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JOEL BARLOT\^. 
 
 i^^ 
 
LIFE AND LETTERS 
 
 OF 
 
 JOEL BARLOW, LLD. 
 
 POET, STATESMAN, PHILOSOPHER 
 
 WITH EXTRACTS FROM HIS WORKS AND HITHERTO 
 UNPUBLISHED POEMS 
 
 BY 
 
 CHARLES BURR TODD 
 
 0u 
 
 " The author of the Columhiad and the Hasty-Piiddmg was a man of might 
 in his dayt and will not pass out of literature or history." — Stedman. 
 
 NEW YORK & LONDON 
 G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS 
 
 1886 
 
FSros 
 
 Copyright 
 
 By G. p. Putnam's Sons 
 
 1886 
 
INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
 
 The great men of the post-Revolutionary age were 
 not, as a rule, versatile. Their development was largely 
 in one direction — statesmanship. Jefferson, it is true, 
 shone both as a statesman and philosopher; so did 
 Franklin : but it would be difficult to carry the parallel 
 farther. There was one, however, among this group of 
 worthies who excelled in at least three great departments 
 of human effort — in statesmanship, letters, and philos- 
 ophy — and whose practical talents were perhaps greater 
 than those of any of his cotemporaries. That man was 
 Joel Barlow, the subject of these pages. His verse first 
 gave American poetry a standing abroad. His prose 
 writing contributed largely to the triumph of Republi- 
 canism in 1800. He was the first American cosmopolite, 
 and twice made use of his position to avert from his 
 country a threatened foreign war. He was the god- 
 father of the steamboat and canal, and sponsor with 
 Jefferson of our present magnificent system of internal 
 improvements, while had he been permitted to carry out 
 his grand idea of a national university it is safe to say 
 that American art, letters, science, and mechanics would 
 now be on a much more advanced and satisfactory foot- 
 ing. 
 
 His biography has never been written. This is not 
 strange, for it is only recently 4;hat the story of any of 
 the great Republican leaders has been fairly and honestly 
 told. In Barlow's case there were special difficulties in 
 the way. He was cut off suddenly, in a foreign land, 
 before what he rea'arded as his crowning: Avork was com- 
 
i V INTROD UCTOR Y NO TE. 
 
 pleted. He left no children to gather up and preserve 
 his literary remains, and after a short time material for a 
 biography could be collected only after long and tire- 
 some research ; then after it was collected, properly to 
 present so many-sided a career involved grave literary 
 difficulties. 
 
 The writer admits that the present work is the fruit of 
 his interest in his subject — an interest arising rather 
 from propinquity than from any particular sympathy 
 with the poet's political or religious views. 
 
 Born and reared almost in sight of Barlow's birth-place, 
 the writer early became interested in his history, and 
 with the knowledge of so much that was really noble and 
 useful in his career, came the desire to present it fairly 
 and honestly to his countrymen. After he had been en- 
 gaged on the work for several years, the death of Prof. 
 Lemuel G. Olmsted, a grandnephew of the poet, placed 
 at his disposal the vast mass of Barlow's literary remains, 
 which that gentleman had accumulated by fifty years of 
 painstaking labor. These letters and papers, after hav- 
 ing been carefully sifted, have been freely used, and form 
 the bulk of the volume. In preparing the work the aim 
 of the writer has been to give details rather than gener- 
 alizations ; to present his subject as he lived rather than 
 ideally, and to this end he has told his story, wherever 
 practicable, by the letters and writings of his subject. 
 
 The author regrets that he cannot acknowledge all the 
 favors received in the prosecution of his labors. He is 
 especially indebted to the Astor Library ; to Professor F. 
 B. Dexter, of Yale College ; to Miss Ada J. Todd, of the 
 Bridgeport High-School, for the translation of the French 
 letters, and to S. L. M. Barlow, Esq., of New York, the 
 present owner of the Olmsted collection, by whom it 
 was freely placed at the author's disposal, together with 
 his own private collection of Barlowana. 
 
 C. B. T. 
 
 New York, Dece?nber, 1885. 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 1754-1778. 
 
 In Fairfield County, in south-western Connecticut, near 
 the New York border, lies the quiet rural town of Red- 
 ding, — a town founded by one of the most distinguished 
 jurists of the Massachusetts Colony — John Read — and 
 settled by the choicest of that "sifted wheat " for which, 
 to the sowing of New England, three kingdoms were 
 winnowed. The place is rich in all that could fashion or 
 stimulate poetic fancy. 
 
 It is situated on the lower slope of the beautiful hill- 
 country of Connecticut. Its salient features are three 
 great parallel ridges running north and south and sep- 
 arated by deep valleys, the channels of watercourses. 
 Westward, the tumbled masses of the Taghkanics, hill be- 
 yond hill, rise from the deep valley of the Saugatuck. In 
 summer, all the accessories of the pastoral — green fields, 
 furrowed hills, thick wood, deep glen, and foaming cas- 
 cades — were to be found here ; nor were historic scenes 
 and points of interest wanting to lend them dignity. On 
 the westernmost of these ridges, barely eight miles from 
 the granite pillar separating New York from Connecticut, 
 in along-roofed farmhouse, Joel Barlow was born. The 
 Barlows were what is known in Connecticut as " good 
 stock," that is, they were respectable landholders, paid 
 their tithes promptly, and gave no one occasion to speak 
 
 I 
 
2 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 ill of them. Samuel Barlow, the poet's father, was de- 
 scended from John Barlow, of Fairfield, who first appears 
 in that town about 1668. Samuel removed to Redding 
 about 1740, and on the death of his first wife married, in 
 1744, Esther, daughter of Nathaniel Hull, a member of a 
 ^ family which gave to the American navy one of its 
 brightest ornaments. Her fourth son was Joel, the poet, 
 born March 24, 1754. The boy owed his bias toward a 
 liberal career, it is said, primarily, to an unconquerable 
 passion for rhyming, which manifested itself while he was 
 j among his books, and secondarily, to the Rev. Nathaniel 
 Bartlett, pastor of the village church which his parents 
 attended. Fully to make our meaning clear it will be 
 necessary to notice briefly the state of society in his 
 native town at this period ; this was highly oligarchical, as 
 throughout New England at that time ; a few " first fam- 
 ilies " were the ruling element in both church and state. 
 Social privileges and distinctions were rigidly observed. 
 The pews were " dignified," and assigned to families ac- 
 cording to their tax-lists and social position — the patri- 
 cians beneath the pulpit, the plebeians nearer the door; 
 while the Burrs, Reeds, Sanfords, Hulls, Herons, and 
 other first families exacted a homage from the common- 
 alty the same in kind if not in degree with that paid the 
 English squire by his dependents. The central figure in 
 such a parish was the clergyman ; he was priest, teacher, 
 oracle, monitor in manners and morals. Happy was it 
 when the man was not dwarfed by the ofifice. In the 
 case of Parson Bartlett this was not the case. Wise with 
 such learning as the Yale College of that day could fur- 
 nish, eloquent, unaffectedly and simply pious, possessed 
 of rare tact, he presided over the church in Redding for 
 fifty years, including the stormy days of the Revolution, 
 with such dignity and moderation that no breath of 
 calumny or whisper of complaint arose, and he only 
 yielded up his trust at the command of death. To his 
 parochial duties the clergyman added those of the ped- 
 
JOEL BARLOW. o 
 
 agogue, maintaining a " select school," which attained a 
 high degree of excellence, insomuch that it secured a for- 
 eign constituency. Parson Bartlett, like most educated 
 men of his day, was ardently looking forward to the advent 
 of a national poet, and certain pencilHngs of verse by the 
 lad which fell into his hands awakened in his breast the 
 liveliest interest in their author. He at once declared 
 that the boy's talent should be fostered and stimulated 
 by a liberal'training and contact with other minds. The 
 parents interposed no objection — in such a case the min- 
 ister's word was law — and the lad was soon conning his 
 Alphas, Betas, Kappas, under the direction of Parson 
 Bartlett himself. His progress seems to have been 
 rapid, for in a year's time his preceptor declared he could 
 take him no farther, and began looking for a school in 
 which he might be fitted for matriculation. 
 
 There was at this time a school at Hanover, N. H., re- 
 cently instituted on a charity foundation, chiefly to train 
 young men for the ministry, or as missionaries to the 
 Indians, and here the lad was placed, no doubt because 
 of the leanness of his father's purse. Boys educated at 
 this school generally matriculated at Dartmouth College, 
 and at the Commencement of 1774 we find Barlow en- 
 rolled in the freshman class of that institution. The 
 death of his father, soon after, placed quite a little patri- 
 mony at his disposal, and he determined to avail himself 
 of the superior advantages of Yale. These, judged by 
 modern standards, were ridiculously small. Two small 
 buildings and a chapel were all that the pretty campus 
 could then boast. The college butler was still an institu- 
 tion, and the students were still gathered in the Com- 
 mons Hall, under the eye of tutors. A few young mem- 
 bers of the faculty, by strenuous efforts, had just succeeded 
 in admitting English composition and oratory to a cur- 
 riculum which had before embraced only the dead lan- 
 guages, mathematics, philosophy, and polemic divinity. 
 Poetry, belles-lettres, and the modern languages were 
 
4 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 largely ignored, the commencement poem having only- 
 come in with the graduation of such favorites of the 
 Muse as Trumbull and Dwight. To offset this, however, 
 there was Dr. Daggett at the head of affairs, and such men 
 among the professors and tutors as Timothy Dwight, 
 Abraham Baldwin, and Joseph Buckminster. The latter 
 was the young poet's favorite, and, as we shall have oc- 
 casion to note, exerted a greater influence over his mind 
 than the remainder of the faculty combined. The class 
 which he entered, that of 1778, was remarkable for the 
 cahbre of its members. It is evident that he who ex- 
 celled in mental rivalry with Oliver Wolcott, Noah 
 Webster, Zephaniah Swift, Uriah Tracy, and Josiah 
 Meigs possessed undoubted talent, and the necessary 
 application to bring it into play. 
 
 Of the poet's college course, though covering a preg- 
 nant and exciting period, we have only meagre details. 
 The i^merican Revolution opened during his first year 
 in the cloisters, yet of the many letters that must have 
 been written to his friends from college we have but one 
 containing any reference to this subject. July 6, 1775, 
 he wrote his mother, " The students are sensibly affected 
 with the unhappy situation of public affairs, which is a 
 great hinderance to their studies, and for that reason there 
 has been talk of dismissing college ; but whether they 
 will is uncertain." The college was not dismissed, how- 
 ever, except for a brief period in 1777, when the pupils 
 were scattered, the junior class (Barlow's) being sent to 
 Glastonbury, Conn., in charge of tutor Buckminster, but 
 in deference to the unhappy condition of the country 
 no public commencement was held during the war. Bar- 
 low himself did not enter the army, although four of his 
 brothers did, one dying in the service, and another, 
 Aaron, rising to the rank of colonel ; but during the long 
 summer vacations he more than once joined his brothers 
 in the field, and twice at least saw active service — once in 
 the sharp engagement at Long Island, and again at 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 
 
 5 
 
 White Plains. This period was one of almost as great 
 activity in the affairs of the college as of the country : 
 the transition from the narrow, pedantic training of the 
 old regime to the broader, fuller curriculum of Trumbull 
 and D wight was being effected, and it is evident, from 
 the nature of the poet, that he must have taken a deep 
 interest in the success of the innovations. Two other 
 traits of character marked this period in his career — ^a 
 deep devotion -to the Muses, and a fitting appreciation 
 of the charms of the lovely young women whose beauty 
 illumined the somewhat sombre atmosphere of the little 
 university town. Scraps of the poetry written at this 
 time were collected and sacredly preserved by Mrs. Bar- 
 low after their marriage, and remain to pleasantly indicate 
 these efforts of budding genius. There were amorous 
 epistles in verse, sentimental addresses in the Coryn and 
 Phyllis style, scraps of song and madrigal.* 
 
 One of these ladies had the honor of ensnaring the 
 poet's heart, insomuch that they were engaged to be 
 married before his college career ended. Her name was 
 Ruth Baldwin. She was not so high in worldly station 
 as the poet might fairly have aspired to : it was whis- 
 pered over more than one tea-table, that the President's 
 
 * Some of these were melodious, though manifest imitations— the follow- 
 ing, for instance, " To a Young Lady " : 
 
 " Go, Rose, my Chloe's bosom grace ! 
 How happy should I prove, 
 Might I supply that envied place 
 
 With never fading love ; 
 There, Phoenix-like, beneath her eye, 
 Involved in fragrance, burn and die. 
 
 " Know, hapless flower, that thou shalt find 
 
 More fragrant roses there ; 
 I see thy withering head reclined 
 
 With envy and despair : 
 One common fate we both must prove— 
 You die with envy, I with love." 
 
6 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 daughter had set her cap for him. Michael Baldwin, her 
 father, had begun life as the village blacksmith in Guil- 
 ford, and a few years before had removed to New Haven 
 with two objects in view — the enlargement of his busi- 
 ness, and the education of his children. The family was, 
 however, a remarkably intellectual one. There were 
 three sons — Abraham, Dudley, and Henry — and three 
 daughters — Ruth, Clara, and Lucy. All three of the 
 sons graduated at Yale College and became eminent. 
 Abraham was a man of undoubted talent, and in the 
 hands of a republican purveyor of history would have fig- 
 ured as one of the leading characters of his day. He 
 filled the office of Senator from Georgia for several 
 terms with great ability. He aided Milledge in founding 
 Georgia University and drew up its charter, and the task 
 of drafting the famous Constitution of 1787 was com- 
 mitted to him, his success in that work earning him the 
 soubriquet of " the Father of the Constitution." Dudley 
 studied law and settled at Greenfield, Conn,, and acquired 
 great reputation as a lawyer. Henry also studied law, set- 
 tled in Pittsburg, and became an associate justice of the 
 Supreme Court of the United States. Ruth to great per- 
 sonal beauty added a piquancy of manner and amiability 
 of character that afterward made her an object of adoration 
 in the polite circles of Europe. She inspired in the poet's 
 breast a remarkable passion, one that survived all the mu- 
 tations of a most adventurous career, and glowed as fer- 
 vently at fifty as at twenty-five. The elder brother of this 
 lady, Abraham Baldwin, was a tutor in the college during 
 a part of Barlow's term, and often invited the poet to his 
 home, where the attachment was formed. 
 
 Barlow's standing at college is satisfactorily shown by 
 the fact that the coveted honor of delivering the com- 
 mencement poem was awarded him. The term " com- 
 mencement poem " is, however, a misnomer, the poem 
 having been delivered at the last examination of the 
 senior year, which occurred in 1778, on the 23d of July. 
 
JOEL BARLOW. y 
 
 During the war, as has been remarked, no public com- 
 mencements were held, the graduating exercises being 
 limited to the conferring of degrees. There was, how- 
 ever, a public exhibition in the college chapel at the clos- 
 ing examination of the senior year, and it was on this 
 occasion that the poem was delivered and its author first 
 introduced to the public. The programme for that day, 
 as printed in the newspapers of the next week, intro- 
 duced other members of the poet's class who later be- 
 came known to fame ; it read as follows : — 
 
 A Cliosophic Oration in Latin, by Sir Meigs. 
 
 A Poetical Composition in English, by Sir Barlow. 
 
 A Dialogue in English, by Sir Chaplin, Sir Ely, and Sir 
 
 Miller. 
 
 A Cliosophic Oration in English, by Sir Webster. 
 
 A Disputation in English, by Sir Swift, Sir Wolcott, and 
 Sir Smith. 
 
 A Valedictory Oration in English, by Sir Tracy. 
 
 An Anthem. 
 
 This programme was carried out in the presence of the 
 President, fellows, students, and a large body of invited 
 guests. The poem followed the salutatory, and from con- 
 temporary notices seems to have been one of the feat- 
 ures of the occasion. With rare good judgment, the 
 poet had chosen a theme of the deepest interest to his 
 audience, the return of peace and the glorious future it — 
 presaged for Columbia. For the poem the reader is re- 
 ferred to Dr. Smith's work. It would be regarded as a 
 respectable effort for commencement day even now, but in 
 the paucity of poets which then existed, it was received 
 with the highest marks of favor. The newspapers printed 
 it with commendatory notices : it soon appeared in pam- 
 phlet form, and finally reached the summit of a fugitive 
 
8 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 poem's career by being embalmed in Dr. Smith's collec- 
 tion of American Poems, published at Litchfield, Conn., 
 in 1793. 
 
 A few days later the associations of four stirring years 
 were sundered, and the young men departed to win fame 
 and fortune in a wider arena. A bright future awaited 
 some of them. It was perhaps the strongest class thct 
 Yale had ever graduated. Most of its members made a 
 respectable figure in society, and there were several who 
 achieved national fame. Sir Webster became the great 
 lexicographer, Noah Webster ; Sir Swift — Zephaniah 
 Swift — Chief Justice of Connecticut and Member of Con- 
 gress ; Sir Tracy — Uriah Tracy — the famous jurist and 
 statesman; Sir Meigs — Josiah Meigs — President of 
 Georgia University and a well known educator, and Sir 
 Wolcott — Oliver Wolcott — Washington's Secretary of 
 the Treasury after Hamilton, and later, Governor of Con- 
 necticut. These brave young spirits emerg'ed from the 
 cloisters, parchments in hand, and little else wherewith to 
 begin the battle of life. With the exception of Wolcott, 
 they were without money or friends. Our hero's patri- 
 mony had been expended in his education, and although, 
 by the death of his mother in 1775, he had fallen heir to 
 a small sum, he was sensible that his bread in the near fu- 
 ture depended on his own exertions. Marriage, and a home 
 too, were promised him as soon as he could command a 
 settled position in life. His desires all centred in a lit- 
 erary career. His commencement poem was only the 
 iiiitiu})i, the nucleus of a great patriotic epic which had 
 already taken shape in his mind, and to which he longed 
 to devote the best powers of mind and body. But the 
 gaunt wolf — poverty — which has dogged the steps of al- 
 most every man of genius, confronted him. Literature, 
 so poorly rewarded in our day, was far less remunerative 
 then. The most sanguine could see no prospect of bread- 
 winning in it. The poet's fancies, if indulged at all, must 
 be pursued in connection with some avocation that 
 
JOEL BARLOW. g 
 
 would afford support and the necessary leisure. Divinity 
 and a tutorship in the college were the only two profes- 
 sions which seemed at all conducive to this end. Barlow's 
 friends recommended the former, as being, all things con- 
 sidered, the most lucrative, congenial, and least exacting : 
 none of his friends urged this with more vehemence than 
 his former tutor, the Rev. Joseph Buckminster, now set- 
 tled over the North Church in Portsmouth, N. H.,as suc- 
 cessor to Dr. Stiles, and who seems to have formed a very 
 high opinion of the capacities of his pupil. Barlow, how- 
 ever, shrunk from the sacred calling ; he doubted his fit- 
 ness for its grave responsibilities. But a tutorship in the 
 college he ardently desired ; he expected it, since it was 
 the custom of the corporation to thus honor students who 
 had won distinction in the course, and he spent two years 
 at New Haven in post-graduate studies, waiting for the 
 honor which never came, supporting himself in the mean 
 time by fitting a class of boys for college. The failure 
 undoubtedly engendered a bitterness toward his Alma 
 Mater which time never wholly effaced. His chief corre- 
 spondents during this crucial period were Mr. Buckmin- 
 ster, Noah Webster — who on leaving college had taken a 
 school at Glastonbury, Conn. — and Miss Baldwin. The 
 letters from Mr. Buckminster were the most important 
 and interesting. This gentleman, who will be remem- 
 bered as one of the most eloquent and liberal divines of 
 his day, and the father of Joseph Stevens Buckminster, 
 of Boston, a leader in the Unitarian movement of the 
 succeeding generation, on leaving his tutorship at Yale 
 had accepted, as before remarked, a call to the old North 
 Church at Portsmouth, N. H., a connection which termi- 
 nated only with his death thirty-three years later. Cer- 
 tain letters addressed by him to Barlow at this time 
 materially encouraged the poet to continue his literary 
 efforts, and were largely responsible for his later suc- 
 cesses. We present them seriatim. 
 
lO LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 1778-1780. 
 
 " Portsmouth, Oct. 5, 1778. 
 
 " I RECEIVED under cover from our worthy friend, Mr. 
 Baldwin, two of your poems upon the Prospect of Peace, 
 with an intimation that you desired they might be con- 
 veyed in that way. I am very much obliged to you for 
 them, but not so much as I should have been had they 
 been accompanied with a letter from you. I am sure you 
 are not so little acquainted with my disposition, or my 
 particular tenderness for your class and for you, as to 
 think that a letter would not have been particularly 
 agreeable. The long acquaintance I have had with your 
 class, the many favors I have received from them, the 
 particular tenderness and respect with which most of 
 them have treated me, joined to the pecuHar share of 
 genius and merit with which, as a class, they were distin- 
 guished, have begotten and cherished such feelings in me 
 as time can never totally remove, and as I never shall 
 feel for any other members of society. . . . Your poem 
 does you honor in this part of the country, and every per- 
 son that has seen it speaks very highly of it. It is partic- 
 ularly agreeable to me, perhaps because my vanity would 
 assume part of the merit, as it grew up, in a sort, under my 
 auspices. But I am so little of a poet that I think the 
 smallest share only is thus due to me. I advise you to 
 encourage and cultivate your turn for poetry. I should 
 think myself particularly honored if you will favor me 
 with a view of some of your fugitive lucubrations. . . ." 
 
 He wrote again, March 9, 1779 : — " I am exceedingly 
 pleased with your letter, and the rather, as it intimated 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 1 1 
 
 that your mind is not idle, but that you are at least med- 
 itating something above the common level. Efforts of 
 genius are ever to be commended, and it is in that way 
 that we are to expect any improvement in those things 
 which ennoble human nature. Your sentiments respect- 
 ing divinity give me some reason to hope that you will 
 make that your study. I certainly hope to see you in 
 the sacred desk. ... I ever encouraged freedom of in- 
 quiry in your class, and though it sometimes occasioned 
 me a little difficulty, I never repented it. In the sacred 
 history you will find a variety of subjects which will as- 
 sure a field for your poetic genius, and that which you 
 mention is by far the most interesting and affecting ; but 
 I fear you poets are so fond of fiction, that in writing upon 
 this you would introduce rather too much of it to suit 
 the solemnity of the subject, or please the serious and 
 devout heart. The history of Joseph has never had jus- 
 tice done it in poetry that I have seen ; of Cain and Abel, 
 in which a little machinery and fiction would do very 
 well ; of Daniel, and a variety of others. If you will be 
 kind enough to send along some of your poetic lucubra- 
 tions, I shall esteem it a particular mark of friendship." 
 
 The poet's reply has not been preserved. The corres- 
 pondence continued, and, in a succeeding letter, Mr. 
 Buckminster returned to the subject as follows : — 
 
 ** I am glad you have not given up the design of attempt- 
 ing something in poetry, and your " Vision of Columbus " 
 I fancy must be interesting and improving. You will be 
 kind enough to give me the plan at some time or other. 
 I wish you might obtain a place where you might attend 
 principally to this poem till it was finished, and happy 
 should I be to recommend a family in this part of the 
 country which would be agreeable tQ you ; but the times 
 have reduced our best characters to moderate means of 
 subsistence, and those that are now rising are but mush- 
 room gentry, and knowing but little of learning them- 
 selves, they are but little anxious that their children 
 
12 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 should know more. I believe, my dear friend, unless 
 something unexpected opens, you must follow the advice 
 I gave you, perhaps twelve months past, and with the 
 help of a few sermons support yourself in application to 
 your proposed poem for a time. But let me hear still fur- 
 ther from you upon this matter, and I will endeavor to 
 digest my thoughts upon this subject." And again, Dec. 
 26, 1779 • " I have not yet had much time to turn my at- 
 tention to your plan for the poem styled, ' The Vision of 
 Columbus,' but will soon, and give you my thoughts 
 upon it with my wonted freedom. The few lines that 
 you have subjoined increase my desire of your having leis- 
 ure to complete your wishes, for I think they give us rea- 
 son to believe that you will answer all reasonable expec- 
 tations. . . . I believe I could procure something of a sub- 
 scription for you here among several gentlemen of liber- 
 ality if you desired it ; and if there is any prospect of your 
 being able to pursue your plan write to me particularly, 
 and you maybe assured of all possible assistance." And 
 again, Jan. 11, 1780: "The marks of sincerity and con- 
 fidence that I discover in it (the letter) give me peculiar 
 pleasure, and I shall be very happy if I can be instru- 
 mental in promoting your interests at this frightful dis- 
 tance. I find you feel as young men usually do upon re- 
 ceiving the honors of college, and going out into the 
 world, as it is termed. Were I to say all I think of your 
 abilities, you would, perhaps, judge it flattery, and your 
 fondness for the quiet scenes of literature will perhaps 
 be productive of something that will hereafter do you 
 honor and benefit mankind. ... I think a number of 
 years may be as profitably spent at college after a person 
 has received its honors as before, and especially at Yale 
 with its present governors. Your President is a most 
 worthy man ; he is a living library, a fund of good humor 
 and sociability, and you may always obtain from him 
 something new and useful. Mr. Baldwin is as improving 
 a companion as you will ever find. 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 
 
 13 
 
 " If you will allow me to advise, you will be contented 
 with your present circumstances, and pay a general atten- 
 tion to all branches of education : you may pay a more 
 particular attention to that which best suits your humor 
 and inclination. This seems to be poetry, and you 
 modestly intimate a scruple whether you have anything 
 more than an inclination. 
 
