Strange reticence is shown by all Watt's historians regarding his religious and political views. Williamson, the earliest author of his memoirs, is full of interesting facts obtained from people in Greenock who had known Watt well. The hesitation shown by him as to Watt's orthodoxy in his otherwise highly eulogistic tribute, attracts attention. He says:
We could desire to know more of the state of those affections which are more purely spiritual by their nature and origin—his disposition to those supreme truths of Revelation, which alone really elevate and purify the soul. In the absence of much information of a very positive kind in regard to such points of character and life, we instinctively revert in a case like this to the principles and maxims of an infantile and early training. Remembering the piety portrayed in the ancestors of this great man, one cannot but cling to the hope that his many virtues reposed on a substratum of more than merely moral excellence. Let us cherish the hope that the calm which rested on the spirit of the pilgrim ... was one that caught its radiance from a far higher sphere than that of the purest human philosophy.
Watt's breaking of the Sabbath before recorded must have seemed to that stern Calvinist a heinous sin, justifying grave doubts of Watt's spiritual condition, his "moral excellence" to the contrary notwithstanding. Williamson's estimate of moral excellence had recently been described by Burns:
But then, nae thanks to him for a' that,
Nae godly symptom ye can ca' that,
It's naething but a milder feature
Of our poor sinfu' corrupt nature.
Ye'll get the best o' moral works,
Many black gentoos and pagan works,
Or hunters wild on Ponotaxi
Wha never heard of orthodoxy.
Williamson's doubts had much stronger foundation in Watt's non-attendance at church, for, as we shall see from his letter to DeLuc, July, 1788, he had never attended the "meeting-house" (dissenting church) in Birmingham altho he claimed to be still a member of the Presbyterian body in declining the sheriffalty.
It seems probable that Watt, in his theological views, like Priestley and others of the Lunar Society, was in advance of his age, and more or less in accord with Burns, who was then astonishing his countrymen. Perhaps he had forstalled Dean Stanley's advice in his rectorial address to the students of St. Andrew's University: "go to Burns for your theology," yet he remained a deeply religious man to the end, as we see from his letter (page 216), at the age of seventy-six.
We know that politically Watt was in advance of his times for the prime minister pronounced him "a sad radical." He was with Burns politically at all events. Watt's eldest son, then in Paris, was carried away by the French Revolution, and Muirhead suggests that the prime minister must have confounded father and son, but it seems unreasonable to suppose that he could have been so misled as to mistake the doings of the famous Watt in Birmingham for those of his impulsive son in France.
The French Revolution exerted a powerful influence in Britain, especially in the north of England and south of Scotland, which have much in common. The Lunar Society of Birmingham was intensely interested. At one of the meetings in the summer of 1788, held at her father's house, Mrs. Schimmelpenniack records that Mr. Boulton presented to the company his son, just returned from a long sojourn in Paris, who gave a vivid account of proceedings there, Watt and Dr. Priestly being present. A few months later the revolution broke out. Young Harry Priestley, a son of the Doctor's, one evening burst into the drawing-room, waving his hat and crying, "Hurrah! Liberty, Reason, Brotherly Love forever! Down with kingcraft and priestcraft! The majesty of the people forever! France is free!" Dr. Priestley was deeply stirred and became the most prominent of all in the cause of the rights of man. He hailed the acts of the National Assembly abolishing monarchy, nobility and church. He was often engaged in discussions with the local clergy on theological dogmas. He wrote a pamphlet upon the French Revolution, and Burke attacked him in the House of Commons. All this naturally concentrated local opposition upon him as leader. The enthusiasts mistakenly determined to have a public dinner to celebrate the anniversary of the Revolution, and no less than eighty gentlemen attended, altho many advised against it. Priestley himself was not present. A mob collected outside and demolished the windows. The cry was raised, "To the new meeting-house!" the chapel in which Priestley ministered. The chapel was set on fire. Thence the riot proceeded to Priestley's house. The doctor and his family, being warned, had left shortly before. The house was at the mercy of the mob, which broke in, destroyed furniture, chemical laboratory and library, and finally set fire to the house. Some of the very best citizens suffered in like manner. Mr. Ryland, one of the most munificent benefactors of the town, Mr. Taylor, the banker, and Hutton, the estimable book-seller, were among the number. The home of Dr. Withering, member of the Lunar Society, was entered, but the timely arrival of troops saved it from destruction. The members of the Lunar Society, or the "lunatics," as they were popularly called, were especially marked for attack. The mob cried, "No philosophers!" "Church and King forever!" All this put Boulton and Watt upon their guard, for they were prominent members of the society. They called their workmen together, explained the criminally of the rioters, and placed arms in their hands on their promise to defend them if attacked. Meanwhile everything portable was packed up ready to be removed.
Watt wrote to Mr. DeLuc, July 19, 1791:
Though our principles, which are well known, as friends to the established government and enemies of republican principles, should have been our protection from a mob whose watchword was Church and King, yet our safety was principally owing to most of the Dissenters living south of the town; for after the first moment they did not seem over-nice in their discrimination of religion and principles. I, among others, was pointed out as a Presbyterian, though I never was in a meeting-house (Dissenting Church) in Birmingham, and Mr. Boulton is well-known as a Churchman. We had everything most portable packed up, fearing the worst. However, all is well with us.