret Jacob. Throughout this journey I relied on the love and support my wife Nana, my son Samuel, my parents (proof-readers and research assistants) James and Janet MacDonald and my family. I must also acknowledge hospitality from the Puiia, Buttinger, and Hogan families in PEI and Saskatoon. My officemates, friends, and professors at the University of Saskatchewan were also essential, especially Dr Robert Morley, Dr Mark McCulloch, Marie-Christine Dugald for assistance with French translations; Dr Camilla Augustus, Dr. Ron Cooley and Liv Marken for editing help, and guidance from Linda Dietz, Nadine Penner, Dr Erika Dyck, and Dr Lisa Smith, Dr Liz Scott, Dr Leslie Baker, and Dr Amy Samson. I am grateful to the Department of History and Situating Science for funding. I am thankful for invaluable assistance with my research from archivists, staff, and volunteers in Europe and America. Specifically, the kindness of the staff and Mireille Pastoureau, Conservateur général, directeur at the Bibliothèque de l’Institut de France, the staff and Vincent Tuchais chef du département des services aux usagers and Agnès Masson, Directeur des Archives de Paris, the staff and Noëlle Chiron-Dorey Fonds iv privés et figurés at the Archives municipales de Lyon, the staff of Ferri, (vente aux enchères), Thierry Bodin and the staff of Les Autographes, and especially the hospitality of Christian Elcock and his family in Montceaux. In America, I relied on assistance of Jamie Kingman-Rice, Public Services Librarian at Maine Historical Society, Tom Bresenham, President of the Friends of Joseph Priestley House, Nancy Lyon, Archivist at Manuscripts and Archives Yale University Library, Gayle Grunwald and the Century House Historical Society at Rosendale New York, John McCoy and Catherine Minck for material on the Delesserts’ American activities, Helen Weltin Manuscripts and Special Collections at New York State Library, and Andi Bartelstein, Reading Room Supervisor at Rauner Special Collections Library Dartmouth College. Finally, I must acknowledge the Grant-in-Aid, and the hospitality of the Hagley Museum & Library: Marjorie McNinch, Reference Archivist (Happy retirement), Carol Lockman, Kevin Martin, Curator of Digital Collections, Jon M. Williams Curator of Prints and Photographs, Debra Hughes Curator of Collections and Exhibits, Amy Beisel Registrar, and Terry Snyder, Library Director. In Britain I relied on Alison Smith, Searchroom Supervisor and Robert Ryland, Senior Librarian, Archives & Heritage Services, and the staff at the Birmingham Library, Rupert Baker, Library Manager, at the Royal Society, as well as the British Library. In Geneva, my research was supported by the kindness of Dr Barbara Roth conseratrice des manuscrits et des archives privees and E. Ducry Archiviste de Genève at the Bibliothèque de Genève, Dr Patrick Bungener and the staff of the Conservatoire et Jardin botaniques de la Ville de Genève in the library and herbarium, and Christelle Mougin, Bibliothécaire resonsable, at the Musée d’histoire des sciences. Thank you all. v DEDICATION I dedicate this dissertation to by wife Nana and son Samuel, as it could not have been written without their love, patience, and support. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS PERMISSION TO USE……………………………………………………………….. i ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………………… ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS…………………………………………………………....... iv DEDICATION……………………………………………………………………......... vi TABLES OF CONTENTS…………………………………………………………...... vii ABBREVIATIONS…………………………………………………………………..... xi NOTE ON THE TEXT……………………………………………………………........ xii PREFACE…………………………………………………………………………........ xiii Introduction: Mapping the Enlightenment Beyond a National Context……………….. 1 PART I: EARLY ENLIGHTENMENT TRAFFIC AND NETWORK CONNECTIONS (1685-1775)…………………………………………………………………... 21 1. Tide Change: Dispersing Huguenots, Tolerating Dissenters, and Harbouring Jean- Jacques Rousseau.…………………………………………………………………… 22 1.1. The Huguenot Diaspora and the Delessert Family……………………………. 23 1.2. Toleration of British Dissenters and Burgeoning Bourgeois Industrialism…… 26 1.3. The Fertile Crescent Bears Fruit………………………………………………. 29 1.4. Rousseau’s Formative Friendships, Ruptures,