 " I believe you are the only person that has this scruple 
 who has seen the 'Prospect of Peace.' . . . But you must 
 remember that neither our country nor our countrymen 
 are sufficiently refined, enriched, and improved to give 
 a sufficient support to works of genius merely, and had 
 you the genius of a Pope or a Milton, nay, as much superior 
 as you wish, you might starve upon the pittance that a 
 few persons capable of relishing your productions would 
 give. Persons that give themselves up to the Muses 
 
 must have a patron, and if you have a either in 
 
 your own pocket or elsewhere, you may make this de- 
 sideratum for yourself. The question then arises, which 
 of the learned professions is the most favorable to the 
 Muses? I don't hesitate to pronounce, it is the ministry. 
 The study of the law is dry, far from insuring refined or 
 ennobling sentiments or feelings; that of physic we 
 should think would inspire tender and sympathetic feel- 
 ings, but experience contradicts our theory. Divinity 
 contains the most sublime subjects, the most elevated 
 thoughts and exalted ideas, and in the Bible we shall 
 find poetry that has never been equalled by mere man, 
 and forces from us the confession that it is the breathing 
 of a God. . . . The work of the ministry will afford you 
 the fairest opportunity of indulging your poetic genius, 
 and you will find connected with its study the noblest 
 subjects to excite it." 
 
 The following July he wrote in reference to the plan 
 of the " Vision of Columbus " which Barlow had submitted 
 to him : 
 
 " I forget whether I have written since you were kind 
 
14 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 enough to favor me with your plan for the ' Vision of 
 Columbus'; if I have, I was not prepared to make any 
 considerable observations upon it. I have in some of my 
 leisure hours, which are very few, turned my attention to 
 it. I have read it, with the sample you were kind enough 
 to transcribe, to several gentlemen, to procure their sen- 
 timents: they all approve and applaud, wish to see it 
 executed, and encourage pretty raised expectations. For 
 my own part, I am exceedingly pleased with it, and long 
 for the execution with all the avidity that my attachment 
 to you, to Yalensia, and the fine arts can inspire. You 
 will perhaps find in your progress that the plan may in 
 some parts be abridged and others will want enlargement ; 
 some of the articles may be too trivial to need a particular 
 description, and will only be hinted at or their places 
 supplied with some others. In the contents of the second 
 book, as they stand in your letter, you have supposed the 
 reformation in religion to be the effect of the discovery 
 of America. Though it might be the means of reviv- 
 ing learning, and perhaps awakening an attention to the 
 rights of mankind, yet I think the reformation in religion 
 must be ascribed to a different cause ; but perhaps it 
 may be justified by the license of the poets. I have no 
 kind of hesitancy as to your poetic ability to execute 
 your plan so far as that can go, but it requires an amaz- 
 ing, universal knowledge to treat of the great variety of 
 articles that you propose. A man must be not only a 
 poet and man of letters, but a lawyer, politician, physi- 
 cian, divine, chemist, natural historian, and an adept in 
 all the fine arts. Your knowledge in all these branches 
 is as great as any person of your age and advantages, 
 but you must depend, I presume, in some of those 
 branches upon those who have turned their particular 
 attention to them. You will need to be careful in your 
 choice. Another article that you will need particularly 
 to attend to is the choice of those in whose judgment 
 and criticism you can confide. You must be open to 
 
JOEL BARLOW. IC 
 
 all, and the more observations you have made, whether in 
 a way of praise or blame, the better ; but you will not let 
 them influence you greatly, for you will find the tastes 
 of mankind as different as their faces. There was never 
 yet a sentence written but what somebody thought 
 might be altered to advantage, and in your large design 
 what touches upon any person's profession every one 
 will think he has a right to judge. It will be of advan- 
 tage to you to have a select number in whom you can 
 confide to assist you, but do not confide so much in any 
 as to give up entirely your own opinion, unless in some 
 article where they have had greatly the advantage. Be 
 open to conviction ; keep your eyes, your ears, and your 
 heart open ; note what is well said by those in the lower 
 walks of life, and be unmoved by what is ill said, though 
 the person be ever so distinguished." 
 
 The poem on which all these fears and hopes were 
 based was the " Vision of Columbus," the first important 
 poem distinctively American in subject and authorship 
 ever projected, and which had so far taken form in the 
 author's mind that in the summer of 1779 an elaborate 
 draft of it was drawn up at Northampton, Mass., whither 
 business of an unknown nature had taken him. This 
 draft was as follows : 
 
 "THE VISION OF COLUMBUS. 
 
 " A plan for a poem on the subject of America at large, 
 designed to exhibit the importance of this country in 
 every point of view as the noblest and most elevated part 
 of the eaj-th, and reserved to be (the) last and greatest 
 theatre for the improvement of mankind in every article 
 in which they are capable of improvement. The poem 
 will be rather of the philosophic than epic kind. The 
 machinery is simple, and it is hoped will be natural. As 
 an angel is employed in unfolding these scenes to 
 Columbus, nothing ought to be mentioned but what is 
 
 \l 
 
l6 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 important to the happiness of mankind, of whom these 
 superior beings are always considered as the guardians. 
 The circumstances of Columbus after his last return from 
 America are well known to be (to have been) veiy mel- 
 ancholy. Queen Isabella, his only benefactress, is dead. 
 The King refuses to fulfil the contract upon which the 
 discoveries were undertaken. The unfortunate, after a 
 life of toil and disappointment for the good of mankind, 
 is deserted by his friends and insulted by his enemies. 
 In this situation the poem opens. 
 
 ^^ Book 1st. — Condition of Columbus. Night. Colum- 
 bus' lamentation. Appearance and speech of the angel. 
 His message to Columbus (is) to repay his toils by repre- 
 senting the importance of them. They ascend a moun- 
 tain that looks westward over the Atlantic. The conti- 
 nent of America draws into vision. General appearance 
 of America. Description of the Andes and other moun- 
 tains through the continent. Seas and coasts, rivers, 
 lakes, forests, valleys, soil, fruits flowers, air, predomi- 
 nancy of cold, animals. 
 
 " Book 2d. — Manners of the natives. A philosophical 
 account of their constitution. Cause of the dissimilar- 
 ity of nations. Wars of the natives. Hunting. Food 
 and clothing. Education of their children. Arts of the 
 natives. Their civilization — religion. The Esquimaux. 
 Mexico. Peru. Story of Mango Capac. 
 
 '■^Book ^d. — New face of things throughout America oc- 
 casioned by the toils of Columbus in the introduction of 
 Europeans. Effect of this in Europe. It enlarges the 
 human mind and throws mankind into a different system 
 of political interests. Its effect in the revival of learning 
 in Europe, freedom of inquiry, civil liberty, reformation 
 in religion, and happiness of mankind. Meantime the 
 southern continent fades into obscurity with the rest of 
 the world and the vision is confined to the northern con- 
 tinent. 
 
 ''Book 4th. — Arts of utility and domestic life. Build- 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 1 7 
 
 ings, towns, manufactures, clothing, iron, sulphur, salt- 
 petre, medical inventions. Mercurial inoculation. Hus- 
 bandry. Commerce. 
 
 ''Book $tk. — Wars down as far as the present day, with 
 some particular descriptions. 
 
 "Book 6th. — Political arts. Police of every particular 
 colony. General confederation. Independence. Foreign 
 negotiation which introduces some reflections upon civil 
 government in general and the progress of society. 
 
 "■Book yth. — Liberal arts. Gardening, architecture, 
 painting, fine writing. Mineral, mechanical, electrical and 
 astronomical. Philosophy. Moral philosophy and religion. 
 
 "Book %th. — Invocation for the unfolding of a more 
 general and important scene. The particular articles 
 which in the preceding books are traced as far down as 
 the present day, are here thrown into a general view and 
 carried into futurity. General view of science. Its use 
 in exalting reason to its proper dignity over the passions. 
 Female sex. Their importance in a moral view. Misery 
 occasioned to mankind for want of attention to them. 
 Their future progress in the advancement of science and 
 happiness. 
 
 "Book <^th. — Philosophy of the human mind. Nature of 
 God. Connection and necessary happiness of the intelli- 
 gent universe. This happiness interrupted with respect 
 to man. Promotion of this happiness a complete system 
 of religion, as it is the end of all revelation and the com- 
 plete duty of man. Deism, superstition. Future prog- 
 ress of society. Happy effect of an open communication 
 of all nations, as it will promote an assimilation of man- 
 ners, a liberality of sentiment, a union of interests, and a 
 union of language. This will make the acquisition of 
 knowledge more easy, policy more mild and extensive, 
 wars less frequent, the earth more populous and cultivated 
 and human nature more glorious. 
 " Northampton, 
 
 "Aug., 1779." 
 2 
 
1 8 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 We shall presently follow this plan to its fruition. 
 While it is being formulated, the reader will remember, 
 the author is at Yale College, pursuing post-graduate 
 studies, writing poetry, taking tea with young and old 
 ladies, ripening his acquaintance with Miss Baldwin, at 
 whose father's house he boarded, and eking out slender 
 finances by tutoring the scions of wealthy families in the 
 city. Sundry letters to his college chum, Noah Webster, 
 and to Miss Baldwin during her frequent absences, give 
 pleasant glimpses of his life and thoughts during this 
 period. On the first letter to Webster the latter has en- 
 dorsed : " I was keeping school in Glastonbury (Ct.), the 
 first school I undertook after leaving college." The letter 
 is dated Jan. 30, 1779. "You and I," he wrote, "are not 
 the first in the world who have broken loose from college 
 without friends and without fortune to push us into 
 public notice. Let us show the world a few more exam- 
 ples of men standing upon their own merit and rising in 
 spite of obstacles. I have too much confidence in your 
 merits, both as to greatness of genius and goodness of 
 heart, to suppose that your actions are not to be conspic- 
 uous ; and I hope you have too much confidence in my 
 friendship to suppose that I don't speak from the heart. 
 We are now citizens of the world in pursuit of different 
 interests, no longer in circumstances of warming the soul 
 and refining the sensibility by those nameless incidents 
 that attend college connection. Let us lay flattery wholly 
 aside, and improve our friendship and refine our tastes by 
 a serious correspondence. I am yet at a loss for an em- 
 ployment for life, and unhappy in this state of suspense. 
 The American Republic is a fine theatre for the display 
 of merit of every kind. If ever virtue is to be rewarded 
 it is in America. Literary accomplishments will not be 
 so much noticed till some time after the settlement of 
 peace, and the people become more refined. More blus- 
 tering characters must bear sway at present, and the 
 hardy veterans must retire from the field before the phi- 
 
JOEL BARLOW. ig 
 
 losopher can retire to the closet. I don't feel as if I ever 
 should enter upon either of the learned professions for a 
 livelihood. I move at present in as regular a sphere as if 
 I was governed by Sir Isaac Newton's laws ; my circuit 
 is from new college to old, and from old to Mr. Baldwin's 
 for study, school-keeping and eating, all which movements 
 are regularly pointed out by my inclinations, my poverty, 
 and my appetite. I have, however, some irregular move- 
 ments. I spend every evening in ladies' company ; this 
 I call an eccentricity in my orbit. I wish I could say 
 something upon politics, which I think is necessary for 
 every man. I think, however, the civil dissensions you 
 mention are a necessary evil in a republic. I am at a loss 
 whether they are really for the disadvantage of the com- 
 munity or not. They enlighten the common people and 
 make them better judges of public characters. This will 
 make candidates for public honors more cautious and 
 more faithful. The author of ' Common Sense,' it 
 seems, has felt too secure and important. Had he been 
 cautioned a year ago that America was as independent 
 in sentiment as he would represent her in his policy, he 
 would probably have continued in office and deserved 
 the honors we were willing to bestow upon him. His 
 removal will make room for others, and his example will 
 be their caution. Respecting your request, I have but 
 few copies of the ' Prospect of Peace ' left. I will, how- 
 ever, send you three or four the first chance I get." 
 
 Webster's reply called out another letter on the same 
 general subject. 
 
 "Yours of the 17th I received by post. It breathes 
 kindness like yourself and considerably reinspires my am- 
 bition. It won't require the accuracy of a meteorological 
 instrument to give an account of my feelings since your 
 good genius first led me into thoughts of my present 
 plans. Hopes and fears succeed one another very fre- 
 quently, though the former are generally very weak, and I 
 cannot but think your friendship for me induces you to 
 
20 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 be too sanguine in your expectations. My obligation to 
 you is as extensive as your good wishes can be, and if 
 ever I succeed in this way, I shall always consider you as 
 the foundation of all my good fortune. At present, I 
 must own, my prospects are clouded. Mr. Perkins treats 
 me like a gentleman and a man of sense. He expressed 
 his diffidence with respect to the generosity of people, 
 and appeared to be very frank and friendly. I received 
 a letter from him to-day with my papers that I had left 
 with him. He has now entirely given up the matter and 
 advises me to go into business for a living, and make 
 poetry only an amusement for leisure hours, as the most 
 that can be expected from our countrymen in this age is 
 * Be ye warmed and be ye filled.' These leisure hours 
 will never come to me after I am buried in business for 
 life. I am now willing to devote the heat of youthful 
 imagination to these objects ; if that cannot be done, I 
 shall give it up forever. I am determined to make 
 every effort within the reach of modesty this fall, Mr. 
 Lockwood and Mr. Atwater are as zealously my friends 
 as I could wish. They have seen your letters, and they 
 will engage the President in my favor, as he has always 
 been friendly to me. You are sensible that the matter is 
 delicate,* and you must be careful of saying too much or 
 driving too fast. I shall tarry at New Haven till I hear 
 from you, which must be by next post. . . ." 
 
 The reader is by no means to infer, however, that grand 
 designs alone occupied the poet during this period. His 
 was a versatile mind, and glided without friction from the 
 discussing polemics and theology with grave professors 
 to the gossip and merry badinage of belles and beaux. 
 Letters of the period show him to have been a favorite 
 in society. His letters to his lady-love, many of which 
 lie before the writer, prove him to have been an ardent, 
 tender, impassioned lover, — qualities, we may remark, 
 
 * Of the tutorship. 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 21 
 
 which distinguished him to the end of life. The reader 
 may be curious to know how a lover thought and wrote 
 in 1779, and so, deprecating criticism, we include a few 
 extracts. They will be given to an appreciative audience, 
 for only the scholarly and refined will be interested in 
 this story of a poet's trials and triumphs. 
 
 On one occasion the lady is visiting in North Guilford, 
 and the swain affects to be jealous. 
 
 " Do,'.Ruthy, tell me sincerely," he urged, " don't some of 
 those mountain swains invite you to ramble in their green 
 retreats, entertain you with fine stories about Arcadian 
 nymphs and rural innocence ? Don't you never rest half 
 raised in silent attention on a bed of gold, to hear some 
 gentle Alexis tell how Apollo became a shepherd, and led 
 the same course of life that they do ? how he became 
 angiy with Jupiter because he raised thunder-storms to 
 vail the face of the sun ? how he went and killed the Cy- 
 clops because they made thunderbolts for Jupiter? how 
 these Cyclops were Vulcan's journeymen, and that, enraged 
 at Apollo, Vulcan went limping up to heaven and com- 
 plained to Jupiter? Jupiter immediately kicks Apollo 
 out, and leaving the chariot of the sun he went to keep- 
 ing sheep on earth. He taught the shepherds all these 
 fine Arcadian schemes, taught them to relish the sweets 
 of rural innocence, and introduced the golden age. I tell 
 you, Ruthy, you must be on your guard ; these stories will 
 be told with all the persuasive arts of eloquence and music, 
 so you will be induced to imitate the example of Apollo, 
 quit the chariot of your beauty as he did that of the sun 
 and turn your attention to the humble pursuit of rustic 
 sports. But you must remember, ma amie, that your old 
 friend Apollo was a poet as well as shepherd, and in 
 winter time the most likely place to find him will be at 
 college, so I advise you to return to New Haven as soon 
 as you receive this letter. . . ." 
 
 The following are interesting for their local and per- 
 
22 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 sonal gossip. July 26, 1779, he wrote to Miss Baldwin 
 from Middletown : 
 
 " I have a happy moment this morning to devote to 
 you, and I can do it with all the eagerness of a Persian 
 when he addresses the rising sun, and I wish I could do 
 it in as visible a manner. The bearer, Miss Fowler, will 
 tell you what a fine family dance we had last night at 
 Capt. Starr's. I came from New Haven yesterday ; am 
 now with Meigs, who sends love to you. I am going 
 to Hartford this morning ; shall return to New Haven 
 next week, either after my things or else to stay at New 
 Haven for the winter. My prospects are as uncertain as 
 ever. . . . 
 
 And the same day, from Hartford : " Saturday I came 
 as far as Wethersfield, and drank tea at Col. Beldrige's 
 with Mr. Lockwood and his sister, then rode into Hart- 
 ford to Mrs. Whitman's, where I am intending to stay till 
 Tuesday morning i this is Monday afternoon : Betsey 
 Stiles is coming here to drink tea. Mr. Lockwood and 
 Betsey say they will certainly come and see you pretty 
 soon, and I wish you would come up here with them. I 
 wish you to spend as much time in this town as you can : 
 you may depend on being treated well. Besides the 
 company here, Sammy Lyman, of Litchfield, will be at 
 Mr. Ellsworth's all summer. I dined with him and Web- 
 ster yesterday and to-day." 
 
 From Redding, where Putnam's division of the Conti- 
 nental army had just gone into winter quarters, he wrote 
 in October, 1779 : 
 
 " I had the happiness, when I came into Redding, of 
 meeting both your brothers at Gen. Parsons'. Dudley 
 went off Sunday morning. Abraham* preached, to the 
 great approbation of Mr. Bartlett's little flock. I spent 
 that day with him, and Monday morning he came to 
 mingle souls along with me at my brother's. We drank, 
 
 * Now a chaplain in the army. 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 23 
 
 and dined, and talked politics with my brother till after 
 noon. Then, to speak in the Arcadian style, we retired 
 to a wild autumnal grove back of the home lot. In this 
 grove the ground is so accustomed to rise to see people 
 pass in the road at some distance, that it now overlooks 
 the country round, and the valleys have so long acknowl- 
 edged its eminence that geographers won't call it a hill. 
 The leaves kept constantly falling from the trees to give 
 us as good a prospect as possible. To a fancy as lively 
 as yours this situation won't appear romantic. But our 
 romance was of a more serious kind : we received no aid 
 from the situation, except being out of hearing of other 
 folks. We built castles much higher than the hill, and 
 wanted nothing to support them but a little of the mam- 
 jnon of this world — the pursuit of which for any other 
 reason than to make virtuous people happy I most heart-, 
 ily despise. I spent the day with infinite satisfaction, and 
 now I part with the dear man as the body parts with the 
 soul. I tarried at General Wolcott's six days ; they are 
 all alive in Litchfield. I am not determined what I shall 
 do this winter, or where I shall live." 
 
 V 
 
24 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 1 780-1 783. 
 
 The uncertainty as to his prospects, indicated in the 
 last letter, continued into the summer of 1780.? Toward 
 the end of this summer he was commissioned a chaplain 
 in Poor's Brigade of the Massachusetts line,.^nd in Sep- 
 tember joined the brigade, then engaged in guarding the 
 passes of the Hudson. Motives both of jSatriotism and 
 self-interest prompted him to this step, the army being 
 then sadly in need of able and properly qualified chap- 
 lains. He evidently took the step with reluctance, and 
 chiefly from the solicitations of friends. Some of these 
 are indicated in a series of letters from Abraham Bald- 
 win, then a chaplain in Putnam's division, and which 
 also contain pleasant descriptions of camp-scenes and an 
 interesting allusion to the ** Vision of Columbus." The 
 first is dated in May, 1779, at Redding, where the divis- 
 ion had wintered. " To-day," wrote the future senator, 
 ** we have been over to General Putnam's to a splendid 
 entertainment, which, if I should use you as they fre- 
 quently do the public, I should describe to you at large 
 as to guests, covers, toasts, and music, but shall only tell 
 you in all that it was very agreeable, such as you might 
 expect from a collection of careless, friendly, sensible 
 gentlemen whose plan of life precludes any great multi- 
 plicity of interests and vexations, and permits them to 
 enjoy each other. Major Putnam was fitting for a jour- 
 ney through New Haven. I have stolen a few minutes 
 to write you by him. ... I doubt not you have fre- 
 quently thought of me since my sudden elopement, how 
 I made out, how enjoyed myself, etc. The plan and 
 scene of action you are but too well acquainted with. 
 
JOEL BARLOW, 2$ 
 
 My particular situation is in a very agreeable family, who 
 treat me with every mark of friendship and respect. The 
 General will not fail in inclination to make me happy 
 here, and it is in his power. We are about three miles 
 from the brigade and visit them once a day. I have a 
 retired study to myself when I please, a very clever set 
 of company in the house, whom I can enjoy at any time. 
 .... There have been two general reviews, parade, 
 salutations, firing, etc. Yesterday a very grand one. 
 What will be the plan for the summer campaign is not 
 at all known in this quarter. The generals have just 
 received letters from generals Washington and Greene, 
 which I have read. They say nothing determinate. It 
 was before conjectured the movement would be to the 
 northward. Guards and baggage were called in for that 
 purpose, but the word now is to wait further orders. 
 They will get into tents in a few days, — rather suppose 
 the encampment will be below here, in Wilton. Perhaps 
 there will not be a move from here for some time. If so, 
 I will write you when college collects. That seems yet 
 to be my only home ; but if a person sees clever things 
 one way, that is no reason why he should never look 
 another." The letter ends : " There are several commis- 
 sions vacant in this brigade ; the General asked m.e to 
 recommend some good fellows to him. If you know of 
 any, write me. It will be determined soon." 
 
 In March, 1780, he thus returned to the attack, with 
 an allusion to the poem, writing from the camps on the 
 Hudson : "You tell me that you are very choice in your 
 company, and talk very little with anything clothed in 
 flesh-and-blood and grosser than spirits — that you can 
 raise ghosts, apparitions and folks dead for centuries, and 
 everything in that way but the devil. All I have to say 
 is, remember Salem,, beware of the ghost of Cotton 
 Mather or any of his descendants. ... I doubt not 
 your plan gives you an elegant and refined pleasure in 
 the pursuit of it. That part of the profit is certain and 
 
26 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 is no inconsiderable one to a person determined to enjoy 
 himself. I fear your circumstances will oblige you to 
 hurry matters more than you would choose. Hoard it 
 if possible. It is to live forever : therefore follow nature 
 and let it have a long youth. Can't you lay some plan 
 for business which will support you and yet allow you 
 to prosecute this .? The plan is for you to come and be 
 chaplain for our other brigade, for I have them both to 
 preach to. Bishop Ellis is not here, and it is a chance if 
 he joins again. Depend upon it, there is not a situation 
 in the army that would be more agreeable to your turn. 
 You would be happy in it ; you could get matter and 
 work it up, and do just as you pleased. If you won't 
 believe me, come and see. I will engage to make you 
 happy, a little while at least. 
 
 " You ask me for family and state anecdotes to weave 
 into your 'Vision.' I have come across several, which, if 
 properly volatilized, sublimated, etc., in your poetical 
 alembic, I doubt not might make a pretty little relish 
 between some of the dishes of your entertainment. There 
 is the story of the second unfortunate colony, which 
 came to Virginia under Mr. John White in 1587, and 
 was never after heard of. There were no traces of their 
 being destroyed ; by some inscriptions found ten or 
 twelve years after, it was supposed they moved off, and 
 has given ground to the conjecture that they may have 
 given rise to a set of inhabitants which will yet be dis- 
 covered in the western parts. The character of Captain 
 John Smith I will recommend to your attention. It was 
 uncommon before he came to America. In the war be- 
 tween the Germans and Turks he was taken prisoner^ 
 carried into Turkey, and subjected to an interesting vari- 
 ety of fortunes. But in the first settlement of America 
 he was a capital character. Without him it scarcely 
 seems that a settlement would have been effected. You 
 will find much said of him in Hakluyt's * Voyages and 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 2/ 
 
 Discoveries,' a respectable clergyman in the reign of ( 
 Elizabeth, who is very particular upon those times." 
 
 After instancing the story of Pocahontas, Colonel Bev- 
 erly's " History of Virginia," and Thomas Harlot's treatise 
 on Raleigh's dominions, the letter proceeds : " I have 
 got acquainted this winter with Mr. Kemble, father to 
 General Gage's lady, who before Whig and Tory times 
 was a principal character here, and have had the finger- 
 ing of his books. He is a native of Smyrna, but is now 
 a Tory of New Jersey. Be that as it may, I have got 
 much satisfaction from him. He tells me the best ac- 
 count he has ever seen of this continent is in the New 
 American Magazine for the years 1758-59. It also con- 
 tains the travels of Mr. Thomas Gage through the greater 
 part of South America, finished about the year 1740. 
 You may perhaps find them among some of our curious 
 geniuses. President Stiles can tell you about it. . . ." 
 Barlow seems to have listened to the proposition, for, 
 May 2d, his friend wrote that he had set the necessary 
 wheels in motion to secure his appointment. " I know 
 it would be highly agreeable to the officers of the bri- 
 gade," he says, " for they feel a pride in showing out in 
 those ways. Here is Stark's Brigade in our neighbor- 
 hood which I often visit, and as worthy a one as any in 
 the army. It is composed of Webb's, Jackson's, Angel's, 
 and Sherburn's regiments. They have never had a chap- 
 lain. The difficulty in the way there is, S himself 
 
 is a goose-head, and you would not be happy in his fam- 
 ily. The regiments are not of the line of any state, are 
 therefore continually diminishing, and in no way to be 
 recruited. The General, I believe, will not return to 
 them again. There is a committee of Congress coming 
 here, whom they expect to take the matters of this bri- 
 gade. If they get a clever fellow for a general and are 
 put upon a good footing, it will be as clever a post as 
 there is in the army." 
 
28 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 July 2d he wrote again, his letter containing an inter-' 
 esting reference to Colonel Humphreys, the poet. 
 
 " I am very sorry you have been obliged to wait in 
 suspense when everything was fixed to your mind, and 
 you left the only person to put in motion. We con- 
 versed with the commandant and a number of the officers 
 of the brigade ; they all expressed themselves well pleased ; 
 the commandant said you should have an appointment 
 whenever you pleased. Parson Hitchcock, who belongs 
 to one of their brigades, said it would be best for you to 
 make them a visit first, the sooner the better, and take 
 your appointment when you pleased. Hitchcock is a 
 very clever fellow, and interested himself to have you 
 come. His brigade and yours always lie together; he 
 wants a good man to be company for him. We wrote 
 you this immediately after our arrival here from New 
 Haven. The purport was to have you take a letter from 
 the President to introduce you to Hitchcock, which would 
 not be bad to have him show to the officers of the bri- 
 gade, and with that come on as soon as was convenient. 
 Come as soon as you can, Joel, prepared to preach or not, 
 as you like best, you know I shall be glad to see you. 
 Our friend Humphreys is appointed aid to His Excel- 
 lency.* Show us a better man." 
 
 These arrangements were successful, and two months 
 later the poet received his appointment as chaplain in 
 Poor's Brigade of the Massachusetts Line. His life in 
 the army, covering a period of three years, was one of the 
 most interesting epochs in his career. We shall describe 
 it, first, generally, and then more particularly by means 
 of a series of interesting letters written his wife and other 
 friends. The duties of the continental chaplain do not 
 seem to have been onerous. Abraham Baldwin writes 
 his sister Ruth in 1781, that he has as much leisure and 
 feels as cleverly as ever. "I read French, write, and 
 
 * General Washington. 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 20 
 
 make visits from morning till night, and then sleep from 
 night till morning," he continues. Preaching one sermon 
 on a Sunday — attending a funeral or a wedding, he 
 might have added — made up the sum of his duties. To 
 Barlow, however, the period was one of intense intellectual 
 effort. In addition to his professional duties he was hard 
 at work on his poem, and in conjunction with his friends 
 Humphreys and Dwight, both of whom were in the army 
 at this time, the former as aid, the latter as chaplain, he 
 wrote a series of stirring lyrics, designed to stimulate and 
 encourage the ranks, and improve their esprit as well as 
 morals. Not sufficient importance has been given thie 
 minnesingers of the Revolution by our historians. Their 
 number was much greater than has been supposed. Mr. 
 Moore, in his " Songs and Ballads of the Revolution," has 
 preserved ninety-two of their fugitive pieces ; but they 
 by no means include all : " The Ballad of Nathan Hale," 
 Dr. Hopkinson's " Battle of the Kegs," and the scathing 
 satires of Philip Freneau remain to prove the effective- 
 ness of these warriors of the pen. But the majority were 
 produced for the occasion, and after being repeated from 
 mouth to mouth perished with those who used them. 
 This fate seems to have overtaken the productions of 
 our triumvirate, scarcely one of their fugitive pieces hav- 
 ing been preserved.* 
 
 * One was discovered among the earlier efforts of the poet, preserved by 
 his wife. It has no date, but was evidently written to celebrate Burgoyne's 
 defeat. The following are the opening stanzas and chorus : 
 
 ** While scenes of transport every heart inspire, 
 The Muse, too, triumphs in her kindling fire. 
 Blest in their bliss, she lifts a bolder wing, 
 Aids every wish and tunes the harp to sing ; 
 To their glad concert wakes the accordant strain 
 And mingles with the music of the plain. 
 
 " ' Joy to the Bands,' her voice arose, 
 ' Who chained that veteran host of foes ; 
 Who bade Britannia's glory fade 
 And placed the wreath on fair Columbia's head.' 
 
30 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 Having now a settled position the poet thought he 
 might safely marry : the lady blushingly consented, but 
 the father was obdurate. He had never had as high an 
 opinion of the rhyming lover as his daughter and sons, 
 and now refused consent to the marriage on the ground 
 that the candidate's prospects would scarcely warrant it. 
 No arguments that the lover urged could change his 
 purpose, and the latter resolved on bolder measures. In 
 January, 178 1, while the army lay in winter quarters, he 
 paid a visit to New Haven, and on the 26th the couple 
 were privately married, the marriage having been kept a 
 secret from all for nearly a year, though there is among 
 the letters evidence that the young wife was restive and 
 ill at ease under the weight of her secret. When it was 
 finally discovered, the husband wrote a manly letter to 
 the wronged father, containing as ingenious a defense of 
 an indefensible action as was ever penned. And so, to 
 
 " * Hail the day and mark it well : 
 Then the scourge of Freedom fell, 
 Then your dawning glory shone, — 
 Mark it, Freeman ! 'tis your own. 
 
 " * Now recount your toils with pleasure. 
 View the strife and sum the treasure ; 
 Run the battles o'er again, 
 Sound the charge and sweep the plain ; 
 Here behold the foe pursuing — 
 
 How he drives his headlong way. 
 Whelming towns and realms in ruin, 
 
 Sure to seize the distant prey. 
 False and faithless tribes adore him, 
 
 Join the shout and yield him room. 
 Now, Albania, fall before him — 
 
 Now, Rebellion, learn your doom.' " 
 
 The concluding stanza is as follows : 
 
 " Then every glad blessing thy country can lend 
 When her foes and her slaughters shall cease, 
 Shall arise to the Hero who bade her ascend 
 To conquest, to glory, and peace." 
 
JOEL BARLOW. jl 
 
 the burdens of his office and his ambition while in the 
 army our hero added a husband's fears and anxieties. 
 
 In the letter to his sister before quoted, Abraham 
 Baldwin pokes fun in his quiet way at these distractions. 
 
 " Poor Joel has been over here looking for opportu- 
 nities to send to you these ten days. He hears of one, 
 hurries home and writes his letter — when he returns the 
 man is gone ! A few days after, I sent to him for his letters, 
 but he must wait to write a new cover, and when they 
 come the opportunity is lost again ; this has happened 
 about every other day this week past. I have now sent 
 after them again, and hope, in mercy to the unhappy man 
 destined at last to be the bearer of such multiplied and 
 mighty materials, they will come soon, and not saddle 
 the poor man with a weight of copies more burdensome 
 than though he carried the original himself with the love, 
 sighs, dreams, heart, and meat all together. The packet* 
 even if it comes now, I believe will be like Dick's patched 
 jacket, eighteen thicknesses." These letters we shall 
 next consider and transcribe somewhat in full, both from 
 the pleasant glimpses they give of the minuti^ of the 
 camp, and as tending to interest the reader thus early in 
 the fortunes of the young people. The first is dated 
 *'Near Paramus, Sept. ii, 1780." 
 
 '* I have just returned from making a visitation to my 
 brigade. Brother Bram (Abraham) and I have been the 
 grand rounds to-day through all the encampment, which 
 is about four miles in length, in a fine open country be- 
 tween Hackensack and Paramus. We have visited all 
 our friends, which are very numerous, and have had a 
 happy day with them. I was detained at Redding some 
 days and did not arrive at camp till Saturday night. I 
 lodged in a tent on a bed of bark that wet night ; next 
 day found Abram ; we agreed to live together in houses 
 as long as the army kept together. Monday, the army 
 marched from that place to this, a few miles. Here, v/ith 
 getting wet and my fatigue, and by eating too much fruit, 
 
32 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 I got cleverly sick and really felt quite ill for two or three 
 days, when I began to see that that was nothing to the 
 purpose. On Thursday evening I began to open my 
 mouth, which is none of the smallest, and out of it there 
 went a noise which the brigade received as the duty of 
 my office. On Sunday, or rather on the Sabbath, I gave 
 them a preachment, and will you believe, Ruthy, I was 
 - flattered afterward by some of the most sensible hearers 
 with the great merit of the performance. I know you 
 will ask me how I made out ; I really did well, far beyond 
 my expectations, and I find it all a joke, as much as Cas- 
 siu^ did, to be in awe of such a thing as myself. I now 
 feel hearty and well, and begin to grow fat and talk Dutch. 
 Yesterday the funeral of General Poor was attended with 
 great solemnity and military parade. All the officers of 
 the army — perhaps five hundred in number — with a regi- 
 ment of infantry and a regiment of dragoons, marched in 
 procession, with a large band of music playing the funeral 
 march. In the first rank the deceased general's horse 
 was led with his usual trappings, his saddle and holsters, 
 and boots fitted in the stirrups with no rider. In this 
 situation the horse was a perfect picture of bereavement, 
 and the most striking object that could be imagined ; then 
 followed the corpse with his sword and pistols hanging on 
 the coffin, then the particular mourners, the two regi- 
 ments, the officers, beginning with the juniors, while His 
 Excellency closed the procession, which was about a mile 
 long and extremely slow. Parson Evans gave us an 
 oration at the grave, and these were the last honors paid 
 an exceeding worthy character. I then was introduced 
 to several gentlemen of the first merit, and was treated 
 with particular attention by General Greene, who, I find, is 
 reckoned the second character on the continent. After 
 all my bad feelings I have certainly done right in coming 
 with the army. My duty is extremely easy and is not 
 disagreeable ; they certainly treat me with attention. 
 Colonel Bailey, our commandant, is a good, easy, sensible 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 33 
 
 man. In short, Ruthy, I will say but one word farther 
 about myself separate from you, and that is this follow- 
 ing, viz.: that I sit here half asleep at a Dutchman's 
 table, with brother Abram snoring by my side." 
 
 Camp near Hackensack, Monday. 
 " Yesterday I had another preachment, which kept me 
 awake awhile — whether it had the same effect upon 
 others I am not certain. I expect Mr. Lockwood along 
 in a few days, when, if I don't have a good long letter, I 
 shall flog somebody. Perhaps I shall think he has 
 thrown the letter away if he don't bring me one, in order 
 to carry out his plans with you. By the way, tell Dudley 
 between him and me Lockwood will undoubtedly join 
 the army. Tell me about your commencement-time, 
 whether you were happy, because I contemplated you 
 all that morning flashing away in a dance so gay and so 
 busy that you scarcely rayed a thought so far as New 
 Jersey, but after you returned home, you sweet girl, I 
 know you thought of me. . . . Enjoy what friends you 
 can pick up, but put little confidence in the generality of 
 them ; and as for the work, let it slide, for it never does 
 good folks but very little good. . . . Abraham's little gen- 
 eral is come, and he and I will separate, though not very 
 distant." 
 
 Sept. 23, 1780. 
 " This is Saturday afternoon. I have fixed my magazine 
 for to-morrow, and my thoughts are at liberty to dwell 
 upon their favorite object, the centre of all my happi- 
 ness. We have to-day made a move back from Hack- 
 ensack to an old encampment here near the river, where 
 I have taken lodgings in an old Dutchman's bedroom, 
 as snug as a poker, and have as good a study as ever 
 lived. Since Abram has gone into the General's mess 
 I have come in with my commandant, as hearty and as 
 clever as you could wish. The worst difificulty is, the 
 3 
 
34 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 Sabbath days come rather too thick : there will be one 
 upon my heels now before I finish this letter. . . . On 
 Tuesday Mr. Lockwood gave me your dear good letter and 
 told me a thousand clever stories about you, as he knew 
 it would make me feel happy to hear your praises ; he 
 made us a good visit and is gone on. The way is open 
 for him to join the army and he will leave college this 
 fall, but the corporation are so cunning that Dudley can 
 have no advantage of it. . . . 
 
 " My dear, it is now Monday morning. I have left that 
 blank in the line for Sunday, when I had no feelings worth 
 communicating, except a few anxious thoughts about the 
 preachment, which I made in a great Dutch barn. This 
 is the third sermon I have given them and I feel pretty 
 well about it. We are going this day to see a grand 
 parade of the whole army, which will be worth my atten- 
 tion. We have fourteen brigades lying upon this ground 
 in a pleasant country, and they don't make a bad figure. 
 I shall see Bram and shall probably find a conveyance 
 for this paper, if I can find nonsense enough to fill it. 
 .... The two great articles of your attention will be to 
 make yourself agreeable to others and agreeable to your- 
 self, or in other words to improve and be happy. I have 
 no doubt but you will attend to these. The only way to 
 be happy is to think you are so — you have many of the 
 materials and will undoubtedly find more. With regard to 
 improvement, only aim at the two grand objects of dignity 
 and ease, and let them be carried to perfection and traced 
 into all their consequences ; they will comprehend all the 
 graces of manner that you need attend to. We must be 
 careful that stiffness is not assumed for dignity nor a tri- 
 fling littleness for ease ; but dignity and ease united and 
 softened into a lady's character are a great ornament, 
 and I know no place where they make a happier concert 
 than they do sometimes in my Ruthy. ... It is now 
 Monday evening, my love. Billy Little came in and broke 
 me off in the forenoon to go to the parade, which was 
 
JOEL BARLOW. jC 
 
 indeed grand. He sends love to his sister. Abram sends 
 his boy this minute for my commands to New Haven, 
 and I finish my letter in a flutter. I must tell you one 
 word : here is a pair of folks requesting to be joined in 
 matrimony this evening. I have been advising them to 
 suspend the matter a few days, as it is but one day since 
 they ever saw each other ; but they will take no denial. 
 They are here in my study and I must link them, but I'll 
 warrant you I'll not kiss the bride. Oh, Ruthy! do 
 laugh at me." 
 
 Orangetown, Oct. 2. 
 " I had written so far when General Pattison and Mr. 
 Hutchins called, and I have been since to attend the execu- 
 tion of Major Andre, Adjutant-General of the British army, 
 hanged as a spy. A politer gentleman, or a greater char- 
 acter of his age, perhaps is not alive. He was twenty-eight 
 years old. He was dressed completely and suffered with 
 calmness and cheerfulness. With an appearance of phi- 
 losophy and heroism, he observed that he was buoyed 
 above the fear of death by the consciousness that every 
 action of his life had been honorable ; that in a few min- 
 utes he should be out of all pleasure or pain. Whether 
 he has altered his mind, or whether he has any mind, is 
 now best known to himself. My heart is thrown into a 
 flutter, my dear, at the sight. My situation in the army 
 grows more and more agreeable, I am as hearty and as 
 healthy as I can be in your absence. I gave them a 
 preachment yesterday for the fourth time — a flaming polit- 
 ical sermon, occasioned by the treachery of Arnold. I 
 had a number of gentlemen from the other brigades, and 
 I am told it did me great honor. My vanity will show 
 you that I write just as I think. I had a billet last week 
 from General Greene to dine with him. There were a 
 number of gentlemen, etc. .• ..." 
 
36 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 NOTOWAY, Oct. lO. 
 
 " My feelings with regard to myself are very easy. I 
 grow fat and handsome as well as you. ... I am here sit- 
 ting in this window in just such a Dutch bedroom as I had 
 before. I have the knack of turning Dutch folks out of 
 their bedrooms — but they love to oblige the Domine. 
 Tell my wife, Nancy, that I shall soon get so Dutchified 
 that I never will have a Yankee wife. I have never seen 
 an English woman since 1 crossed the river. . . . 
 
 '• A beautiful morning, my dear. I am just called up to 
 a fine breakfast of butter and honey, which we generally 
 have with our tea. But I gladly leave it to steal an inter- 
 view with my Ruthy, or rather a vieiv, which is greatly 
 obscured by a distance of one hundred and twenty miles." 
 
 NOTOWAY, Oct. 1 8. 
 " I grow more fleshy and more happy, or I should be 
 more happy if I could make you happy. My prospects 
 for my poem are better now than ever. I shall have 
 more leisure than I expected, and in winter shall have 
 scarcely any interruption if I choose to pursue the plan. 
 I intend to take winter quarters in the vicinity of camp, 
 wherever it may be, and set Quamminy to work like a 
 sprite all winter. 
 
 " I will tell you more about it when I see you. Yester- 
 day the Rev. Mr. Claremont * had a billet from General 
 
 I Washington to dine. How do you think I felt when 
 the greatest man on earth placed me at his right hand, 
 
 j^ with Lord Stirling at his left, at table ? I graced the table 
 with a good grace, and felt perfectly easy and happy. 
 There were many gentlemen there. You must allow me 
 a little vanity in these descriptions because the scenes are 
 new. Since the preaching of my sermon upon the 
 treason of Arnold and the glory of America, several 
 gentlemen who did not hear it, and some who did, have 
 
 * One of Barlow's aliases. 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 37 
 
 been to read it. They talk of printing it. Colonel Hum- 
 phreys has made me promise to loan him the plan and 
 the first book of my poem to read at headquarters. 
 He and many other friends pay me particular attention. 
 . . . My dear, it is now Sunday evening. I have been 
 preaching to the Connecticut folks to-day, exchanging 
 with Abram. I shall stay in camp but one more Sunday 
 evening, and the next after, whose arms do you think 
 will be open to receive me ? Our Colonel Bailey says I 
 must go and preach in his own town of Hanover in the 
 Bay State this winter. I wonder whether I shall. We 
 have news from the northward that Colonel Brown, class- 
 mate of Colonel Humphreys, is killed in a skirmish on 
 the Mohawk River ; his party, however, gained a consid- 
 erable victory. The loss of Brown is much lamented : he 
 was a promising character, and as worthy an officer as 
 any of his rank." 
 
 Litchfield, Dec. 19, 1780. 
 
 " I have been these four days in Litchfield, enjoying 
 some of the best friends I have in the world. . . . This 
 is a blank of three days. It is Friday morning. I have 
 preached at Redding and this place since I saw you, and 
 shall have to do it again if I stay here another Sunday. 
 I am uncertain whether I shall make myself happy at 
 camp this winter on account of accommodations. If I 
 cannot, I am determined to return either to this town or 
 to Hartford. If this is the case, I am determined that 
 you shall be with me or near me The people are un- 
 commonly sociable and friendly, and you Avould spend 
 as happy a winter here as at Hartford." 
 
 During this absence from camp he visited New Lon- 
 don, and offered his fair correspondent these observations 
 on the town : " I have spent a good evening with the 
 Miss Thomsons and am now at liberty to make as many 
 philosophical remarks upon the people of New London 
 as I please. They attend more to commerce than any 
 
58 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 town in this state. This branch of business polishes 
 the mind to a certain extent, yet, as it leads the whole 
 body of the people into a constant pursuit of gain in one 
 particular way, it leads the mind to a particular narrow- 
 ness of thought, which always prevents any eccentric ex- 
 ertions of giving, and superinduces an illiberal turn of 
 mind. This is exemplified in Holland. A Dutchman's 
 brain is said to be too fat for the play of genius or refine- 
 ment of taste. This is truly the case here. The price 
 of insurance and the property of a good sailing-vessel are 
 the usual topics, and sailors are the greatest pedants in 
 the world. . . ." 
 
 The next summer was largely spent with the army, but 
 in the mass of letters we find none of general interest ex- 
 cept the following description of life in the camp: 
 
 Camp not on Gallows Hill. 
 October i6, 1781. 
 " I wish I could tell you how we live here ; it would be a 
 curious description to one who never saw it. What do 
 you think of my not having sat two minutes by a fire this 
 fall ? What do you think of a thin tow tabernacle that 
 trembles at every breath of air, spread out upon the cold 
 ground, affording a free passage for moons and stars and 
 suns and dews and rains and winds, where I can lie and 
 count the stars all night ? It was by this contrivance that 
 the old shepherds at Babylon became the greatest astron- 
 omers in the world. I want nothing but Father Atwater's 
 celestial globe, and a little of his patience, and a few warm 
 blankets (of which I bought one to-day in addition to one 
 I had before), to enable me to call all the constellations by 
 name, and become an accurate star-gazer. One thing is 
 apt to obstruct my nightly visions : John has been fix- 
 ing a crotch at each end of my bed, about six feet high, 
 on which he has laid a pole. This pole supports a 
 small tent, which depends on each side of the bed to the 
 ground. This he calls curtains, hence it is evident that I 
 
JOEL BARLOW. OQ 
 
 have two thicknesses of Hnen doth between me and 
 heaven. This will not only keep off the dew, but it will 
 prevent my counting the stars — at least, without some 
 difificulty. And lastly, what do you think of Ben Welles' 
 sitting here reading poetry while I write to Ruthy. We 
 all live grandly and feel well. To-morrow brings the mem- 
 orable 17th of October. We have invited about 80 offi- 
 cers to dine, among whom is General Heath and a number 
 of grandees. Letters are received this day from General 
 Washington, informing us that Lord Cornwallis is closely 
 besieged ; that he has left several of his outposts, and has 
 retired to his inner works. The General says it is probable 
 his Lordship's resistance will be very obstinate ; that he 
 commands six thousand regular troops, and that he will 
 not resign so respectable a force without being pushed to 
 the last necessity. The events of this month I think the 
 most capital that ever America saw.' We long to have 
 them known." 
 
 The succeeding winter was spent almost entirely in 
 Redding, at the house of his brother, Col. Aaron Barlow.* 
 He was hard at work on his poem. Frequent references 
 to it occur in his letters, but the most interesting is in a 
 letter from Abraham Baldwin to his sister Ruth, dated 
 Greenfield, Jan. 23, 1782. 
 
 "On my way hither," he writes, " I made a long and 
 happy visit to our friend (Barlow), and must tell you, as 
 you are somewhat interested, that I never was more 
 pleased with him in my life. He is certainly one of the 
 worthiest and best lads in the world. He never did that 
 which will be to the world a greater proof of it than this 
 winter. He has not written less than sixteen hundred 
 lines within these eight weeks, and as good as ever was. 
 I believe from my soul he will get the palm from every 
 one of our geniuses. The burden of the work he will go 
 
 * The house is still standing and inhabited, a brown, long-roofed structure 
 on the banks of the Saugatuck, in West Redding. 
 
40 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 through with this winter, so that I imagine it will do to 
 open his subscriptions next summer. He has also written 
 an elegy on Mr. Hosmer,* one of the best in that kind of 
 writing, which I have done him the honor to pronounce 
 not inferior to Gray's, or any of the rest of those who are 
 already consigned to immortality. I tell him to print it 
 immediately. I congratulate you and your brothers on 
 this connection." On Barlow's return to camp the next 
 summer (1782) he found nothing being talked of but a 
 speedy peace, which he is " fully confident will take place." 
 " In that case," he sagely remarks, " furloughs will be- 
 come fashionable, and I shall go to Philadelphia much 
 earlier than I had expected." His object in visiting that 
 city, then the centre of the publishing interest, was to se- 
 cure subscriptions for his poem, and probably to secure a 
 publisher. A few days later he writes that he is busy pre- 
 paring the subscription papers, and getting letters to Phila- 
 delphia " which were absolutely necessary, and must be 
 had then or never." At length, on the 24th of October, 
 1782, he is able to write from camp: 
 
 " General Lincoln rides to-morrow morning to Philadel- 
 phia, and I go with him under the most favorable auspices. 
 Many circumstances have occurred here since I left you 
 which have assisted my affairs beyond my expectations. 
 The subscription here is likely to be more extensive than 
 I expected. I have more and better letters to carry, and 
 indeed every wish I have formed upon the matter is likely 
 to be more than answered. General Lincoln treats me 
 with the greatest friendship, and promises me a most favor- 
 able introduction at Philadelphia." 
 
 Before setting out, however, he received and answered a 
 letter from his old friend, Noah Webster, who, during the 
 four years which had elapsed since his graduation, had 
 been employed in school-teaching, first at Glastonbury, 
 and later at Hartford, Conn., and Goshen, N. Y. His 
 
 * Titus Hosmer, Member of Congress. 
 
JOEL BARLOW, 4I 
 
 genius had also been developing, and in this letter he un- 
 folded a scheme on which he had been long brooding, and 
 which ripened soon after into his " Grammatical Institute 
 of the English Language." This book was an improve- 
 ment on Dilworth's " New Guide to the English Tongue," 
 then in general use in our schools, and the forerunner of 
 the famous Dictionary. Any one who will take the 
 trouble to examine the "Grammatical Institute," or read 
 Mr. Scudder's description of it in his " Life of Webster," 
 will see that several of the suggestions given in the fol- 
 lowing letter from Barlow were heeded. 
 
 Camp, Aug ^i, 1782. 
 "Dear Webster: — Your agreeable favor of the 25th is 
 received by Mr. Lockwood. Poh ! I am all aground now. 
 I don't mean that Mr. Lockwood received it, I mean that 
 I received it, and I can assure you, my good friend, I am 
 extremely happy in being so kindly remembered by one 
 whom I hold so dear — one to whom I am bound by grat- 
 itude as well as by many other tender ties, which it is my 
 ambition to feel and acknowledge. Neither has neglect 
 nor forgetfulness been the occasion of my silence, but I 
 have been most intensely employed. This has obliged 
 me to forego the most agreeable amusement of my life, 
 writing letters of friendship to those who are entitled to 
 my tenderest attention. I most heartily feel for you, my 
 Webster, in everything you feel as a misfortune, though 
 perhaps they are not really such which wear that appear- 
 ance. Your perseverance will certainly overcome them. 
 You will gain from them experience in the knowledge of 
 human life, and be ready to relish better fortune when 
 it shall appear. We are all a pack of poor dogs. I have 
 half worn out my life in buffeting my destiny, and all I 
 have got for it is the knack of keeping up my spirits, let- 
 ting the world slide, and hoping for better days. I like 
 your plan about Dilworth ; it will be useful and successful 
 in the world at large if you can make it useful to yourself. 
 
42 LIFE AND LE TIERS OF 
 
 Your attempting it is an expression of that benevolence 
 to your fellow-creatures which I know you to possess : 
 but it is a work of labor, and you ought to make some- 
 thing by it. You know our country is prejudiced in favor 
 of old Dilworth, the nurse of us all, and it will be difficult 
 to turn their attention from it ; you know, too, that the 
 printers make large impressions of it and afford it very 
 cheap. 
 
 " Now if you make an impression, unless it be very 
 large, you can't afford it so cheap as they do : even if you 
 get nothing for your copy, if it is large the novelty of the 
 book will make it lie upon your hands. If the impression 
 is small, the greatness of your necessary price will be 
 another reason why it will lie upon your hands. I once 
 ventured an impression of Lowth and lost half the cost 
 and all my labor. However, yours is a thing more gen- 
 erally wanted, and the risk may not be so great. I only 
 suggest these facts for your caution. If you contract 
 with your printers upon good terms, or take some other 
 cautious plan, you may make advantage from the design. 
 I wish well to the plan. Dilworth's grammatical plan is 
 much worse than nothing. It holds up a scarecrow in 
 the English language, and lads once lugged into it when 
 young are afraid of all kinds of grammar all their days 
 after. I will help you to what knowledge I can upon the 
 subject you mention. But it appears to me at first 
 thought that the names of places, except a few of the 
 most noted, will not be useful to be spelled out by chil- 
 dren. I would prefer filling a few pages with detached 
 pieces of American history, or some other history, or 
 geography. However, this by the bye. It is a happy 
 thought and it comes cheap." 
 
 His letters from Philadelphia, describing the journey 
 and his reception there, are interesting. Under date of 
 November 2d, he writes : " On the morning after I wrote 
 you from Peekskill, which was Friday morning, I left 
 camp with my friend General Lincoln and my friend 
 
JOEL BARLOW. ^2 
 
 Mr. Pierce, Paymaster-General. We had a most delight- 
 ful time of it, except one wet day and one Sunday, each 
 of which we rode forty miles. The whole length of New 
 Jersey is through one of the most delightful countries in 
 the world. The towns of Hackensack, Newark, Eliza- 
 bethtown, Brunswick, Princeton, and Trenton, extending 
 in a direct line from the Hudson to the Delaware, are 
 beautiful villages, some larger and some smaller than our 
 Wethersfield. We passed along this fine road from 
 King's Ferry to this city, one hundred and thirty miles, 
 without any remarkable occurrence except friendship, 
 merriment, and philosophy, which the General dealt out 
 in large rations, and which I endeavored to return to the 
 best advantage. The worst of it was we got into several 
 very learned disputes, which are yet unsettled, but which 
 we are to adjudge before I return. He is really one of 
 our first characters, and he is as amiable as he is great. 
 You know he is Secretary at War, which gives him the 
 superintendence of all the military arrangements of 
 America. But that by the bye. My reception here is 
 quite as favorable as I ever expected. I am treated with 
 civility by the great, with formality by the many, and 
 with friendship by the few. I am rather agreeably dis- 
 appointed in the general character of the town. There 
 doesn't appear to me that extravagance, that haughtiness, 
 or idleness which I have heard represented. \/rhere is a 
 mixture of all nations and all creatures ; they serve to 
 correct each other. The polite circles are easy, thought- 
 less, and agreeable. I don't think there is that affectation 
 by any means which we find in Boston and many places 
 of less report. They have a strange knack of turning 
 day to night, and the contrary. It is common in splen- 
 did entertainments not to sit down to dinner till candle- 
 lighting. Monday evening. — I have been to the post- 
 office, and, you dear girl, to my great surprise I find no 
 letter, though the post came to-day. . . . The post comes 
 from New Haven to Danbury, there falls in with the 
 
44 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 Fishkill post, which is direct ; so there is a direct convey- 
 ance in six days, or from Tuesday till the next Monday, 
 from you to me. . . . My business here, I think, will 
 succeed to my wishes." 
 
 In a second letter, dated November 12, he returns to 
 the subject: "My reception is flattering beyond our 
 expectations. Not only those gentlemen to whom I h?d 
 letters, which were fifteen in number, but many others 
 of the first and greatest character, offer the matter the 
 warmest encouragement, and think that they and their 
 country will be more indebted to me than I to them. 
 This, you see, depends upon my judgment, which is not 
 unbiassed by vanity. The possibihty that this letter may 
 be lost or opened prevents my being particular about my 
 prospects here ; but this be assured of, they are good, and 
 extensive beyond our hopes." 
 
 There is no further reference in the letters to this visit 
 to Philadelphia. 
 
 The winter of 1782-83 was spent by the young couple 
 in their own hired house in Hartford, Barlow employing 
 himself in the revision of his poem, and in securing a sub- 
 scription-list large enough to warrant its publication. 
 Presumabl}^, he also entered on the study of the law, 
 toward which, rather than to divinity, his thoughts were 
 now tending. This is the more probable, as his intimate 
 friend, John Trumbull, the poet, had settled at Hartford, 
 and was now practising before the courts. Barlow still 
 retained his chaplaincy, however, and on the ist of May, 
 1783, again set out for the camps at Newburgh. One 
 letter written from there to his wife will complete the 
 pictures he has given us of life in the army : 
 
 Camp, May 6tk. 
 '' I have but a moment to give you, by Whitman, the 
 history of the last eight days. We arrived at camp and 
 dined at headquarters on Thursday. We find every- 
 body merry and sociable. On Sunday I made a preach- 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 45 
 
 ment, and yesterday we came down here twelve miles 
 to see Erom..'^ ... He has taken the attorney's oath. 
 Major Trescot saw Dudley at Greenfield, well, a few days 
 ago. It is uncertain yet whether I go to Philadelphia. 
 Times are very punctilious about leave of absence. . . . 
 I don't believe the army will disband till August or Sep- 
 tember. , . ." 
 
 Twelve days later he is in Philadelphia with Trumbull, 
 (both presumably having business with the printers), and 
 on May 19th writes a characteristic letter from that city: 
 
 " We expect to tarry in this town about eight days, 
 just long enough to show ourselves. I grow black and 
 handsome ; Trumbull grows red and fat." Returning, 
 the summer was spent with his brigade, nominally at 
 least, though in that season of inaction it is probable 
 that frequent furloughs were obtained, and after the joy- 
 ful disbandment in October at Newburgh, he returned 
 to private life. 
 
 * Abraham Baldwin, who had just been admitted to the bar. 
 
46 
 
 LIFE AND LE TIERS OF 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 1783-1788. 
 
 He at once fixed his abode at Hartford, the little cap- 
 ital on the Connecticut, even then the seat of a re- 
 fined and cultivated society. His career there was a com- 
 plex one, exhibiting many phases. He soon abandoned 
 the plan of an early publication of his poem, probably 
 from the shortness of his subscription-list, and also per- 
 haps with a view to a more careful revision. He studied 
 law, however, wrote a great deal of poetry, annuals, New- 
 Year's verses, bon mots, political squibs and satires^ 
 hymns and paraphrases of the Psalms, and with Elisha 
 Babcock, a substantial printer of the town, established 
 a weekly newspaper, called The American Mercury — a 
 scholarly, thoroughly respectable sheet, with a mild bias 
 toward republicanism, or what later came to be thus 
 designated. The office copy of this periodical is pre- 
 served in the library of Yale College, the first number 
 bearing date July 12, 1784. Modern newspaper readers 
 would regard it much as the archaeologist looks on Cypri- 
 ote antiquities. Perhaps we cannot better describe it 
 than by presenting the prospectus, which was as follows : 
 
 " Barlow and Babcock have established a new printing- 
 office near the State House in the city of Hartford. They 
 propose publ'^ihing a weekly paper, entitled The American 
 Mercury. As they have a prospect of a very extended 
 circulation and constituency they will exert their utmost 
 abilities to furnish a useful and elegant entertainment for 
 the different classes of their customers. The paper will 
 be a sheet of white, demi-imperial, with an elegant new 
 type, published every Monday morning, and delivered to 
 subscribers in the city at eight shillings the year, one- 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 47 
 
 half to be paid on delivery of the first number and the 
 other at the end of the year. To gentlemen at a distance, 
 who send for single papers enclosed and directed, five 
 shillings paid on subscribing and seven at the end of the 
 year. ... In order to render the publication as useful as 
 possible, the publishers propose occupying the first page 
 with regular extracts from Cook's last voyage (published 
 by authority in London and lately come to hand) until 
 the whole of that valuable and original course of discov- 
 eries shall be communicated to their customers, who will 
 thus, in the course of one year's paper, be possessed of 
 the whole of that celebrated work which is now sold at 
 four dollars. There will likewise be inserted in a supple- 
 ment, if there is not room in the sheet, all the future acts 
 and resolves of the states of Massachusetts and Connecti- 
 cut. Advertisements will be inserted at a reasonable 
 price." 
 
 A series of careful essays on current political and social 
 topics contributed by Barlow to this journal were the 
 progenitors, it is said, of the modern editorial. For 
 nearly a year and a half — from July 12, 1784, to Novem- 
 ber, 1785 — the young poet continued his connection with 
 the paper, relinquishing it at last to turn his attention 
 more particularly to the study of the law. The next 
 spring, in April, 1786, he was admitted to the bar at Fair- 
 field, and read at the time a long dissertation on the prin- 
 ciples and practice of law. 
 
 He did not, however, succeed as a lawyer. He was 
 averse to practising the arts of the shyster or the petti- 
 fogger, and without making use of these it was almost 
 impossible at that time for a young lawyer to rise in his 
 profession. He always, however, entertained the highest 
 respect for the law as a science, and subsequently, in his 
 "Advice to the Privileged Orders,'' showed that he had 
 not only mastered its principles, but had excellent ideas 
 on the necessity of a reform in its administration. 
 
■1- 
 
 48 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 In literature, however, he was more fortunate, and in 
 these years, otherwise barren of results, there came to 
 him the assurance — so cheering to the heart of the neo- 
 phyte — of literary success. 
 
 The General Association of the Congregational 
 Churches of Connecticut, at their session in 1785, had 
 voted a revision of the Book of Psalmody then in use. 
 This book was the version of Dr. Watts, which had been 
 given to the religious world half a century before. There 
 were several reasons why the American churches desired 
 a new version. Many of the Psalms had been " locally 
 appropriated," that is, applied to the peculiarly isolated 
 condition of the dissenting churches in England, and it 
 was thought desirable that they should be altered and 
 more generally applied. 
 
 Furthermore, twelve of the most beautiful Psalms of 
 David had been wholly omitted by Watts in his version, 
 it is said because he was never conscious of a sufKicient 
 degree of poetic inspiration to attempt them. It is per- 
 haps the best proof that can be given of our poet's repu- 
 tation at this time that the work of revising this collec- 
 tion was tendered him. He readily accepted it and at 
 once began his task. He re-wrote the misapplied por- 
 tions, corrected the antiquated phraseology, and with the 
 aid of his poetical friends supplied the omitted Psalms. 
 One of these — the one hundred and thirty-seventh — from 
 Barlow's pen, has never been equalled, not even by Hal- 
 leck, who attempted it in 1821. We give examples of 
 both versions, allowing the reader to make his own com- 
 parisons. 
 
 Original version, from the Bay Psalm Book, 1640, not 
 attempted by Dr. Watts : 
 
 I. " The rivers on of Babilon 
 
 There where we did sit down, 
 Yea, even there we mourned when 
 We remembered Sion. 
 
JOEL BARLOW. ^y 
 
 2. " Our harp we did hang it amid 
 Upon the willow tree, 
 Because there them that us away 
 Led in captivitee, etc." 
 
 BARLOW'S VERSION. 
 
 " Along the banks where Babel's current flows 
 
 Our captive bands in deep despondence strayed, 
 While Zion's fall in sad remembrance rose, 
 
 Her friends, her children, mingled with the dead. 
 
 " The tuneless harp that once with joy we strung, 
 
 When praise employed, and mirth inspired the lay, 
 In mournful silence on the willows hung, 
 
 And growing grief prolonged the tedious day. 
 
 *' The barbarous tyrants, to increase our woe, 
 With taunting smiles a song of Zion claim, 
 Bid sacred praise in strains melodious flow 
 
 While they blaspheme the great Jehovah's name. 
 
 " But how, in heathen climes and lands unknown, 
 Shall Israel's sons a song of Zion raise .'' 
 O hapless Salem, God's terrestrial throne, 
 Thou land of glory, sacred mount of praise. 
 
 " If e'er my memory lose thy lovely name. 
 If my cold heart neglect my kindred race, 
 Let dire destruction seize this guilty frame — 
 My hand shall perish, and my voice shall cease. 
 
 " Yet shall the Lord, who hears when Zion calls, 
 O'ertake her foes with terror and dismay ; 
 His arm avenge her desolated walls. 
 And raise her children to eternal day." 
 
 Barlow's version was well received by the New England 
 churches, and was in constant use among them until 
 rumors of the poet's lapse from orthodoxy in France be- 
 came so rife that it was discarded for one prepared by 
 Dr. Dwight. The work, however, did not escape criti- 
 cism. The changes of expression, the " improvements " 
 on Watts, and the verbal alterations in the text were re- 
 garded with suspicion by the more rigid, and the author 
 4 
 
50 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 was declared to have taken unwarrantable liberties with 
 the word of God. 
 
 During the poet's residence in Hartford there arose 
 and flourished a somewhat remarkable association or 
 club, which, from his intimate connection with it, de- 
 serves an extended notice. It was known far and wide as 
 the " Hartford Wits." Its original members were Dr. 
 Lemuel Hopkins, John Trumbull, Joel Barlow, and David 
 Humphreys. We call it remarkable, because at a day 
 when Boston was as barren of literary talent as she has 
 since been prolific, the little provincial village on the Con- 
 necticut boasted at least four poets, each of whom had 
 gained a national reputation, while three of them at least 
 were favorably known on the other side of the Atlantic. 
 The four were equal in age as well as similar in tempera- 
 ment, and the place of their nativity was the same — the 
 hill country of Western Connecticut, 
 
 Hopkins was born at Waterbury in 1750, and, after 
 studying medicine, settled in Hartford about 1784, where 
 he spent his life in the practice of his profession. He died 
 in 1801. 
 
 Trumbull was born at Watertown, in the same year, 
 1750; graduated at Yale College in 1767; spent two 
 years as a tutor at Yale; in 1773 entered the office of 
 John Adams as a student of law, and in June, 1781, re- 
 moved to Hartford, and was now living there in the prac- 
 tice of his profession. His " McFingal," first published 
 in 1782, achieved several editions in this country, and 
 was republished in England. 
 
 Humphreys, born at Derby in 1753, has been mentioned 
 in the letters of his friend Barlow as having been appointed 
 aide-de-camp to Washington, a position which he retained 
 until the close of the war. At Yorktown, for gallant 
 conduct, he was voted a sword by Congress. In 1784, 
 when Franklin, Jefferson, and Adams were appointed 
 commissioners to negotiate treaties of commerce with 
 various European powers, he accompanied them as 
 
JOEL BARLOW. . cj 
 
 their secretary. He returned to America in 1786, and 
 was now in Hartford as a representative from Derby in 
 the State Legislature, and in other official positions. An 
 old friend and comrade who sometimes met the tuneful 
 circle at their reunions was Dr. Dwight, now a quiet 
 country pastor at Greenfield Hill, near Fairfield. Richard 
 Alsop, Theodore Dwight, Drs. Nathan Cogswell and 
 Elihu Smith, were later added to the club, but this was 
 apres des Rois. These four congenial spirits formed a 
 union as brilliant as it was powerful : their influence on 
 the politics and society of their age cannot be overesti- 
 mated. UTne first effort of the club was a series of satir- 
 ico-political papers, aimed at the factions whose wrang- 
 lings then threatened to strangle the infant republic in 
 the very morning of its days. The series comprised 
 twelve numbers, and was modelled somewhat on the plan 
 of the Rolliad of the English satirists. The initial num- 
 ber appeared in the New Haven Gazette and Connecticut 
 Magazine for October 26, 1786, accompanied by an in- 
 genious introduction, which described the discovery, in 
 a ruined city of the New World, of an epic poem of great 
 antiquity, but complete, which was styled " The Anar- 
 chiad : a Poem on the Restoration of Chaos and Substan- 
 tial Night." The poem detailed the several steps by 
 Vvrhich the "restoration " had been accomplished, which 
 steps were connected in an ingenious way with the fac- 
 tions which were then distracting the country. 
 V The appreciation of the satires was intense and their 
 popularity unbounded. They were copied into scores of 
 newspapers, became the theme of common conversation, 
 and aided largely in forming the popular feeling that made 
 possible the Federal constitution of 1787. Although no 
 names appeared to these productions, it was well known 
 that Humphreys, Barlow, Hopkins, and Trumbull were 
 the authors, and their reputation rose accordingly. The 
 last paper of the ,** Anarchiad " appeared in the Gazette 
 for September 13, 1787. The club's next venture was 
 
52 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 the " Echo," a series of lampoons directed more espe- 
 cially against certain social and literary follies then ram- 
 pant, and particularly against the stilted and magnilo- 
 quent language then used in speaking of the com- 
 monest events.* 
 
 * As a literary curiosity, take the following account, by a Boston edicor, 
 of a thunderstorm that visited his modest capital : " On Tuesday last, about 
 4 o'clock P.M., came on a smart shower of rain, attended with lightning and 
 thunder no ways remarkable. The clouds soon dissipated, and the appear- 
 ance of the azure vault left trivial hopes of further needful supplies from 
 the uncorked bottles of heaven. In a few moments the heavens were again 
 overshadowed, and an almost impenetrable gloom mantled the face of the 
 skies. The wind, frequently shifting from one point to another, wafted the 
 clouds in various directions, until at last they united in one common centre 
 and shrouded the visible globe in thick darkness. 
 
 " The attendant lightning with the accompanying thunder, brought forth 
 from the treasures that embattled elements to awful conflict, were extremely 
 vivid and amazing loud. 
 
 " Those buildings that were defended by electric rods appeared to be 
 wrapped in sheets of livid flame, and a flood of the pure fire rolled its burn- 
 ing torrents down them with alarming violence. The majestic roar of dis- 
 ploding thunders, now bursting with a sudden crash and now wasting the 
 rumbling echo of their sounds in other lands, added indescribable grandeui 
 to the sublime scene. 
 
 " The windows of the upper regions appeared as thrown wide open, and the 
 trembling cataract poured impetuous down. More salutary showers and 
 more needed have not been experienced this summer. 
 
 " Two beautiful rainbows, the one existing in its native glories, and the 
 other a splendid reflection of primitive colors, closed the magnificent pic- 
 ture, and presented to the contemplative mind the Angel of Mercy, clothed 
 with the brilliance of this irradiated arch and dispensing felicity to as- 
 sembled worlds, 
 
 " It is not unnatural to expect that the thunderstorm would be attended 
 with some damage. We hear a barn belonging to Mr. Wythe, of Cambridge, 
 caught fire from the lightning, which entirely consumed the same, together 
 with several tons of hay, etc," 
 
 The club's " echo " is equally delightful : 
 
 " On Tuesday last, great Sol, with piercing eye, 
 Pursued his journey through the vaulted sky, 
 And in his car effulgent rolled his wa)'. 
 Four hours beyond the burning zone of day : 
 When, lo ! a cloud, o'ershadowing all the plain, 
 From countless pores perspired a liquid rain. 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 53 
 
 1/^ The winter of 1786-87, however, was spent by our poet 
 in more serious Hterary labor. He was bringing out his 
 epic, "The Vision of Columbus." In the spring of 1787 
 it appeared — a small octavo, with a dedication to " His 
 Most Christian Majesty, Louis the Sixteenth, King of 
 France and Navarre." The Preface was dated March r, 
 1787. Nearly a score of the opening pages were devoted 
 to a biography, in prose, of Columbus, the hero of the epic. 
 The poem followed, in plan substantially the same as that 
 sketched at Northampton in 1779, and the volume closed 
 with a list of the subscribers, 170 in all, by whose aid it 
 
 While from its cracks the lightnings made a peep, 
 
 And chit-chat thunders rocked our fears asleep. 
 
 But soon the vapory fog dispersed in air, 
 
 And left the azure, blue-eyed concave bare. 
 
 Even the last drop of hope, which dripping skies 
 
 Gave for a moment to our straining eyes, 
 
 Like Boston rum from heaven' s/ww/^ bottles broke, 
 
 Lost all the corks, and vanished into smoke. 
 
 But swift from worlds unknown, a fresh supply 
 
 Of vapor dimmed the great horizon's eye. 
 
 The crazy clouds, by shifting zephyrs driven. 
 
 Wafted their courses through the high-arched heaven, 
 
 Till, piled aloft in one stupendous heap. 
 
 The seen and unseen worlds grew dark, and nature gan to weep. 
 
 Attendant lightnings streamed their tails afar. 
 
 And social thunders waked ethereal war ; 
 
 From dark, deep pockets brought their treasured store ; 
 
 Embattled elements increased the roar. 
 
 Red, crinkling fires expended all their force, 
 
 And tumbling rumblings staid their headlong course. 
 
 Those guarded frames, by thunder-poles secured, 
 
 Though wrapped in sheets of flame, those sheets endured ; 
 
 O'er their broad roofs the fiery torrents rolled. 
 
 And every shingle seemed of burning gold. 
 
 Majestic thunders, with disploding roar 
 
 And sudden crashing, bounced along the shore, 
 
 Till, lost in other lands, the whispering sound 
 
 Fled from our ears, and fainted on the ground. 
 
 Rain's house on high its window-sashes oped, 
 
 And out the cataract impetuous hopped. 
 
 While the grand scene by far more grand appeared 
 
 With lightnings never seen, and thunders never heard. 
 
54 ^^P^ ^^D LETTERS OF 
 
 had been published. The poem was a success in every 
 particular. At home it was received with unbounded 
 applause, and rapidly passed through several editions. It 
 was re-published in England, then not partial to Ameri- 
 can productions, and was not unkindly received by the 
 critics. It also appeared in Paris in a French dress, where 
 it met with distinguished marks of approval from the 
 Parisian raconteurs, with whom, indeed, everything Amer- 
 icain was then in high favor. For years no literary Amer- 
 ican was so well-known, so much read, or the subject of so 
 much eulogy, as Joel Barlow. 
 
 More salutary showers have not been known 
 To wash dame Nature's dirty, homespun gown. 
 For several weeks the good old Joan's been seen 
 With filth bespattered, like a lazy quean ; 
 The husbandman, fast travelling to despair, 
 Laid down his hoe and took his rocking-chair. 
 While his fat wife, the well and cistern dried, 
 Her mop grown useless, hung it up and cried. 
 Two rainbows fair that Iris brought along, 
 Picked from the choicest of her colored throng : 
 The first-born, decked in pristine hues of .light 
 In all its native glories, glowing, bright ; 
 The next, adorned with less refulgent rays. 
 But borrowing lustre from its brother's blaze, 
 Shone, a bright reflex of those colors gay. 
 That decked with light creation's primal day. 
 When infant Nature lisped her earliest notes, 
 And younker Adam crept in petticoats, 
 And to the people to reflection given, 
 " The sons of Boston," the elect of Heaven, 
 Presented Mercy's angel, smiling fair — 
 Irradiate splendors frizzled in his hair — 
 Uncorking demijohns, and pouring down 
 Heaven's liquid blessings on the gaping town. 
 N. B. — At Cambridge town, the selfsame day, 
 A barn was burnt well filled with hay. 
 Some say the lightning turned it red, 
 Some say the thunder struck it dead. 
 Some say it made the cattle stare, 
 And some it killed an aged mare ; 
 But we expect the truth to learn. 
 From Mr. Wythe, who owned the barn." 
 
JOEL BARLOW. ^i 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 1788-1795. 
 
 In the midst of these varied pursuits there appeared in 
 the poet's horizon one of those speculative barks, 
 
 " Built i' the eclipse 
 And rigged with curses dark," 
 
 which have from time to time sunk beneath the waves of 
 the American poHtical sea, engulfing whole platoons of 
 statesmen in their vortices. On the close of the war the 
 attention of the speculative was attracted to the magnifi- 
 cent public domain of the nation, and syndicates were 
 formed to purchase large blocks of virgin land, survey and 
 map, and sell at an advanced price to settlers. The first 
 and most notable of these were The Ohio Land Company, 
 and its satellite, The Scioto Land Company. The former 
 originated with two New England gentlemen of standing 
 and character, Rufus Putnam and Benjamin Tupper, 
 both of whom had served in the Revolution with distinc- 
 tion. The latter, Avhile exploring the Ohio valley in 1785 
 as Government geographer, became impressed with the 
 fertility and resources of the country, and returning to 
 New England, early in 1786, sought out Putnam at his 
 home in Rutland, Worcester County, Massachusetts, to 
 confer with him in regard to their purchase and settle- 
 ment. The result of this conference was an address to 
 the people, and more especially to the officers and sol- 
 diers who had served in the late war, and who were, by a 
 recent act of Congress, entitled to receive certain tracts 
 of land in the Ohio country, stating that the subscribers, 
 from personal .inspection and from other incontestable 
 evidences, were fully satisfied that the lands in that quar. 
 
56 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 ter were of a much better quality than any other known 
 to the New England people ; that the climate, seasons, 
 products, etc., were in fact equal to the most flattering 
 descriptions published of them, and that, determined to 
 become purchasers, they were desirous of forming a gen- 
 eral association with those who entertained the same 
 ideas ; and closed by proposing the following plan, viz.: 
 ** that an association by the name of The Ohio Company 
 be formed of all such as wish to become purchasers in that 
 country who reside in the Commonwealth of Massachu- 
 setts only, or to extend to the inhabitants of other states 
 as shall be agreed on " ; and to bring the matter to a 
 focus, all disposed to engage in the enterprise were in- 
 structed to meet at designated places in their several 
 counties and elect delegates, who should meet at the 
 Bunch of Grapes Tavern, at Boston, on the ist of March, 
 1786, and there perfect the plan of the Association. The 
 meeting was attended by eleven delegates, articles of 
 agreement signed, and officers elected. A year later the 
 delegates met again, and finding that two hundred and 
 fifty shares of one thousand dollars each had been sub- 
 scribed, deputed one of their number, the Rev. Manas- 
 seh Cutler, of Ipswich, to negotiate with Congress for the 
 desired lands. They could not possibly have secured a 
 more adroit and diplomatic agent. Dr. Cutler was a 
 graduate of Yale, a man of wit and genius, who had taken 
 degrees in three learned professions — law, divinity, and 
 medicine — and who was favorably known in the most 
 cultivated circles of Boston, New York, and Philadelphia. 
 On July 5, 1787, Dr. Cutler rode into New York, "by 
 the road," he tells us in his diary, " that enters the 
 Bowery," and put up his horse at the sign of the Plough 
 and Harrow in the Bowery barns. The Continental Con- 
 gress was then in session, in labor with the Constitution 
 which made a nation of a group of warring and inde- 
 pendent sovereignties. Dr. Cutler had many forcible 
 and weighty arguments to urge in favor of his proposi- 
 
JOEL BARLOW. r^j 
 
 tion : the wealth of the infant nation, the security for its 
 pubHc debt, lay in its lands. To sell and settle these as 
 fast as possible was therefore an object of financial and 
 patriotic interest. The proposition of The Ohio Compa- 
 ny was entirely straightforward and business-like. It pro- 
 posed to buy one million and a half acres of land on the 
 Ohio, lying about the present city of Marietta, at a spe- 
 cified price, and to pay for it at a specified date. Men of 
 the highest standing in Congress and out of it favored 
 it, among them St. Clair, the president, and Osgood, the 
 head of the Board of Treasury. By the majority, how- 
 ever, it was received with marked disfavor, some profess- 
 ing to see in it a scheme of speculators to get possession 
 of the public lands, and thus advance their price, some 
 arguing that Congress itself should dispose of the lands 
 to actual settlers, while the Southern members opposed 
 it from the sectional feeling, and the known anti-slavery 
 views of Dr. Cutler and his associates. In his journal, 
 under date of July 19th, Dr. Cutler records that "there 
 are a number in Congress decidedly opposed to the terms 
 of negotiation, and some to any contract." The diplomat 
 was discouraged at the strength of the opposition, and for 
 a time inclined to abandon the cause as lost. But at this 
 juncture aid came from an unexpected quarter. There 
 was living in the city at the time a gentleman named Wil- 
 liam Duer, a man of talents and distinguished service, the 
 Secretary of the Board of Treasury, and a personal friend 
 of Alexander Hamilton. He came to Dr. Cutler with a 
 proposition, which we will describe in the latter's own 
 words, as recorded in his journal under date of July 20th : 
 " Colonel Duer came to me with proposals from a number 
 of the principal characters in the city, to extend our con- 
 tract and take in another company, but that it should be kept 
 a profound secret. He explained the plan they had con- 
 cocted, and offered me generous conditions if I would 
 accomplish the business for them. The plan struck me 
 
58 
 
 LIFE AND LEISTERS OF 
 
 agreeably. Sargent * insisted on my undertaking it, and 
 both (Duer and Sargent) urged me not to think of giv- 
 ing up the matter so soon. I was convinced it was best 
 for me to hold up the idea of giving up a contract with 
 Congress and making a contract with some of the states, 
 which I did in the strongest terms, and represented to 
 the committee and to Duer the difficulties I saw in the 
 way, and the improbability of closing a bargain when we 
 were so far apart, and told them I conceived it not worth 
 while to Say anything further to Congress on the matter. 
 This appeared to have the effect I wished. The commit- 
 tee were mortified and did not seem to know what to say, 
 but still urged another attempt. I left them in this state, 
 but afterwards explained my views to Duer and Sargent, 
 who fully approved my plan. Promised Duer to con- 
 sider his proposal. I spent the evening closeted with 
 Colonel Duer, and agreed to purchase more land, if terms 
 can be obtained, for another company, which will proba- 
 bly forward the negotiation." 
 
 Saturday, July 2ist, he adds: "Several members of 
 Congress called on me early this morning. They dis- 
 covered much anxiety about a contract, and assured me 
 that Congress, on finding that I was determined not to 
 accept their terms and had proposed leaving the city, 
 had discovered a much more favorable disposition, and 
 believed if I renewed my request I might obtain condi- 
 tions as reasonable as I desired. I was very indifferent, 
 and talked of the advantages of a contract with some of 
 the states. This I found had the desired effect. At 
 length I told them that if Congress would accede to the 
 terms I had proposed I would extend the purchase to the 
 loth township from the Ohio and to the Scioto, exclu- 
 sively, by which Congress would pay nearly four millions 
 of the national debt. That our intention was an actual, 
 an immediate settlement of the most robust and indus- 
 
 * One of the associates. 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 59 
 
 trious people in America. In these manoeuvres I am 
 much indebted to Colonel Duer and Major Sargent. 
 
 " By this ordinance we obtained a grant of near five 
 millions of acres, amounting to three and a half millions of 
 dollars — one and a half million for The Ohio Company 
 and the remainder for a private speculation, in which many 
 of the principal characters in America are concerned. 
 Without connecting this speculation similar terms and ad- 
 vantages would not have been obtained for The Ohio Com- 
 pany!^ 
 
 The shrewd reader will observe at once that as soon as 
 this " plan " of Colonel Duer's, in which "many of the 
 principal characters in America were concerned," was 
 broached and acceded to by Dr. Cutler there was a mar- 
 vellous change in the attitude of Congress, and that not a 
 paltry million and a half, but nearly five millions acres of 
 land were sold the petitioners, and will be perhaps a little 
 curious as to the nature of this "plan." 
 
 The Doctor nowhere gives a hint as to its character, 
 but from other sources we learn that it was substantially 
 as follows : — 
 
 1st. To purchase four and one half million acres of 
 Government land, at $1 per acre.* Should the large sum 
 required for its purchase not be readily obtained, it was 
 thought that a loan on the land could be negotiated 
 in Holland ; 2d. To sell the lands thus obtained in Europe 
 to capitalists or actual settlers at an advanced price ; 
 and, 3d. To employ an agent or agents for the purpose. 
 
 In a few months this private speculation appeared, 
 thoroughly organized and equipped, as The Scioto Land 
 Company, with Col. William Duer as president; Richard 
 Piatt, treasurer ; Andrew Craigie, formerly Apothecary- 
 General of the Revolutionary army. Royal Flint, of New 
 York, Gen. Rufus Putnam, of Connecticut, as trustees, 
 and among its shareholders, " the principal characters in 
 America." 
 
 * Less TtZVi V^^ cent, for " bad land," surveying, etc. 
 
6o LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 An authentic history of the whole affair — except the 
 negotiations with Congress — is given in the transfer from 
 The Ohio Company to The Scioto Company of the residue 
 of the grant, after the former's one million and a half 
 of acres had been taken out. 
 
 As tending to throw light on a very obscure portion of 
 our early history, as well as for its important bearing on 
 our hero's fortunes, a pretty full abstract of this instru- 
 ment is presented. 
 
 Its preamble recites that " Whereas, by the resolves 
 of Congress of the 23d and 27th of July last, the Rev. 
 Manasseh Cutler and Major Winthrop Sargent, for them- 
 selves and associates, procured the right of preemption 
 of a certain tract of the western territory of the United 
 States, bounded as follows, viz. : A tract of land bounded 
 by the Ohio, from the mouth of the Scioto River to the 
 intersection of the western boundary of the seventh range 
 of townships then surveying ; thence by the said boundary 
 to the northern boundary of the tenth township from the 
 Ohio ; thence by a due west line to the Scioto, thence by 
 the Scioto to the beginning ; and whereas, in pursuance 
 of the said resolves, the said Manasseh Cutler and Win- 
 throp Sargent have, on the 27th of October instant, 
 entered into a contract with the Honorable the Board of 
 Treasury of the United States, as agents for the Directors 
 of The Ohio Company of Associates, for the purchase of a 
 certain portion of the above described tract of land — (a 
 definition of the boundaries follows), — such as will, with 
 the other lines of the said described tract, include one 
 million and a half of acres of land, exclusive of certain 
 reservations as specified in the said deed. And whereas 
 the residue of the general tract, as described in the Act of 
 Congress of the 23d of July last, remains wholly unap- 
 propriated and is subject to the disposal of the said 
 Manasseh Cutler and Winthrop Sargent, who have accord- 
 ingly entered into a contract for the purchase of the same 
 on the 27th day of October instant with the Honorable 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 6l 
 
 the Board of Treasury of the United States, describing in 
 the said contract the boundaries of the said tract in the 
 manner following, to wit : . . . the whole being the tract 
 mentioned in the resolution of Congress of the 23d of 
 July last, except what is contracted for by the said Ma- 
 nasseh Cutler and Winthrop Sargent, as agents for the 
 directors of The Ohio Company and their associates. 
 
 " Be it known that it is this day agreed between the said 
 Manasseh Cutler and Winthrop Sargent, for themselves 
 and others their associates, and William Duer, of the 
 State of New York, for himself and others his associates, 
 their heirs and assigns, one equal moiety of the tract last 
 described. Provided always that the respective parties 
 to this writing shall be jointly and equally concerned in 
 the disposal of the same, either in Europe or America, as 
 circumstances will best admit of ; and that they share 
 equally in any profit or loss which may accrue in attempt- 
 ing to negotiate the sale or mortgage of the same, and in 
 paying the purchase money due to the United States. 
 
 "And it is hereby agreed upon and understood by the 
 parties, that the property in the residue of the general 
 tract as above described is to be considered as divided 
 into thirty equal parts or shares, of which thirteen shares 
 are the property of William Duer, in which he may ad- 
 mit such associates as he may judge proper, and thirteen 
 shares in like manner the property of the said Manasseh 
 Cutler and Winthrop Sargent. That the other four 
 shares may be disposed of in Europe at the direction of 
 an agent, to be sent there for the purpose of negotiating 
 a sale or loan as above mentioned, and if not so disposed 
 of to be equally divided among the parties to this writ- 
 ing. It is further agreed that the said William Duer be, 
 and he hereby is, fully authorized and empowered to 
 negotiate a loan on, or sale of, the above lands in Holland 
 or such other parts of Europe as may be found expedient, 
 with power of appointing an agent under him in the said 
 negotiation, agreeably to such instructions as he may 
 
62 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 receive for such purpose. Provided always, and it is 
 hereby understood and agreed on between the parties, 
 that the said William Duer shall from time to time (when 
 so required) make known and communicate to the said 
 Winthrop Sargent and Manasseh Cutler the progress of 
 the said negotiation and the correspondence and instruc- 
 tions relative thereto. And it is also agreed between the 
 said parties that Royal Flint be, and is agreed on by the 
 said parties, as the present agent for undertaking the pro- 
 posed negotiation, under the superintendence of the said 
 William Duer, and that if, from the death of the said 
 Flint or other circumstances, it may be proper to appoint 
 another agent for the purposes above stated, the person so 
 appointed shall be agreed on by the said Manasseh Cutler 
 and Winthrop Sargent and William Duer. And whereas 
 the whole benefit of the preemption of the residue of the 
 land as above described may depend on the punctual 
 payment on the part of The Ohio Company of our moiety 
 of the purchase-money of the tract contracted for in their 
 behalf, it is hereby agreed that the said William Duer 
 shall (if it be found necessary) advance, on account of the 
 said contract, one hundred thousand dollars, provided that 
 whatever sum so paid in by the said William Duer shall 
 exceed thirty thousand dollars shall be reimbursed to 
 the said Duer out of the first moneys which the said Sar- 
 gent and Cutler may receive for subscriptions." 
 
 This instrument was signed on the 29th of October, 
 1787. 
 
 Royal Flint does not seem to have acted in the capac- 
 ity of agent. Brissot, the traveller, and a Major Roche- 
 fontaine, in France, with a man named Parker, in England, 
 appear to have made some effort to sell the Company's 
 lands, but without success. Andrev/ Craigie writes from 
 England to William Duer about the Company's affairs in 
 August, 1787, probably as agent, and adds, " Let silence 
 cover our transactions." In the spring of 1788, however, 
 the trustees decided on more energetic efforts ; they were 
 
JOEL BARLOW. ^2 
 
 desirous of sending a responsible, thoroughly efficient 
 agent abroad, and what seems at first sight inexplicable, 
 their choice fell on Joel Barlow. He had then discov- 
 ered no aptitude for business, and possessed no business 
 experience ; yet a moment's reflection convinces one that 
 the astute managers acted with reason. No American 
 was more popular in England or France at that day, and 
 none better calculated to win confidence — a prime requi- 
 site in conducting negotiations such as they were engaged 
 in. That his brother-in-law (Abraham Baldwin) was now 
 a Senator in Congress had perhaps its due weight. Duer, 
 as appears by a letter from Richard Piatt to Barlow, was 
 not heartily in favor of the appointment, and, as Barlow 
 afterward charged, was unfriendly to him from the begin- 
 ning. The poet himself seems to have readily consented. 
 It offered a chance of bettering his fortunes, then at a low 
 ebb, and would give opportunities of travel, while it would 
 not wholly rob him of literary leisure. It is not probable 
 that the full scope of the Company's designs were dis- 
 closed to him, while the patriotic considerations advanced 
 — the sale of the Government's land and the promotion of 
 emigration — must have appealed powerfully to one of his 
 ardent, patriotic temperament. However this may be, 
 he accepted the trust. Leaving his wife with her brother 
 Dudley, now a lawyer at Greenfield Hill, he arranged his 
 affairs with the Company, and on the 25th of May, 1788, 
 embarked at New York on a French packet for his new 
 scene of labor. Before sailing, he wrote a letter to Mat- 
 thew Carey, the Philadelphia publisher,* which furnishes 
 interesting data as to the fortunes of " The Vision of 
 Columbus." The letter is as follows : 
 
 " Mr. Hazard showed me a letter, in which you request 
 him to apply to me on the subject of reprinting my 
 poem. As I mentioned to you some time since, I have 
 
 * Author of the " Vindicise Hibernicse," of which Archbishop Troy, of Dub- 
 lin, said : " It has done more to vindicate Ireland than all that ever was 
 written or published on the subject." 
 
64 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 part of the second edition on hand in sheets, which I wish 
 to dispose of, that I may not lose money by the work — for 
 I expect not to make any. One hundred of the copies I 
 designed for Philadelphia and its neighborhood, by which 
 I mean all the Middle States south of this place. To ac- 
 commodate us both, I will now send you, by the first ves- 
 sel, this hundred copies, which if you will receive and 
 account for to Mr. Hazard at three shillings Penn. cur- 
 rency, you have my full consent to publish one impres- 
 sion as numerous as you please, and as soon as you please, 
 besides inserting it in the Museum. They have never 
 been sold at less than half a dollar in sheets and a dollar 
 bound, and they will not be sold at less this way. None 
 of the first edition were ever offered for sale south of 
 Philadelphia, and none of the second between New York 
 and Charleston, and I shall send no more to the south- 
 ward of this except two dozen to Baltimore." 
 
 The young envoy bore, besides numerous letters of 
 introduction to noblemen and men of letters abroad, an 
 instrument by which William Duer nominated him agent 
 of The Scioto Company in Europe, " to undertake and con- 
 clude such engagements with such bodies or such individ- 
 uals as he shall judge the most suitable for the interest of 
 the Company in disposing of the territory they have ac- 
 quired of the United States altogether, or of whatever 
 part of said territory, or to bind it for whatever sum he 
 shall judge suitable." Duer also promised and engaged, 
 for himself, in the name of the Company, to ratify and 
 confirm all engagements that his agent should make in 
 virtue of the powers delegated. This paper was dated 
 May i6, 1788, and was signed by William Duer in the 
 names of the associates of The Scioto Company. He bore 
 also a transfer to himself, from Cutler and Sargent, of one 
 sixtieth part of The Scioto Company's lands, and also one 
 fifty-second part of eight sixtieth parts of the same tract, 
 in case the above mentioned fractional parts were not dis- 
 posed of in Europe, — he agreeing to bear his proportion- 
 
JOEL BARLOW. ge 
 
 ate share of the loss, if such should arise, either from the 
 negotiation of the tract in Europe or America, or from a 
 failure to pay the purchase-money to Congress. He also 
 bore a transfer from Duer to him of one sixtieth of the 
 tract, with the same penalties attached, so that he was in 
 effect an associate of the Company, with his fortunes em- 
 barked in the enterprise as much as those of any other 
 member. 
 
 The name of the packet that bore the young envoy on 
 his mission is not given, but we have in ^^his journal an 
 entertaining description of the vessel with the minutiae 
 of the voyage. Modern travellers will relish these details 
 of a sea voyage in 1788. 
 
 " Our accommodations on board were wretched. The 
 ship was a sixteen-gun frigate, taken from the English 
 during the late war, and is very unfit for a packet. The 
 dining-room is small but tolerable, the cabins which we 
 sleep in are wretched little dark holes, six feet and a half 
 in length, three in breadth, and five in height, without air 
 and intolerably dirty. The inside had been formerly lined 
 with calico instead of paper ; this, by being sufficiently 
 tattered and dirtied, has become a commodious receptacle 
 for bedbugs and fleas, which are found here in the greatest 
 plenty and perfection. Indeed, I could not help remark- 
 ing to a fellow-passenger that the Count de Buffon, when 
 he drew the comparison between the European and Amer- 
 ican animals, must have had his eye upon the fleas ; for 
 taking those on board the ship as a sample of this species 
 of European animals (and they are doubtless either French 
 or English, as the ship has been owned by no other na- 
 tions), it appears that the European flea is at least heavier 
 by one third of a grain than that of America. This re- 
 mark I should not venture to make in this serious journal 
 did I not find it confirmed by subsequent observations 
 made on shore. I am now in the fourth loft of the Hotel 
 de rArgled'or, in Havre, where the true French flea, as well 
 as bedbug, grows to a most respectable size, and gives 
 S 
 
66 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 great countenance to the philosophy of the above men- 
 tioned author. Captain Rolland is extremely parsimo- 
 nious in his provisions and barbarously inattentive to his 
 passengers. We had, indeed, plenty of live-stock, such as 
 sheep and poultry ; he had salted beef and pork, but not 
 good ; he had smoked hams, but they were dry, hard, and 
 very salt ; I believe not more than half of one ham v/as 
 eaten on board, though it was brought to the table at 
 least forty times. In the article of cheese he was still 
 more fortunate ; his store in this consisted of the half of 
 one which was made of goats' milk ; this, he often assured 
 / us, was good, and had it at table twice a day the whole 
 / passage. I am sure not two ounces of it were consumed. 
 / He had plenty of bad Bordeaux wine and some Madeira, 
 
 but he had no tea, coffee, chocolate, nor loaf-sugar ; no 
 beer, cider, nor biscuit. His flour, of which he often 
 boasted that he gave us fresh bread every morning, was 
 originally made in France, but having been badly put up, 
 and that a long time before, it was become intolerably 
 musty. I never ate a single mouthful of this bread the 
 whole passage. The sailors' hard bread, which was baked 
 in France six months ago, was more palatable. Of this I 
 probably consumed two pounds during the voyage. The 
 regulations of the French packets require the captain to 
 furnish the table, for which he receives one half the passage 
 money. This furnishes a strong temptation to him to 
 confine his provisions to cheap articles, or at least to such 
 as suit his own palate, and Rolland is a proper man to 
 make his advantage of these regulations. When we 
 engaged our passage and paid our money, we were told 
 that every article of good living was furnished ; we need 
 give ourselves no trouble, but depend on the best possible 
 accommodations. When the ship was nearly ready to 
 sail we found there was no provision made for lodging. 
 The captain told us it would be very unbecoming in him 
 to offer a gentleman a mattress and sheets that had been 
 used by others ; it was therefore customary for every pas- 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 67 
 
 senger to find his own. This position we subscribed to 
 and furnished ourselves with lodging, at the same time 
 secretly praising his sagacity in discovering that, as these 
 articles would be useless to a land traveller, not being 
 worth putting to auction in a foreign? country, they would 
 probably be left on board ; by these means a large quantity 
 of useful furniture would soon accumulate, to the great 
 benefit of the captain. Aside from this consideration 
 Rolland's argunient would as well apply to every tavern- 
 keeper as to the captain of a packet. Several days after 
 the ship was to have sailed, having waited for a wind, we 
 discovered by mere accident the real state of the captain's 
 stores, and we took a hasty opportunity to purchase a 
 little tea, coffee, and sugar. But fresh flour, biscuit, cheese, 
 beer, vegetables, etc., were omitted. But the worst cir- 
 cumstance about the provisions was the manner of cook- 
 ing. The table was set at ten o'clock and at four, and 
 the captain had no idea that any person, sick or well, 
 could eat at any other hours or fail to eat at those. His 
 dishes at four o'clock were, first, strong pea-soup, thick 
 with musty bread, garlic, and onions ; second, mutton, 
 fowls, or turkey, roasted in the pot or baked in the oven, 
 stiff with garlic and onions and covered deep in melted 
 butter. No other vegetables, except a few potatoes, which 
 lasted about half the voyage, and these were brought to the 
 table cut to pieces and stewed in butter-and-fat. The 
 breakfasts were the relics of these dishes, sometimes warm 
 and sometimes cold, together with a mutton cutlet stewed 
 in butter, fat, and onions. I rarely sat at table and made 
 no complaint of his dishes, as all food was alike indifferent 
 to me ; but the other passengers, refusing one dish after 
 another, ought to have induced him, sometimes, at least, 
 to consult their appetite respecting the choice of food 
 and the mode of cooking. But nothing of this was ever 
 heard of: if a person would eat with him it was well ; if 
 not, he would praise the meat and eat it himself. I 
 endeavored many times to get some chicken or mutton 
 
68 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 broth, but the cook could not possibly be taught to make 
 it. Much of my vexation arose from the ignorance or 
 obstinacy of the cook, but I suspect his conduct arose in 
 part from another motive : he might fear that by oblig- 
 ing me he should disoblige his master. . . . On approach- 
 ing Havre I was presented with the first clear view of 
 the Old World. The first thing that strikes an American 
 eye is a certain air of antiquity, which renders every object 
 venerable. Not a tree on the coast but what seems to 
 have furnished colonies from its branches, as they are 
 generally trimmed and taught to grow in a particular 
 manner to answer some purpose of the owner." 
 
 The packet arrived at Havre on the 24th of June. In 
 the diary, kept with considerable particularity for the 
 first four months of his stay abroad, there is little refer- 
 ence to his mission or its results. He went first to Paris, 
 thence to London, where he met Mr. Parker, a former 
 agent, and probably, associate of the Company. He was 
 not long in discovering that the times were very inau- 
 spicious for his mission. All Europe was in a ferment. 
 The Turks were battling against the Russians ; the 
 Swedes had just begun a war for the recovery of their 
 possessions in Finland ; England was engrossed with the 
 trial of Warren Hastings and the conduct of her East 
 Indian affairs, and France was within a year of the Revo- 
 lution. There was, too, a scarcity of money and a general 
 distrust of new enterprises, especially in England, which 
 had been overrun with agents from her dependencies with 
 all sorts of schemes and speculations to offer. They left 
 London for Brussels on the 7th of September to consult 
 the Messrs. Van Staphorsts, of Amsterdam, on " business 
 about the lands," presumably to negotiate a loan on 
 them. No hint is given as to the result of this mission. 
 From Amsterdam Barlow returned to Paris, and at once 
 seriously addressed himself to the object of his mission. 
 He employed to assist him in the enterprise two agents, 
 an Englishman, named William Playfair, whose chief 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 6q 
 
 recommendation was that he spoke and wrote French 
 perfectly, and was well acquainted with the Gallic tem- 
 perament ; and a mercurial Frenchman, named La Chaise 
 de Soissons. In both, as the sequel proved, he showed 
 himself a poor judge of character. To these two agents 
 was delegated largely the work of securing emigrants, 
 while the principal addressed himself to the task of enlist- 
 ing the nobility and wealthier classes. The prospectus 
 and maps of the lands which had been prepared by the 
 directors of the Company in America seem to have been 
 misleading documents, and with the additions which 
 Playfair and De Soissons undoubtedly gave in translating, 
 almost reached the point of misrepresentations. Volney, 
 in his " View of all Nations," gives what he calls "speci- 
 men extracts," as follows: 
 
 "A climate wholesome and delightful, frost even in 
 winter almost entirely unknown, and a river called by 
 way of eminence ' The Beautiful,' and abounding in 
 excellent fish of a vast size ; noble forests, consisting of 
 trees that spontaneously produce sugar and a plant that 
 yields ready-made candles ; venison in plenty, the pursuit 
 of which is uninterrupted by wolves, foxes, lions, or 
 tigers. A couple of swine will multiply themselves a 
 hundred fold in two or three years without taking any 
 care of them. No taxes to pay, no military services to 
 be performed." These seductive circulars were distrib- 
 uted extensively throughout France, but particularly in 
 Paris. Of their effect Volney gives what we must believe 
 an exaggerated picture : " In France — in Paris," he says, 
 " the imagination was too heated to admit of doubt or 
 suspicion ; and people were too ignorant and uninformed 
 to perceive where the picture was defective and its colors 
 too glaring. The example, too, of the wealthy and 
 reputedly wise confirmed the popular delusion. Nothing 
 was talked of in every social circle but the Paradise that 
 was opened for Frenchmen in the western wilderness, the 
 free and happy life to be led on the banks of the Scioto. 
 
rjQ LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 At length Brissot * published his ' Travels ' and com- 
 pleted the flattering delusion ; buyers became numerous 
 and importunate, chiefly among the better sort of the 
 middle class. Single persons and whole families disposed 
 of their all, flattering themselves with having made ex- 
 cellent bargains." 
 
 Barlow was equally successful with the higher orders. 
 It is safe to say, perhaps, that the young poet became 
 one of the lions of the capital. Jefferson, then Minister 
 to France, received him kindly, endorsed his mission, 
 and presented him to the eminent men in letters, divinity, 
 and the nobility who then adorned the French Court. 
 He wrote in his journal of dining on several occasions 
 with the Marquis de Lafayette. At Calais he regrets 
 the absence of the Count de Rochambeau, Governor of 
 the town, because he " is addressed to him by General 
 Washington." His reputation, as well as his connections, 
 admitted him to the choicest circles of French society. 
 The only data we have of his operations in Paris are given 
 in his letters to Colonel Duer and others interested. On 
 the 29th of November, 1789, he writes the former that a 
 contract for the sale of three million acres had been en- 
 tered into with a French company, the price being six 
 livres the acre. The object of this company, he says, is 
 an immediate settlement by the sale of portions to indi- 
 viduals and by sending cultivators in the name of the 
 Company, and he informs Duer that a colony will be 
 ready to sail in January for Alexandria, Va., at the 
 head of which, he thinks, will be Major General Dupon- 
 tail and Major Rochefontaine. As the reports which 
 these emigrants might be expected to send back to 
 France would make or mar the enterprise, he entreated 
 that every exertion should be made by the Company to 
 fulfil its promises to them, and suggested that " a person 
 of activity " be sent from their proposed settlement to 
 
 * " New Travels in America," Paris, 1791. English edition, London, 
 1794. 
 
JOEL BAELOW. j7I 
 
 Alexandria, " to make all the preparations on the route 
 and at the fort for their reception and journey to the 
 Scioto, and to wait at Alexandria to conduct them 
 thither." It is, he adds, "an immense undertaking to 
 the poor creatures who adventure in it ; a situation in 
 which all the passions are alive to the slightest impres- 
 sions. They who lead the way trust their lives and 
 fortunes to the representations that I make to them. 
 The evidence is slight ; it will be strengthened or de- 
 stroyed in the minds of those who are still to be engaged 
 by the testimony of those who first arrive. If the first 
 one hundred persons should find things easy and agree- 
 able as it is in our power to make them with a little atten- 
 tion, the stream of emigration will be irresistible — 20,000 
 people will be on those lands in eighteen months and our 
 payments will be made in twelve. Do, my friend, exercise 
 your rapid imagination for a moment in writing to those 
 gentlemen — the subject lies with weight on my mind ; it 
 is, though small, one of the most essential services that 
 now remain to be done. Whenever you shall know the 
 complication of difficulties I have struggled with in bring- 
 ing the unwieldy business thus far, you will excuse the 
 warmth of my entreaties, and believe that they are 
 founded on the maturest reflections, as well as on the 
 most ardent desire to serve the interests of the concern." 
 But, alas! what Barlow most desired to have done the 
 Company failed to do. Indeed, before this first shipload 
 of emigrants arrived at Alexandria its affairs had become 
 almost desperate. Circumstances seemed to conspire to 
 render this nicely planned, most promising speculation a 
 failure. The efforts to negotiate a loan failed ; conse- 
 quently, when the date of preemption arrived the 
 Company was unable to pay the sum fixed, and thus 
 acquire a title to the lands. Other difficulties, too, beset 
 it. The hostility of the Indians, whose camp-fires en- 
 circled its purchase, prevented its surveys and clearings 
 from being made, and any considerable stream of settlers 
 
^2 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 from flowing in ; and in France the outbreak of the 
 Revolution, in 1789, precluded its agent from forming 
 new contracts, or indeed from collecting the moneys due 
 on those already made. The body of emigrants referred 
 to sailed late in the December of 1789 and arrived safely 
 at Alexandria, Va., whence they soon set out under the 
 care of an agent of the Company for their homes in the 
 West. They did not go, however, to the lands they had 
 bargained for. The Scioto Company had failed to se- 
 cure a title to them, though it made desperate efforts. 
 A petition to Congress to extend the time of making 
 payment was denied, ugly rumors of the ulterior designs 
 of the Company having by this time reached that 
 body. In this strait The Scioto Company entered into 
 an agreement with The Ohio Company, by which a tract 
 of some 196,544 acres in the latter's purchase was ceded 
 the former, The Scioto Company agreeing to pay the 
 original price, and to give as security their interest in 
 their original purchase. It was on this purchase on the 
 Ohio, four miles below the mouth of the Kanawha, that 
 the colony of emigrants was planted, their settlement 
 having now blossomed into the flourishing town of 
 Gallipolis. But, as it proved, The Scioto Company was 
 unable to pay even for this small purchase, and as, on its 
 failure to do so, the land reverted to The Ohio Company, 
 the unfortunate Frenchmen again found themselves with- 
 out a title. In this strait they petitioned Congress for re- 
 lief, and that body, in 1795, meted out to them tardy justice 
 by granting them 24,000 acres on the Ohio above the 
 mouth of the Scioto, which is still known as the " French 
 grant." This was the end of a most disreputable business. 
 There are documents in existence which would give a 
 much, more complete expos^ of the whole affair, but as 
 no possible good could come of such an exposure it is 
 perhaps better that they should remain unwritten history. 
 Colonel Duer, who figures most prominently in the matter, 
 but who was probably no deeper in the mire than his 
 
JOEL BARLOW. y^ 
 
 associates, was heartlessly abandoned by them when the 
 failure of the affair became certain, was bankrupted in fort- 
 une and reputation by it, and died broken-hearted soon 
 after its collapse. Much of the odium of the Company's 
 failure was cast on Joel Barlow, who was well known as 
 its agent abroad. That he was innocent of any com- 
 plicity in its inception, or in the glowing promises to 
 emigrants and capitalists never fulfilled, or in any way 
 responsible for its failure, is not proven by the papers 
 above mentioned. That he established his innocence to 
 the satisfaction of the people of France is evidenced by 
 the esteem and respect in which he continued to be held 
 there. It is also proper to state that Col. Benjamin 
 Walker, who, in the fall of 1790, was sent to France by 
 the trustees to investigate Barlow's proceedings, re- 
 turned a report completely exonerating him. The poet 
 himself, in various letters to his wife and to Abraham 
 Baldwin, complains that he was practically abandoned by 
 his associates in America almost immediately on reaching 
 his post, and intimates that his conversion to repub- 
 licanism may have had something to do in influencing 
 their action. 
 
 The reader is not to suppose that affairs of the Com- 
 pany solely occupied the poet's attention during this 
 period. There was considerable literary activity, care- 
 ful study, some travel and intercourse with the most 
 learned and polished minds of Europe. It will be proper 
 to return somewhat in our narrative, and, by means of 
 his journal and letters, present this phase of his career 
 more at length. This journal clearly indicates his prac- 
 tical bent and his very considerable powers of observa- 
 tion. His eyes are always open. He is a true American, 
 too, and compares everything with his own country. 
 His naive comments are always interesting, often amus- 
 ing. He describes Havre at length, and naively com- 
 pares the Maison de la Ville with the City Hall of New 
 York, to the disadvantage of the latter ; he even thinks it 
 
74 L^PE ^^D LETTERS OF 
 
 would compare favorably with the State House at Phil- 
 adelphia. Two days after landing he dines with the 
 Swedish consul, Mr. Reinecke. The conversation at din- 
 ner seems to have been largely on the commerce and 
 manufactures of Gottenburg, for a full description of 
 both follows in the journal, with the query " Cannot the 
 Americans undersell them in all foreign markets?" On 
 Friday, the 27th, he notes : " I dined with Messrs. Col- 
 low, Fr^res, Carmichael & Co., having been addressed by 
 my friend Commodore Nicholson, of New York." And 
 again, on Sunday, " I dined with Mr. Carmichael at his 
 own house. This gentleman does great justice to the 
 expectation of his friend Nicholson." June 30th he 
 writes : " To-morrow we set out for Paris. My company 
 are, Mr. Jacobson, Mr. Alsot — who is another merchant 
 from Gottenburg — and Master George Washington 
 Greene, a son of General Greene, twelve years old, who 
 goes to Paris for his education, being addressed to the 
 Marquis de Lafayette." The party travelled by carriage 
 and arrived at Paris July 3d. He describes at length the 
 roads, the country, the vehicles, the people, and the 
 three different modes of travelling — by diligence, by 
 carriage, and on horseback — comparing them with the 
 American stage, much to the latter's disadvantage, and 
 observes at the close, " Travelling in France, and, I 
 believe, in any part of Europe, is really a science." He 
 describes the manufactures of the various towns he 
 passes through. The old church of Notre Dame at 
 Rouen attracted him. " Nothing gives me more pleas- 
 ure in these old places," he records, " than the contempla- 
 tion of their Gothic cathedrals. The style of building 
 is so totally unlike what can be seen or ever will be seen 
 in America, that it is impossible to form the least idea 
 of it but by the eye. This church struck me with such 
 an air of solemnity and magnificence, and as being so 
 much larger than any I had before seen, that I should 
 have taken the dimensions of every part were it not 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 75 
 
 that I expected to see those that were larger and more 
 worthy of notice at Paris and London. I spent some time 
 in it, and even went up to see the bell, which, they tell 
 me, is the largest in Europe. This I had no right to 
 believe ; and when the guide told me that it weighed 
 40,000 pounds, it only induced me to take its dimensions 
 that I might calculate its weight at my leisure." He 
 had half a day in the city, and spent it in visiting several 
 nunneries, churches, the bridge over the Seine, and other 
 " capital places." The nuns, he observes, " from their 
 white robes, black veils, the simplicity of their other 
 ornaments, and their modesty of deportment, have the 
 appearance of great serenity and innocence." At the 
 Hotel de France, just as he is quitting the town, he meets 
 the two Mr. Appletons, from Boston. "They are con- 
 nected with a Mr. Pew, an ingenious Scotch chemist, 
 who has discovered a method of converting the common 
 whale-oil into a substance not distinguishable from the 
 head matter of the spermaceti whale. The profits of 
 the business are immense. The Appletons expect to 
 make their fortunes in it." He also notes, as the inven- 
 tion of a mechanic of Rouen, a machine for carding cot- 
 ton which divides the wool much more perfectly than 
 any that have yet been used, and adds: " I do not find 
 that extreme wretchedness and poverty among the lower 
 class of people in France that I had been taught to 
 expect." He makes no record of his first visit of nine 
 days to Paris. July 12th he set out with Mr. Parker for 
 England via Boulogne, travelling by post-chaise. They 
 reached London July 14th at midnight. He views Eng- 
 land through an enemy's glasses, yet his criticisms are 
 not unfair. July 31, 1788, he notes: "This day, in com- 
 pany with Mr. Tod, a Scotch gentleman, Mr. Jarvis, an 
 American, a Frenchman and an Englishman whose 
 names I forget, I visited that ancient and renowned 
 fortress the Tower of London." His criticisms on the 
 figures of the English kings are piquant and amusing. 
 
76 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 "In another large apartment .... are figures of most 
 of the English kings from William I. to George II., sit- 
 ting on horseback as large as life, and actually clad in 
 the armor which they wore. The figures are said to be 
 likenesses : probably all the late ones are. Many of 
 them will disappoint you. Edward III. is a thin 
 old man ; has nothing of the appearance of a warrior. 
 William III. is a very small man. Many others are as I 
 expected. Edward IV. is as handsome a fellow as you 
 will find him in the history of Jane Shore. Henry VIII. 
 is the largest in the race of kings, and John of Gaunt is 
 the stoutest man by far that I ever saw. ... I was dis- 
 appointed in the appearance of the beasts kept in the 
 Tower, as I am with almost all other objects in Europe 
 of which I have formerly met with descriptions." The 
 old castle, the centre of the Tower, he describes as about 
 the size of Fort Putnam at West Point. 
 
 Other jottings from the journal follow: 
 
 " Azi^. I. Went with my friend Cutting to see Sir 
 Appleton Lever's Museum. It is contained in a large 
 house near Black Friars Bridge. Sir Appleton is dead, 
 and the Museum is now kept and shown by his succes- 
 sors. It is a most magnificent collection of birds and 
 beasts, preserved with great neatness, and so as to re- 
 semble the life, with a variety of other curiosities, nat- 
 ural and artificial 
 
 " We spent about two hours in the different rooms, 
 with a satisfaction much beyond my expectations. We 
 dined with Mr. George Howel, from America. At din- 
 ner were Mr. Trumbull, Mr. Cutting, Colonel Blount, 
 of North Carolina, Mr. Sears, of Boston, and Dr. Muir- 
 son, of New York." 
 
 *' Ati^. 2. I dined with Mr. Caldwell, and went with 
 him in the evening to Vaux Hall." Then follows a de- 
 scription of that noted resort as it appeared in 1788: 
 " It is a garden of about 200 yards square. The bor- 
 ders on two sides are a wilderness. The rest is laid out 
 
JOEL BARLOW. yj 
 
 in a great number of walks, some covered with elliptical 
 arches of wood adorned with paintings, others arched 
 with lofty elms. Near the centre is a grand orchestra, 
 in which a band of music performs all the evening. 
 Near one corner is a rotunda or a circular hall, 70 feet 
 in diameter and about 40 in height, adorned with paint- 
 ings. On two sides of the garden are disposed a great 
 number of boxes for parties to sup in. The whole of 
 this highly ornamented area is illuminated in the even- 
 ing with upwards of 2000 lamps, disposed in such a man- 
 ner as to have the most happy effect upon the spectator, 
 causing a surprising degree of brilliance in the upper part 
 next the orchestra, the rotunda, and the boxes, and leav- 
 ing many long alleys and winding walks faintly illumi- 
 nated, and others almost dark, exhibiting in a most 
 romantic manner numbers of statues, obelisks, trans- 
 parent paintings, etc. These gardens are open only on 
 summer evenings in fine weather. The company is very 
 numerous and brilliant. I should judge at least two 
 thousand people were in the garden this night. They 
 pay a shilling entrance." 
 
 ^^ Aug. 4. Mr. Parker and myself have been to dine 
 with Mr. Rogers at Twickenham." The gardens and 
 grotto of Pope he declares to be the most delightful 
 little spot he ever saw. " This is an area of about a 
 dozen acres, fringed with a wilderness which hides the 
 wall on the inside, and planted with a vast variety of 
 trees of the thickest foliage, placed in the most natural 
 and unaffected position that can be imagined. The 
 whole is in the truest English style of gardening, rather 
 more solemn and gloomy than what is common, but per- 
 fectly in harmony with the turn of mind that most dis- 
 tinguished the planter. The trees are all said to have 
 been planted by Mr. Pope's own hand, and what is much 
 to the credit of Sir Weldbare Ellis, the present owner, 
 and his father-in-law, Mr. Stanhope, the late owner, not 
 a single tree has been violated nor a new one added 
 
78 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 since the death of Mr. Pope. The garden is perfectly 
 well kept, clean and neat, and everything remains pre- 
 cisely as the poet left it, excepting that the statues, 
 obelisks, and urns have grown rusty by time, and the 
 trees larger." "None of the temples and palaces of 
 Europe," he continues, "have forced themselves upon 
 me with such silent veneration and respect as I felt on 
 entering the simple gardens of Pope. Perhaps the idea 
 of the poet might help to make the impression, but to 
 my eye there is as much real taste discovered here as in 
 any of his writings. His grotto exceeds all description, 
 except the one given by him in a letter to a friend whose 
 name I forget. The subterraneous passage that this 
 affords from the waters of the Thames to the gardens 
 has a most surprising effect upon the spectator. It goes 
 under the house, which is an elegant one, and under the 
 road, which is a public one and much travelled. No 
 traveller in the road would ever mistrust that there was 
 a garden or a grotto here." 
 
 He watches a famous English election with the deep- 
 est interest, and thus records his impressions: "This 
 day (August 4) ended the long contested Westminster 
 election. It has lasted 15 days, and a scene of more 
 curiosity to an American cannot well be exhibited. . . . 
 Mr. Fox and Lord Hood were the members for West- 
 minster. Hood is lately created a Lord of the Admir- 
 alty. His acceptance of this office vacates his seat in 
 Parliament, but leaves him again eligible. Hood; being 
 a ministerial man, was opposed in his re-election by Fox 
 and his party, who set up Lord John Townsend. It 
 was astonishing to behold the whole nation, from the 
 king to the cobbler, engaged in this business. It was 
 really no less than a contest between Charles Fox and 
 George the Third, and to the satisfaction of every dis- 
 interested beholder, the former has won the day and 
 Townsend is elected. On this occasion the Treasury 
 was opened, and orders were drawn directly on it for the 
 
JOEL BARLOW. yg 
 
 expense on the royal side. It is computed that the 
 money spent on the king's side was 30,000 pounds ; that 
 on the opposition actually 20,000. Of this latter sum 
 the Whig Club subscribed 10,000 pounds beforehand, 
 and on the tenth day of the election, finding there would 
 be a lack of money, the Duke of Bedford drew on his 
 banker for 5000, and sent word that 50,000 more would 
 be at the service of the opposition if needed. The other 
 5000 is supposed to have come from the Prince of Wales, 
 and others less open in the cause of the opposition. 
 This extraordinary expense will not appear strange when 
 it is known that the simple article of ribbons for the 
 cockades of the Townsend party cost 4000 pounds ; that 
 about 100 'bludgeon-men,' as they are called, were hired 
 at five shillings per day to out-mob the mob upon the 
 other side, and that two thirds of the voters (the whole 
 of which in this poll were 12,000) were actually paid for 
 their votes. Add to this that, for 15 days, 200,000 peo- 
 ple are constantly kept in an uproar. Not a tradesman, 
 if he is disposed, can carry on business, for he is every 
 day haunted by both parties, and his journeymen every 
 day drunk for the honor of the candidates. Several 
 persons have been killed on the spot, and many more 
 languish under broken heads or legs, and it was as much 
 as a man's pockets were worth to come within 200 yards; 
 of the hustings. The way of conducting the business is 
 for the canvass to begin some time before the election 
 begins and continue till it is closed. The first nobility 
 of both sexes employ themselves in canvassing : they go 
 to every house, stall, shop, and dock-yard and solicit the 
 vote and interest of every person in favor of their can- 
 didate. Then comes a card in the newspapers request- 
 ing the voters in such a street or parish to breakfast with 
 such a duke or lord and proceed with him to the polls. 
 Thus he puts himself upon a level with the most ragged, 
 vile, and worthless of creation, who move in a tumultuous 
 procession through the streets, reeling and huzzaing, 
 
8o LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 with His Grace or the candidate at their head. The 
 candidates meantime advertise in the papers their wishes 
 to be elected, and request the votes and interest of all 
 the worthy and independent electors in their favor. . . . 
 When we hear, in common language, that such a duke 
 sends i6 members to Parliament, and that such a gentle- 
 man has bought a borough, what shall we think of the 
 political freedom of this people. A gentleman of my 
 acquaintance, who has been an eminent merchant, has 
 lately bought a borough for ten thousand pounds — that 
 is, he has obtained the right of securing the election of 
 the two members of that borough on all future occasions. 
 He proposes to return himself as one member and sell 
 the other place for three hundred pounds each election. 
 As these recur but once in seven years it must be con- 
 sidered as a bad mercantile speculation unless there are 
 secret profits' arising from the place." 
 
 "■Aug. 5. I went, towards evening, with Mr. Vaughan 
 to the Marquis of Lansdowne's, in Berkeley Square. He 
 is the late minister. Lord Shelburne, who made peace 
 with America. He is in the Whig interest, but is not 
 a man of great abilities or influence. His house is one 
 of the best in London. In the evening went to see Sir 
 Joseph Banks, President of the Royal Society. He is a 
 large man, more able-bodied than philosophers in gen- 
 eral are. He asked many questions about the prog- 
 ress of the Hessian fly and weevil in America." 
 
 "Aug. 19. Mr. Trumbull* and I have just returned 
 from Windsor. . . . We went into church on Sunday, and 
 Monday morning to prayers in the King's private chapel. 
 The King is an active-looking man, light sandy hair and 
 countenance, sanguine habit, stammers in his speech 
 much as Peter Pindar has described. He is a man of 
 great industry, uses much exercise, is said to possess all 
 the private virtues in an eminent degree. He appears 
 
 * John TrumbuU, the painter. 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 8l 
 
 to have a quick intuitive faculty of discerning the human 
 character. When his eye met mine I saw he marked 
 me for a stranger, and I endeavored to outstare him, 
 but in vain. ' Well ! ' thought I, ' a cat may look upon 
 a king : by the same ascending scale a king may look 
 upon me — and so, stare away.' The Queen is not hand- 
 some, but has the look of a very amiable woman. The 
 four eldest princesses are thought surprising beauties. 
 They are certainly handsome." 
 
 ^^ Aug. 28. This day, at dinner at Mr. Dilley's, among 
 several literary men, I met Dr. Gillies, author of the 
 'History t)f Greece.' I had much conversation with 
 him, in which he discovered great learning and good 
 sense. He is now writing the ' Roman Republic' If 
 he treats this history as well as he has that of Greece, 
 no former history of that period need be read, and no 
 future one written." 
 
 '■'Aug. 30. Dined with Dr. Bancroft. I dine abroad at 
 least six days in the week ; this, to a man of business, 
 would be a bad economy of time, but for me it is the 
 best way of collecting information, and does not interfere 
 with other business." 
 
 " Sep. 7. Left London this morning at 1 1 o'clock with 
 Mr. Parker, on our way to Calais and Brussels." 
 
 "Calais, Sept. 9. We are now as incontestably in France 
 as ever Sterne was, and at the same hotel too, that of 
 Mons. Dessein. It is old, large, and magnificent, but not 
 remarkably cleanly. French cleanliness will never be- 
 come proverbial except in the language of irony. . . . 
 In crossing the Channel we found ourselves in company 
 with several British officers, who are going to visit the 
 camp at St. Omers. They are men of sense on every 
 subject but that of America and the new government. 
 We found, likewise, in the boat a young, well-dressed 
 woman, travelling from London to the Austrian Flanders. 
 There were so many tender things in her appearance that 
 we were induced to ask her v/hether any gentleman pres- 
 6 
 
g2 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 ent was to be honored with her company. Being an- 
 swered in the negative, and at the same time modestly- 
 informed that it was business of a most pressing nature 
 of her father's, who was sick at London, which had em- 
 boldened her to undertake the journey alone, we begged 
 her to accept a seat in our chariot as far as our route will 
 permit. This she blushingly accepted, and we shall have 
 her company about one hundred and twenty miles, . . . 
 Count de Rochambeau is governor of Calais, but he is 
 out of town, which I regret, as I am addressed to him by 
 General Washington." 
 
 "■ Brussels y Sept. ii. This day we have travelled eighty 
 miles and reached the capital of the Austrian Brabant. 
 .... At ten this evening we entered Brussels. The gates 
 of the city were shut. We sent a servant forward to an- 
 nounce our names to the officer and bribe him to let us in, 
 who, after asking the usual questions about contraband 
 goods, consented to betray the great city to us for two 
 German shillings, and we are handsomely lodged in the 
 Hotel d' Holland^ where we stay about a week on busi- 
 ness." 
 
 '* Sept. 14. I have just returned from Antwerp, where 
 I went yesterday for the sake, merely, of seeing the curi- 
 osities of that justly celebrated place. . . ." 
 
 " Sept. 23. Having finished all that can be done at 
 present with the Van Staphorsts about the lands, I go 
 to-morrow with Mr. Parker to Paris." 
 U- " Cambray^ Sept. 24. We have rode to-day eighty miles, 
 through a most excellent country. . . . This was the seat 
 of Archbishop Fenelon, author of ' Telemachus.' His 
 palace is magnificent, the cathedral rich." 
 
 '■^ Paris, Sept. 26. I have done nothing to-day except 
 pay my respects to Mr. Jefferson and the Marquis de 
 Lafayette." 
 
 " Sept. 27. I dined to-day at Mr. Jefferson's, where were 
 the Marquis, Mr. Parker, and an Italian chevalier, whose 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 83 
 
 name I never expect to remember, having been before 
 in company with him sundry times." 
 
 " Oct. 3. It has rained every day since I have been in 
 Paris till to-day. I have been dining with the Marquis, 
 where was much company, chiefly American. The Patri- 
 ots in France, I find, are very sanguine in their expecta- 
 tions that they shall effect a speedy and complete revolu- 
 tion in the government and establish a free constitution. 
 The States General will doubtless assemble, and the 
 opinions of all parties that something must be done will 
 go a great way towards effecting something." He then 
 ventures some remarks that seem strongly prophetic in 
 view of the events of the succeeding summer. 
 
 " The government of France is in theory a despotism, 
 but much softened in its administration by the respect 
 which is paid to public opinion. I believe they have no 
 written documents to prove that any class of the subjects 
 have a right to any share in legislation, at least in legis- 
 lating for the kingdom at large. Provincial rights they 
 doubtless can prove ; but these are so variant and discor- 
 dant that it will be difficult, if not impossible, to bring 
 them into practice. This is the reason why these rights 
 have gone into disuse. It has been necessary for the 
 energy and entirety of the kingdom that it should all be 
 thrown into a common mass, and that one system should 
 pervade the whole. This system must of course be de- 
 rived from one head, the civil, military, legislative, and 
 executive all being united in one person. Hence it is 
 that France, considered as a collection of provinces or a 
 confederacy of states, is what she is called — a heterogene- 
 ous mass. Considered as a kingdom, she is entire and ener- 
 getic, but necessarily despotic. If the States General are 
 composed of wise men they will consider that the small 
 remnant of ancient provincial rights and the present 
 opinions of the people are the materials with which they 
 have to work in forming a constitution. As the former 
 are variant and the latter variable it will be necessary to 
 
84 ^ LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 conciliate and soften, in order to impart to the people 
 that portion of hberty which they can bear, and to impart 
 to all alike. Such wisdom, and the necessary integrity to 
 direct it, is hardly to be expected in a country like this. 
 I presume there are not to be found five men in Europe 
 who understand the nature of liberty and the theory of 
 government so well as they are understood by five hun- 
 dred men in America. The friends to America in Lon- 
 don and Paris are astonished at our conduct in adopt- 
 ing the New Constitution. They say we have given up 
 all we contended for. They are as intemperate in their 
 idea of liberty as we were in the year seventy-five." 
 
 " Peronne, Oct. 4. To-day we have travelled one hun- 
 dred miles, and find ourselves in an elegant hotel at six 
 o'clock. We started after six in the morning. This way 
 of travelling is very amusing, and not in the least fatigu- 
 ing, provided your carriage is strong and good. We have 
 our own courier, who rides on horseback and goes forward 
 to get the horses ready at every stage. On all the great 
 roads they give us good horses and good postilions, and 
 in this way a man may travel eight miles an hour, day 
 and night, for a week together if he chooses. All this 
 business of posts in France is reduced to one system and 
 farmed : it produces a revenue of 10,000,000 livres." 
 
 Oct. loth he is at Dunkirk and makes a most interest- 
 ing entry: "The French seem determined to enlarge 
 their naval force, and to lay the foundation of its increase 
 in the (whale) fishery. In the year 1783 a company was 
 formed to establish that business at Dunkirk. After 
 absorbing a considerable sum they applied to Govern- 
 ment for assistance. Under the administration of Ca- 
 
 lonne the Government supplied them with livres on 
 
 loan, without interest, and agreed to take their oil at 
 a high price. By bad management, it is said, they have 
 failed, have sunk their own capital, and Government has 
 either lost theirs or are determined to reclaim it. Mr. 
 
JOEL BARLOW. §5 
 
 Rotch, from Massachusetts,* who is here, tells me he is 
 now closing a contract with Government for carrying on 
 the business upon a much larger scale. He has several 
 vessels out this season. The King has now published an 
 arret, prohibiting the importation of oil, except what is 
 taken by French vessels. Rotch appears to be well ac- 
 quainted with the business, and expects to make a large 
 fortune in it. The former company have taken about 
 700 tons in the Brazil fishery and very little in the Green- 
 land." t The journal ends with his return to Paris, Oct. 
 12, 1788. 
 
 The succeeding six years were marked by active liter- 
 ary employment, by intense activity in letters after 1790, 
 when the failure of his embassy gave him more leisure, 
 and indeed rendered him largely dependent on his pen 
 for support. It was an age when, in France, the literati 
 held their full measure of power. The philosophers of 
 the preceding age, Fenelon, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Rous- 
 seau, had lent the calling dignity. King and nobles 
 patronized it ; politicians courted it. That little knot of 
 thinkers and writers, — Lagrange, Laplace, Berthollet, 
 Garat, Bernardin St. Pierre, Daubenton, Hauy, Volney, 
 Sicard, Monge, Thouin, La Harpe, Buache, Mentelle, — 
 who founded the Normal School and, later, the National 
 Institute, were builders of a mighty power in the kingdom 
 — the power of the press. Nearly all were politicians, — 
 Republicans of the moderate, constitutional, Girondist 
 school. These men precipitated the Revolution, and, it 
 may be added, at once lost control of it, as one does of a 
 frenzied steed which his spur has set in motion. Jeffer- 
 son, who had been four years in Paris as ambassador, was 
 in friendly intercourse with these savants, and by the 
 simple act of introduction gave his young countryman an 
 assured position in their circle. " Barlow found here con- 
 
 * A famous Nantucket whaling merchant, 
 t Mr. Rotch's enterprise also failed. 
 
A 
 
 86 ^^^^ AND LETTERS OF 
 
 genial companionship. Deep learning, original ideas, a 
 wide range of observation, plans of the largest philan- 
 thropy, he could appreciate, and these he found among 
 the Girondist leaders of Paris. Just here his career 
 assumes its most interesting phase. The Puritan lad, 
 with generations of Puritan blood in his veins, brought up 
 at the feet of Parson Bartlett, nurtured at Yale College — 
 then the cradle of Federalism — bursts his chrysalis and 
 appears in religion a liberal, in politics a pronounced 
 Republican. It would be unjust to him to say that the 
 change was produced solely by intercourse with the 
 French literati. There is evidence in his letters that 
 from youth up he had been dissatisfied with the iron- 
 bound creed then in vogue. It chafed him, as the har- 
 ness the spirited young colt. Tutor Buckminster sowed 
 the seeds of this restiveness by permitting and en- 
 couraging that spirit of free inquiry in his classes, of 
 which he spoke in his letter, and although, later, Barlow 
 preached in their pulpits and wrote the hymnal used in 
 their worship, a reference in one of his letters from the 
 camps indicates that the Association of Congregational 
 ministers of Connecticut had refused to license him for 
 the chaplaincy from doubts as to his orthodoxy, and that 
 he had in consequence been examined by the Council at 
 Northampton, Mass., and had received from them his 
 authority. 
 
 Politically we know he possessed all the elements of 
 the Republican of the day, and awaited only an opportu- 
 nity to leave the Conservative for the Progressive ranks. 
 There is no evidence that he became a pronounced athe- 
 ist, like some of his French compeers. He was hardly an 
 apostate, although the charge was freely made against him 
 by those of his old friends on this side the Atlantic who 
 remained true to their early convictions, and whom his 
 double desertion changed to bitter and calumniating ene- 
 mies. But this will more fully appear in the sequel. 
 Once enlisted, however, the young soldier engaged with 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 87 
 
 ardor in the conflict : pamphlets, addresses, feuilletons in 
 prose and verse, assailing royal and ecclesiastical privilege, 
 poured from his pen in a constant stream, and he was 
 soon recognized throughout Europe as one of the leaders 
 of the Republican cause. He was in Paris at the birth 
 of the fearful Revolution — the 14th of July, the 4th of 
 August, the 5th of October — an interested but hopeful 
 spectator. On the 20th of July he wrote his wife, still 
 lingering in the rural shades of Greenfield Hill : " All the 
 true things which you see published, however horrible, 
 however cruel, however just, however noble, memorable, 
 and important in their consequences, have passed under 
 my eye, and it is really no small gratification to me to 
 have seen two complete revolutions in favor of liberty. 
 Everything is now quiet in Paris. I look upon the 
 affairs of this nation as on the point of being settled on 
 the most rational and lasting foundation. " He concludes : 
 " Nothing but the contemplation of the infinite happiness 
 that I am sure will result to millions of human beings 
 from these commotions could enable me to tolerate the 
 observance of them." 
 
 After the failure of his special mission his time seems 
 to have been pretty evenly divided between Paris and 
 London. He was one of that body " of American citi- 
 zens who, for commercial or pohtical traffic, or both," 
 were " sometimes resident in England and sometimes in 
 France," and wljo made up mainly the London Society 
 for Constitutional Information. One not familiar with 
 this period of English history in its minuter details can 
 have little conception of the disquiet and state of ferment 
 into which the nation was plunged by the French Revolu- 
 tion. Societies whose chief objects were such amend- 
 ments to the present constitution as would give annual 
 sessions of Parliament and universal suffrage were formed 
 in all the large cities of the kingdom. Pamphlets and 
 broadsides advocating these " reforms " were sown broad- 
 cast ; public meetings were held. A single petition to 
 
88 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 this effect received 140,000 signers. In fact, the hberal 
 movement shared with Warren Hastings the attention of 
 Parliament, and elicited some of the finest efforts of those 
 Commons giants, Burke, Sheridan, Fox, and Pitt. There 
 were three important societies in London which favored 
 the cause of the French Republicans, and lent them sym- 
 pathy and substantial aid. These were, first, the " Revo- 
 lution Society," originally formed to celebrate the anniver- 
 sary of the landing of William III. and the famous revolu- 
 tion of 1688, which established the British Constitution; 
 second, the " Constitutional Society," which had a regular 
 organization, held stated meetings, and was devoted to 
 the dissemination of political writings favoring a change 
 in the existing Constitution ; and third, a " Society of 
 Constitutional Information," composed largely of Amer- 
 icans, which we have already noticed. Dr. Price, the 
 reputed author of Pitt's sinking-fund system ; Dr. 
 Priestly, the learned and liberal Unitarian divine ; Home 
 Tooke, the famous philosopher, political writer, and wit : 
 Thomas Paine, Joel Barlow, Daniel Adams, John Frost, and 
 Hayley the poet, and biographer of Cowper, were active 
 members of these various organizations. All three socie- 
 ties openly favored French Republicanism, and at various 
 times sent '' Addresses " to the National Assembly. That 
 from the American Society was written by Joel Barlow, 
 and conveyed personally by himself and John Frost.* 
 The greater part of the years 1790-92, however, were 
 spent in London. His friends, the Girondists, had been 
 overthrown by the Jacobins ; the lions had been sup- 
 planted by the wolves, and residence in Paris for him was 
 both unsafe and uncomfortable. He had made while in 
 Paris extensive notes for a history of the French Revolu- 
 
 * An English historian, referring to this mission, speaks of Barlow as " the 
 laureate of the United States, the author \oi that not-to-be-forgotten epic 
 wherein George Washington is typified by Joshua, and the free citizens of 
 America and their expulsion of the English by the Jews and their conquest 
 of the Holy Land.'* 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 
 
 89 
 
 tion, and he was also employed during this period in 
 writing his caustic poetical squib, "The Conspiracy of 
 Kings." His most important work, however, was a vol- 
 ume of political essays entitled, "Advice to the Priv- 
 ileged Orders." It appears by a note in the author's 
 copy before us, that this book was finished in London in 
 the latter part of the year 1791, and that the first part was 
 published in that city in February, 1792. It is safe to say 
 that no political work of the day created so wide an in- 
 terest, or was so extensively read. Charles Fox, in Par- 
 liament, passed a formal eulogium upon it. The British 
 Government suppressed it and proscribed its author, even 
 seized on his private letters as those of a suspect. " Mr. 
 Burke often makes honorable mention of you in Parlia- 
 ment," wrote Mrs. Barlow, ironically, in January, 1793, 
 to her husband, hiding in Paris from British emissaries. 
 " Sometimes he calls you a prophet — the prophet Joel. 
 . . . ." And again: "Mr. Burke said that a citizen of 
 the name of Joel Barlow, another of the name of John 
 Adams, and Citizen Frost were engaged in this correspond- 
 ence and were answerable." Jefferson, on receiving the 
 volume, wrote its author from America: "Be assured 
 that your endeavors to bring the transatlantic worid into 
 the world of reason are not without their effect here." 
 Sturdy old John Adams read it with attention, as is evi- 
 denced by his reference to its heresies in his third letter 
 on government to John Taylor in 18 14. The work which 
 created such widespread interest was not an attack on 
 religion and law, as the more bigoted at once declared it, 
 but a trenchant, feariess attack on kingly and ecclesias- 
 tical tyranny and abuses. Eight chapters, or essays, on 
 the Feudal System, the Church, the Military, the Ad- 
 ministration of Justice, Revenue and Public Expenditure, 
 the Means of Subsistence, Literature, Science and Art, 
 War and Peace, compose the work. The first four 
 chapters were published in a separate volume, as we have 
 seen, in 1792 ; the last four nearly a year later. There 
 
90 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 was that in the work to alarm and anger many classes. 
 Besides a sharp arraignment of church * and priestly 
 abuses, it bitterly attacked the feudal system, and espe- 
 cially primogeniture. It exposed and held up to public 
 ridicule the abuses, absurdities, and intricacies of English 
 jurisprudence, and it was, we believe, the first publication 
 to condemn capital punishment and the " lotteries, ton- 
 tines, and annuities on separate lives," then so popular in 
 Europe. Full on its heels the poet launched a sharper 
 and more bitter philippic, this time in verse — *' The Con- 
 spiracy of Kings." England, Holland, Naples, Sweden, 
 and the German States had conspired to crush out Re- 
 publicanism in France, and this coalition suggested the 
 poem. 
 
 " The Conspiracy of Kings " was more popular with the 
 Whigs of England than the prose work. Its brevity — it 
 contains less than 300 lines — made it easy of insertion in 
 newspapers and broadsides, and it was quickly spread 
 among all classes of readers, eliciting the hearty applause 
 of the Liberal and the bitter condemnation of the Con- 
 servative or Government party. 
 
 From these political broils in which the poet's warm 
 sympathies and pugnacious instincts involved him, it will 
 be pleasant to turn aside, and even retrace our steps a 
 
 *That no injustice may be done our author, we give his definition of the 
 term " church " as he uses it : " From that association of ideas which usually 
 connects the church with religion, I may run the risk of being misunder- 
 stood by some readers unless I advertise them that I consider no connec- 
 tion as existing between these two subjects, and that when I speak of 
 ' church ' indefinitely, I mean the government of a state assuming in the 
 name of God to govern by divine authority, or, in other words, darkening 
 the consciences of men in order to oppress them. In the United States of 
 America there is, strictly speaking, no such thing as a church, and yet in no 
 country are the people more religious. All sorts of religious opinions are 
 entertained there, and yet no heresy among them all. All modes of worship 
 are practised, and yet there is no schism. Men frequently change their creed 
 and their worship, and yet there is no apostasy. They have ministers of re- 
 ligion, but no priests. In short, religion is there a personal and not a corpo- 
 rate concern." 
 
JOEL BARLOW. qI 
 
 little, to consider his family relations. Barlow was so 
 domestic in tastes and habits, and so tenderly attached to 
 his wife, that the parting from her must have been the bit- 
 terest feature of his self-imposed exile. As soon as it be- 
 came apparent that his mission had failed, and that he 
 would remain some time in Europe, he wrote in the ar- 
 dent and impassioned strains of a lover, desiring her to 
 join him in Paris at once. Mrs. Barlow, however, as was 
 natural, demurred. She shrank with womanly dread 
 from the long sea voyage alone, and the arrival among 
 strangers. Aside from the absence of her husband, her 
 life at Greenfield Hill, the most charming of rural retreats, 
 with her brother as protector, the learned and poetic 
 Dr. Dwight as pastor and friend, and a refined society 
 at command, was all that could be desired. But Paris, to 
 the average New England gentlewoman of that day, rep- 
 resented all that was vile, lawless, licentious, papistical, 
 and atheistical. Several letters from him, magnificent 
 examples of special pleading, were necessary before she 
 could be persuaded to undertake the journey. His di- 
 rections how to come and what to provide for the voyage 
 will read strangely to modern lady travellers. 
 
 '* When you come to New York," he wrote, " you will 
 see Mrs. Adams, the Vice-President's wife ; talk with her 
 and Mrs. Smith, her daughter." " There are four cap- 
 tains," he adds, "who follow the London trade and go 
 twice a year, all of whom are the cleverest fellows in the 
 world. They are much used to carrying passengers and 
 ladies. They are acquainted with Prom (Abraham Bald- 
 win) and me, and will treat you with all the attention, 
 politeness, and kindness in the world. 2. You will find 
 in New York, well recommended, a good maid who is 
 used to the sea; take one with you, unless you find a 
 female companion that you like, in which case you may 
 do without a maid. 3. The captain will find all the 
 customary provisions. Take on board besides, the 
 following things (I mention them not because they are 
 
92 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 the most necessary, but because you would be most likely 
 to omit them) : woollen stockings, a loose woollen gown, 
 oat-meal, Indian-meal to make gruel, rice, chocolate, oil of 
 peppermint, and some stomachic medicines — rhubarb or 
 salts. 4. Give the captain a good price, even a double 
 price, and bargain with him to see you lodged at the place 
 I shall mention. If by contrary winds you should come 
 into a port a little distant from London the captain will 
 give you a coach and a companion. You will then go to 
 the house of Mrs. Rogers, No. 18 King Street, Cheap- 
 side, London." Then, if he was not there, she was to 
 write to certain gentlemen, whose addresses he enclosed, 
 who could advise her where he might be found. This 
 plan was carried out. The lady sailed with a Captain 
 Wolsey early in June, and arrived safely at Mrs. Rogers' ; 
 but the errant husband was not there to meet her. In- 
 stead, he wrote, saying that it was impossible for him to 
 leave Paris under several days. 
 
 One gains from the letters a very affecting picture of 
 the scene that followed — the tears, bewailings, and home- 
 sickness : not even the sympathy of a friend, a " charm- 
 ing Connecticut lady," whom he had prevailed on to go 
 to London " to meet her, and keep her laughing till he 
 came," could allay the feeling of disappointment and 
 wrong. 
 
 In about three weeks, however, Mrs. Barlow, with her 
 friend, Mrs. Blackden, passed over to Calais, where the 
 husband met them, and the happy pair were reunited after 
 two years' separation. They at once took up their abode 
 in Paris. How did the young, piously reared, Puritan 
 lady relish the gay capital, is a question that at once oc- 
 curs to the reader. Fortunately, we have a letter from 
 her to Mrs. Dr. Dwight, which answers it satisfactorily. 
 When she had been in Paris about a month she wrote that 
 lady : " O, it is altogether disagreeable to me. It is only 
 existing. I have not an hour I can call my own except 
 when I sleep. Must at all times be dressed and see com- 
 
JOEL BARLOW. q^ 
 
 pany, which you know, my dear madam, is not to my 
 taste. We are pent up in a narrow, dirty street surrounded 
 with high brick walls, and can scarcely see the light of the 
 sun. We have no Sabbath : it is looked upon as a day 
 of amusement entirely. O, how ardently do I wish to re- 
 turn to America, and to Greenfield, that dear, delightful 
 village." The city became more tolerable, however, as 
 time passed. 
 
 The bright, pretty Connecticut girl soon found that 
 she did not appear to disadvantage, as she had feared, 
 in the polished circles of Paris. The provincialisms 
 quickly vanished ; she learned to speak French and 
 Italian with ease, and soon became as great a favorite 
 and as pronounced a Republican as her husband. 
 
 The two remained in Paris until the spring of 1791, 
 when, as we have seen, the enormities of the Jacobins 
 rendered residence there unsafe, and they repaired to 
 London, taking lodgings in Litchfield Street, then the 
 literary centre. His papers contain no reference to the 
 striking scenes and incidents that must have attended 
 his residence in both Paris and London during this pe- 
 riod. He kept no journal. Notes and jottings addressed 
 to his wife contain frequent references to some mysteri- 
 ous affair which was dependent on the action of the House 
 of Lords. He was in constant communication with 
 the French patriots. The American painters — Trumbull, 
 Copley, and Benjamin West — were among his associates, 
 as were also the London literati — Home Tooke, Price, 
 Priestly, Thirlwall, and William Hayley, the poet, of whom 
 Southey said that " he was by popular election king of 
 the English poets of his time." At Copley's, who was 
 then living in the house No. 25 George Street, Han- 
 over Square, so charmingly described by his grand- 
 daughter in her recent life of the artist, and which 
 was a favorite resort for all resident or visiting Amer- 
 icans in London, the young poet and his wife were 
 frequent and welcome guests. 
 
94 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 But his chief employment, as we have seen, was the 
 writing and publishing of his political essays, presumably 
 under the patronage of the Constitutional Society. 
 
 Early in April, 1792, he has an important project to 
 communicate to Lafayette, who is at Metz, in command 
 of 35,000 men, opposing the Austrian army of invasion, 
 and sets out to pierce the cordon of the opposing force. 
 He details his adventures during the trip in a series of 
 interesting letters to Mrs. Barlow. From Aix-la-Cha- 
 pelle he writes : " In travelling on the Continent I find I 
 have seen much to affect as well as much to afiflict. I 
 find myself more than ever affected with the fortunes of 
 that dear, deluded race that we call our fellow-creatures. 
 I say nothing of their situation in the countries where I 
 have passed, as that would be like politics, and my letter 
 may be opened ; I reserve that till I see you. But I 
 wished that my Ruthy could have been a witness of some 
 scenes that have so affected me." He adds in French 
 that news of the declaration of war — (between France and 
 Austria) — has been received there. From Dunkirk, May 
 20: " Ever since I wrote from Aix last month it has been 
 out of my power to write you, that is, to say anything 
 that I wished to say, as I expected my letters would be 
 opened ; then I expected every day to have got into 
 France, when I should be free to tell you all. But the 
 cursed tyrannies of men, and the more supportable ones 
 of the elements, have fought against me ever since. I 
 thank God I have escaped them all, though our new 
 philosophers in London have not taught me to subdue 
 them. I left that seat of the * Forsaken Villains,' Cob- 
 lentz, on the 3d of May, after having concocted a good 
 plan with my friend to render the most essential service 
 to France. I was to make the best of my way to France 
 to communicate my scheme to Lafayette, who was then 
 near Metz — (cast your eye upon the map). The 4th day 
 I had got within a mile of the parties, when I was taken 
 up by the Austrians and sent back to Luxembourg. A 
 
JOEL BARLOW. g^ 
 
 long tale hangs to this which I will tell you afterwards. 
 I found it impossible to get into France in that direction. 
 From Luxembourg, after several days' hinderance, I trav- 
 ersed all the frontiers as far as Ostend, not without mak- 
 ing several attempts to reach the French army, which lay 
 within two or three leagues of me all the way. From 
 Luxembourg to Ostend is 200 miles, travelling very slow. 
 At Ostend I went on board a heavy, dull-sailing Dutch- 
 man to come to Dunkirk, only thirty miles ; as fine a 
 morning as need be ; but my Dutchman did not reach 
 Dunkirk that night, when, to be sure, nothing but a vio- 
 lent storm would do, and here we have been beating and 
 buffeting three days and three nights and a half, within 
 plain sight of Dunkirk, and a more terrible scene my 
 poor nerves never experienced. . . . O my Carissima, had 
 I set out one fortnight sooner, or immediately on receiv- 
 ing S.'s letter, everything would have been done to my 
 wish, and better than I had ever calculated. Had I 
 arrived at Luxembourg three days sooner I might have 
 got, without difficulty, into France. Had I sailed a tide 
 sooner from Ostend it would have saved me four days, 
 and perhaps been the saving of the scheme, which perhaps 
 may be once more ruined by delay. . . . Tell Mr. John- 
 son if either of my books are sold off to go on with 
 another edition as with the first." His letters he directs 
 addressed " Care Monsieur de Lafayette, Lieut.-Gen. des 
 armies de France en son campT 
 
 He continues the narrative from Paris on the 31st of 
 May. 
 
 " I have arrived here this moment. Lafayette sent 
 
 me to negotiate the affair of S with the minister. I 
 
 don't much expect it will succeed, but I am not sorry 
 that I pursued it, because it has led me to much informa- 
 tion. ..." 
 
 On the 4th of June he wrote in French that he could 
 not finish his affair because of Lafayette's non-arrival ; 
 and again, on the i8th, that he should leave Paris in five 
 
^6 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 days for London, not having been able to finish the busi- 
 ness that brought him there. 
 
 In a letter dated the 25th he gives this interesting 
 morceau : " You will hear frightful stories about the riots 
 at the Tuilleries on the 20th. You must believe but little ; 
 there was no violence committed. This visit to the 
 king by armed citizens was undoubtedly contrary to law, 
 but the existence of a king is contrary to another law of 
 a higher origin." He returned to London about the 
 first of July. 
 
 His leisure hours on his return were spent in preparing 
 a "Letter" to the National Convention of France, which 
 was presented on the assembling of that body in Septem- 
 ber. This letter, which appears among his published 
 works, will compare favorably with any state paper of the 
 age. It was a lengthy treatise, filling some seventy 
 printed pages, and called the attention of the legislators 
 to such important topics as the equality of rights, the 
 people's ability for self-government, necessity of a simple 
 constitution, danger of a national church, distinction 
 between a constitutional code and occasional laws, ac- 
 quirement or loss of citizenship, naturalization, elections, 
 magisterial and ministerial functions, salaries and perqui- 
 sites of office, inviolability of Senators and Representa- 
 tives, criminal law, the abolition of capital punishment, 
 public instruction against public lotteries, independence 
 of colonies, abolition of the standing army, and ratifica- 
 tion of amendments. The paper was received with 
 marked favor by the delegates, and led to their conferring 
 on its author the distinguished honor of French citizen- 
 ship. Dr. Joseph Warner, the English surgeon and phi- 
 losopher, writes to Barlow, from Paris, Oct. i8th, on 
 this subject : " A thousand thanks for the ' feast of reason 
 and flow of soul ' with which you have this day regaled 
 me in your kind letter and that to the National Conven- 
 tion. It will, I flatter myself, do great credit to the 
 writer and great good to the glorious cause of which he 
 
'-/"^: 
 
 JOEL BARLOW. gy 
 
 is SO able a supporter. . . . Leave the scene ? No : you 
 must come here and be made a conventionalist — a citizen. 
 I think you will be whether you come or not. For in 
 the Patriote of the 25th ult. appeared the following list 
 of seven Anglais to whom the National Convention pro- 
 posed to confer the title of Citizen of France : Thomas 
 Cooper, John Home Tooke, John Oswald, George Boris, 
 Joel Barlow, Thomas Christie ; and whose should the last 
 name be but that of your humble servant, who was not 
 a little pleased to see himself, with his little pretensions, 
 in such good company." Save Washington and Ham- 
 ilton, Barlow was the only American on whom the priv- 
 ileges of French citizenship had been conferred. In 7 ^C^ 
 November the poet suddenly quitted England, it is said 
 to escape arbitrary arrest for his political heresies, and 
 several years elapsed before he again revisited her familiar 
 scenes. Mrs. Barlow, however, remained in London. 
 Arriving in Paris he found that the commissioners 
 appointed by the National Convention to organize Savoy 
 into a Department of France were about proceeding 
 thither, Gregoire, Bishop of Blois, Senator and Member 
 of the Institute, with other warm friends of the poet, 
 being among them, and it was arranged that the newly- 
 made citizen should accompany them to Savoy, and be 
 returned as its deputy to the Convention. Barlow de- 
 tails the whole plan in a letter to his wife, dated Paris, 
 4th December, 1792: " I am called upon this moment, and 
 have scarcely time to tell you of it, to go with the Com- 
 missioners of the National Convention to Savoy. That 
 country is united to France as an 84th Department. 
 These Commissioners are going to organize the internal 
 government, and teach them how to act in forming them- 
 selves and in choosing their deputies to the National 
 Convention. They intend a certain friend of your's shall 
 be chosen. Of this you must not be sure, but he will at 
 least see much of the south of France, the city of Lyons, 
 the Alps, etc." He then expected to be absent three 
 7 
 
98 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 weeks, and advised his wife that she might join him, if 
 she wished at Chambery, the ancient seat of the province, 
 where the Commission would make headquarters. In 
 point of fact he was absent all winter. He arrived 
 about December 15, and in a note of that date gives this 
 flattering estimate of the Savoyards : " Here is a people, 
 rigorous and hardy, just born to liberty. They have long 
 struggled under the worst and most complicated species 
 of tyranny without being broken down in their spirits or 
 debased in their morals. Their character bears a strong 
 resemblance to the mountains which gave them birth. 
 They appear to be perfectly united among themselves, 
 and enthusiastically attached to their new brothers, the 
 French. . . . Their patriotism and morals appear to me 
 the purest of any people I ever knew." 
 
 Although he was received in Lyons and Savoy *' with 
 signal marks of fraternity and respect," yet, he informs 
 her, " the object which you will suppose I had somewhat 
 in mind will probably not be accomplished." December 
 15th, he writes in French, that he is occupied day and 
 night in writing " a little work on the political situation 
 in Piedmont, in the form of a letter to the Piedmontese, 
 exposing {exposant) the advantages which would attend 
 a revolution of government in their country," a letter 
 which was printed and sown broadcast that winter on 
 the Piedmontese slopes. In later letters he tells her of 
 a " little song " which he has made on the anniversary 
 of their wedding,* but not a whisper is breathed of the 
 charming mock pastoral which, more than anything he 
 ever wrote, proves his claim to the possession of true 
 genius. For in the little inn at Chambery the poem 
 "Hasty-Pudding" had its birth. Several expressions in 
 the poet's letters show that the rural scenery of Savoy 
 had brought vividly to mind the Connecticut hill slopes 
 and the pastoral scenes of youth. "There always was 
 something in rural scenes too bewitching for me to enjoy 
 
 * See Chapter VIII. 
 
The following is 2i fac simile of the opening page of the first di 
 
 
 
 rtAti- 
 
 
 r i2^ 
 
 /^ W^-g^^ ^^^^w^e^-^-*^*-^ 
 
 /^y 
 
 ^'^'tyt'^ /e^e^^ij! 
 
ft of the poem " Hasty Pudding, " in the author's handwriting 
 
 
 ; 
 
 
 /€^y^\ V 
 
 
 M^^^ 
 
 
 
 .^^ 
 
n 
 
JOEL BARLOW. qq 
 
 without you," he writes to his wife. ** If ever I grow 
 peevish or indifferent, take me into the country among 
 the rocks and trees. They will immediately transform 
 you into an angel, and me into anything you please." 
 " There are many things about the country which charm 
 me," he writes again. " With you and a little farm 
 among these romantic mountains and valleys I could be 
 happy, content. I would care no more for the pleasures , 
 of the plain ; but America — the word is sweetness to my \ 
 soul; it awakens all the tenderness of my nature." The 
 green hills and trim farm-houses of Savoy brought viv- 
 idly to mind his own Connecticut hills, and the associa- 
 tion was heightened when, on gathering with his grave 
 compeers one day for the evening meal, he found smoking 
 hot on the table the New Englander's national dish — 
 Hasty-Pudding. The bard could scarce believe his eyes. 
 He had sought it in vain in Paris, in London, at the hands 
 of many a famous cJief, and now, behold it under the 
 smoky rafters of a Savoyard inn. All through the meal, 
 it is said, he descanted to his interested colleagues on 
 the merits of his favorite dish. When alone, these 
 reminiscences continued to haunt him, until, under their 
 influence, he produced what is incomparably his best 
 poem, and which still remains one of the best examples 
 of its peculiar style of m.ock heroic and pastoral verse 
 ever produced. The poet here is natural, spontaneous, 
 unaffected. His subject has been familiar from childhood : 
 his tropes and figures are furnished by his surroundings, 
 or drawn from the storehouse of memory. 
 
 He sang : ""x i^/. , 
 
 Ye Alps audacious, through the heavens that rise, \ C j;^- v. c i p.. CC-CC 
 To cramp the day and hide me from the skies ; 
 Ye Gallic flags that, o'er their heights unfurl'd, 
 Bear death to kings and freedom to the world, 
 I sing not you. A softer theme I choose, 
 A virgin theme, unconscious of the Muse, 
 But fruitful, rich, well suited to inspire 
 The purest frenzy of poetic fire. 
 
100 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 Despise it not, ye bards to terror steeled, 
 Who hurl your thunders round the epic field; 
 Nor ye who strain your midnight throats to sing 
 Joys that the vineyard and the still house bring ; 
 Or on some distant fair your notes employ. 
 And speak of raptures that you ne'er enjoy. 
 I sing the sweets I know, the charms I feel, 
 My morning incense, and my evening meal, 
 The sweets of Hasty- Pudding. Come, dear bowl, 
 Glide o'er my palate and inspire my soul. 
 The milk beside thee, smoking from the kine, 
 Its substance mingled, maiTied in with thine, 
 Shall cool and temper thy superior heat. 
 And save the pains of blowing while I eat. 
 
 Oh ! could the smooth, the emblematic song 
 Flow like thy genial juices o'er my tongue, 
 Could those mild morsels in my numbers chime, 
 And as they roll in substance, roll in rhyme. 
 No more thy awkward, unpoetic name. 
 Should shun the Muse, or prejudice thy fame ; 
 But, rising grateful to the accustomed ear. 
 All bards should catch it and all realms revere ! 
 
 Assist me first with pious toil to trace. 
 Through wrecks of time, thy lineage and thy race ; 
 Declare what lovely squaw, in days of yore, 
 Ere great Columbus sought thy native shore. 
 First gave thee to the world ; her works of fame 
 Have lived indeed, but lived without a name. 
 Some tawny Ceres, goddess of her days, 
 First learned with stones to crack the well dried maize, 
 Through the rough sieve to shake the golden shower, 
 In boiling water stir the yellow flour ; 
 The yellow flour, bestrewed and stirred with haste. 
 Swells in the flood and thickens to a paste, 
 Then puffs and wallops, rises to the brim. 
 Drinks the dry knobs that on the surface swim ; 
 The knobs at last the busy ladle breaks, 
 And the whole mass its true consistence takes. 
 
 Could but her sacred name, unknown so long. 
 Rise, like her labors, to the son of song, 
 To her, to them, I'd consecrate my lays. 
 And blow her pudding with the breath of praise. 
 If 'twas Oella, whom I sang before, 
 I'd here ascribe her one great virtue more. 
 
JOEL BARLOW. IqI 
 
 Nor through the rich Peruvian realms alone 
 The fame of Sol's sweet daughter should be known, 
 But o'er the world's wide climes should live secure, 
 Far as his rays extend, as long as they endure. 
 
 / Dear Hasty-Pudding, what unpromised joy y 
 
 ' Expands my heart, to meet thee in Savoy I 
 
 Doomed o'er the world through devious paths to roam, 
 
 Each clime my country, and each house my home, 
 
 My soul is soothed, my cares have found an end, 
 
 I greet my long-lost, unforgotten friend. 
 
 For thee through Paris, that corrupted town, 
 How long in vain I wandered up and down, 
 Where shameless Bacchus, with his drenching hoard 
 Cold from his cave, usurps the morning board. 
 London is lost in smoke and steeped in tea; 
 No Yankee there can lisp the name of thee ; 
 The uncouth word, a libel on the town. 
 Would call a proclamation from the crown. 
 From climes oblique, that fear the sun's full rays, 
 Chilled in their fogs, exclude the generous maize ; 
 A grain whose rich luxuriant growth requires 
 Short, gentle showers and bright, ethereal fires. 
 
 But here, though distant from our native shore, 
 With mutual glee we meet and laugh once more, 
 The same I I know thee by that yellow face. 
 That strong complexion of true Indian race, 
 Which time can never change, nor soil impair^ 
 Nor Alpine snows, nor Turkey's morbid air ; 
 For endless years, through every mild domain. 
 Where grows the maize, there thou art sure to reign. 
 
 But man, more fickle, the bold license claims, 
 In different realms to give thee different names. 
 Thee, the soft nations round the warm Levant 
 Polenta call, the French, of course, Polente ; 
 E'en in thy native regions, how I blush 
 To hear the Pennsylvanians call thee Mush ! 
 On Hudson's banks, while men of Belgic spawn 
 Insult and eat thee by the name Suppawn. 
 All spurious appellations, void of truth — 
 I've better known thee from my earliest youth : 
 Thy name is Hasty-Pudding! thus my sire 
 Was wont to greet thee fuming from the fire ; 
 And while he argued in thy just defence 
 With logic clear, he thus explained the sense :— 
 
102 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 ' " In haste the boiling cauldron o'er the blaze 
 Receives and cooks the ready-powdered maize ; 
 In haste 'tis served, and then, in equal haste, 
 With cooling milk, we make the sweet repast. 
 No carving to be done, no knife to grate 
 The tender ear, and wound the stony plate ; 
 But the smooth spoon, just fitted to the lip, 
 And taught with art the yielding mass to dip, 
 By frequent journeys to the bowl well stored 
 Performs the hasty honors of the board." 
 Such is thy name, significant and clear, 
 A name, a sound to every Yankee dear. 
 But most to me, whose heart and palate chaste 
 Preserve my pure hereditary taste. 
 
 There are who strive to stamp with disrepute 
 The luscious food, because it feeds the brute ; 
 In tropes of high-strained wit, while gaudy prigs 
 Compare thy nursling man to pampered pigs ; 
 With sovereign scorn I treat the vulgar jest. 
 Nor fear to share thy bounties with the beast. 
 What though the generous cow gives me to quaff 
 The milk nutritious ; am I then a calf ? 
 Or can the genius of the noisy swine. 
 Though nursed on pudding, claim a kin to mine ? 
 Sure the sweet song I fashion to thy praise 
 Runs more melodious than the notes they raise. 
 
 My song, resounding in its grateful glee, 
 No merit claims ; I praise myself in thee. 
 My father loved thee through his length of days ! 
 For thee his fields were shaded o'er with maize ; 
 From thee what health, what vigor he possessed, 
 Ten sturdy freemen from his loins attest ; 
 ; Thy constellation ruled my natal morn, 
 ' And all my bones were made of Indian com. 
 I Delicious grain ! whatever form it take. 
 To roast or boil, to smother or to bake. 
 In every dish 'tis welcome still to me. 
 But most, my Hasty-Pudding > most in thee. 
 
 Let the green succotash with thee contend, 
 Let beans and corn their sweetest juices blend, 
 Let butter drench them in its yellow tide. 
 And a long slice of bacon grace their side ; 
 Not all the plate, how famed soe'er it be. 
 Can please my palate like a bowl of thee. 
 
JOEL BARLOW. jq- 
 
 Some talk of Hoe-Cake, fair Virginia's pride ; 
 Rich Johnny-Cake this mouth has often tried. 
 Both please me well, their virtues much the same ; 
 Alike their fabric as allied their fame, 
 Except in dear New England, where the last 
 Receives a dash of pumpkin in the paste, 
 To give it sweetness and improve the taste. 
 But place them all before me, smoking hot, 
 The big round dumpling rolling from the pot ; 
 The pudding of the bag, whose quivering breast, 
 With suet, lined, leads on the Yankee feast; 
 The Charlotte brown, within whose crusty sides 
 A belly soft the pulpy apple hides ; 
 The yellow bread, whose face like amber glows, 
 And all of Indian that the bake-pan knows — 
 Ye tempt me not, my favorite greets my eyes. 
 To that loved bowl my spoon by instinct flies. 
 
 To mix the food by vicious rules of art, 
 To kill the stomach and to sink the heart, 
 To make mankind to social virtue sour, 
 Cram o'er each dish and be what they devour; 
 For this the Kitchen Muse first framed her book, 
 Commanding sweets to stream from every cook ; 
 Children no more their antic gambols tried. 
 And friends to physic wondered why they died. 
 Not so the Yankee — his abundant feast, 
 With simples furnished, and with plainness drest, 
 A numerous offspring gathers round the board 
 And cheers alike the servant and the lord, 
 Whose well-bought hunger prompts the joyous task, 
 And health attends them from the short repast. 
 
 While the full pail rewards the milkmaid's toil, 
 The mother sees the morning cauldron boil ; 
 To stir the pudding next demands her care, 
 To spread the table and the bowls prepare ; 
 To feed the children as their portions cool, 
 And comb their heads and send them off to school. 
 Yet may the simplest dish some rules impart, 
 For nature scorns not all the aids of art : 
 E'en Hasty-Pudding, purest of all food. 
 May still be bad, indifferent, or good, 
 As sage experience the short process guides, 
 Or want of skill, or want of care presides. 
 Whoe'er would form it on the surest plan, 
 To rear the child and long sustain the man ; 
 
104 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 To shield the morals while it mends the size, 
 And all the powers of every food supplies — 
 Attend the lessons that the Muse shall bring, 
 Suspend your spoons, and listen while I sing. 
 
 But since, O man ! thy life and health demand 
 Not food alone, but labor from thy hand, 
 First in the field, beneath the sun's strong rays, 
 Ask of thy Mother Earth the needful maize; 
 She loves the race that courts her yielding soil, 
 And gives her bounties to the sons of toil. 
 
 When now the ox, obedient to thy call, 
 Repays the loan that filled the winter stall, 
 Pursue his traces o'er the furrowed plain. 
 And plant in measured hills the golden grain. 
 But when the tender germ begins to shoot, 
 And the green spire declares the sprouting root, 
 Then guard your nursling from each greedy foe — 
 The insidious worm, the all-devouring crow. 
 A little ashes, sprinkled round the spire. 
 Soon steeped in rain, will bid the worm retire; 
 The feathered robber with his hungry maw 
 Swift flies the field before your man of straw — 
 A frightful image, such as schoolboys bring 
 When met to burn the Pope, or hang the King. 
 
 Thrice in the season, through each verdant row. 
 Wield the strong ploughshare and the faithful hoe — 
 The faithful hoe ; a double task that takes, — 
 To till the summer corn and roast the winter cakes. 
 Slow springs the blade while checked by chilling rains, 
 E'er yet the sun the seat of Cancer gains ; 
 But when his present fires emblaze the land. 
 Then start the juices, then the roots expand; 
 Then, like a column of Corinthian mould, 
 The stalk struts upward and the leaves unfold; 
 The bushy branches all the ridges fill. 
 Entwine their arms, and kiss from hill to hill. 
 Here cease to vex them, all your cares are done ; 
 Leave the last labors to the parent sun ; 
 Beneath his genial smiles the well-dressed field, 
 When Autumn calls, a plenteous crop shall yield. 
 
 Now the strong foliage bears the standards high, 
 And shoots the tall top-gallants to the sky ; 
 The suckling ears their silky fringes bend, 
 And pregnant grown, their swelling coats distend ; 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 105 
 
 The loaded stalk, while still the burden grows, 
 O'erhangs the space that runs between the rows. 
 High as z. hop-field waves the silent grove, 
 A safe retreat for little thefts of love. 
 When the fledged roasting-ears invite the maid 
 To meet her swain beneath the new-formed shade : 
 His generous hand unloads the cumbrous hill, 
 And the green spoils her ready basket fill ; 
 Small compensation for the twofold bliss, 
 The prqmised wedding and the present kiss. 
 
 Slight depredations these ; but now the moon 
 Calls from his hollow tree the sly raccoon; 
 And while by night he bears his prize away, 
 The bolder squirrel labors through the day : 
 Both thieves alike, but provident of time — 
 A virtue rare that almost hides their crime. 
 Then let them steal the little stores they can, 
 And fill their granaries from the toils of man ; 
 We've one advantage where they take no part : 
 With all their wiles they ne'er have found the art 
 To boil the Hasty-Pudding ; here we shine 
 Superior far to tenants of the pine ; 
 This envied boon to man shall still belong, 
 Unshared by them in substance or in song. 
 
 At last the closing season browns the plain, 
 And ripe October gathers in the grain ; 
 Deep-loaded carts the spacious corn-house fill. 
 The sack distended marches to the mill; 
 The laboring mill beneath the burden groans, 
 And showers the future pudding from the stones, 
 'Till the glad housewife greets the powdered gold, 
 And the new crop exterminates the old. 
 Ah ! who can sing, what every wight must feel, 
 The joy that enters with the bag of meal. 
 A general jubilee pervades the house. 
 Wakes every child and gladdens every mouse. 
 
 The days grow short, but though the falling sun 
 To the glad swain proclaims his day's work done. 
 Night's pleasing shades his various tasks prolong, 
 And yield new subjects to my various song. 
 For now, the corn-house filled, the harvest home. 
 The invited neighbors to the Husking come ; 
 A frolic scene, where work, and mirth, and play 
 Unite their charms to chase the hours away. 
 
I05 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 Where the huge heap lies centred in the hall, 
 
 The lamp suspended from the cheerful wall. 
 
 Brown, corn-fed nymphs and strong, hard-handed beaux, 
 
 Alternate ranged, extend in circling rows. 
 
 Assume their seats, the solid mass attack ; 
 
 The dry husks rustle and the corn-cobs crack ; 
 
 The song, the laugh, alternate notes resound, 
 
 And the sweet cider trips in silence round. 
 
 The laws of husking every wight can tell— 
 And sure no laws he ever keeps so well : 
 For each red ear a general kiss he gains, 
 With each smut ear she smuts the luckless swains ; 
 But when to some sweet maid a prize is cast, 
 Red as her lips and taper as her waist. 
 She walks the round, and culls one favored beau. 
 Who leaps, the luscious tribute to bestow. 
 Various the sport as are the wits and brains 
 Of well-pleased lasses and contending swains. 
 Till the vast mound of corn is swept away, 
 And he that gets the last ear wins the day. 
 
 Meanwhile the housewife urges all her care, 
 The well-earned feast to hasten and prepare : 
 The sifted meal already waits her hand, 
 The milk is strained, the bowls in order stand, 
 The fire flames high, and, as a fool that takes 
 The headlong stream that o'er the mill-dam breaks, 
 Foams, roars, and rages with incessant toils, 
 So the vexed cauldron rages, roars, and boils. 
 
 First with clean salt she seasons well the food, 
 Then strews the flour and thickens all the flood. 
 Long o'er the simmering fire she lets it stand — 
 To stir it well demands a stronger hand : 
 The husband takes his turn, and round and round 
 The ladle flies ; at last the toil is crowned ; 
 When to the board the thronging buskers pour, 
 And take their seats as at the corn before. 
 
 I leave them to their feast. There still belong 
 More useful matters to my faithful song ; 
 For rules there are, though ne'er unfolded yet, 
 Nice rules and wise, how pudding should be eat. 
 
 Some with molasses line the luscious treat. 
 And mix, like Bards, the useful with the sweet. 
 
JOEL BARLOW. jq^ 
 
 A wholesome dish, and well deserving praise, 
 A great resource in those bleak, wintry days. 
 When the chilled earth lies buried deep in snow, 
 And raging Boreas dries the shivering cow. 
 
 Blest cow ! thy praise shall still my notes employ: 
 Great source of health, the only source of joy, 
 Mother of Egypt's god ; — but sure for me. 
 Were I to leave my God I'd worship thee. 
 How oft thy teats these pious hands have prest 1 
 How oft thy bounties proved my only feast ! 
 How oft I've fed thee with my favorite grain, 
 And roared, like thee, to see thy children slain ! 
 
 Ye swains who know her various worth to prize, 
 Ah ! house her well from Winter's angry skies. 
 Potatoes, pumpkins, should her sadness cheer. 
 Corn from her crib, and mashes from your beer; 
 When Spring returns she'll well acquit the loan. 
 And nurse at once your infants and her own. 
 
 Milk, then, with pudding, I should always choose ; 
 To this in future I confine my Muse, 
 Till she, in haste, some further hints unfold. 
 Good for the young, nor useless to the old. 
 First in your bowl the milk abundant take. 
 Then drop with care along the silver lake 
 Your flakes of pudding ; these, at first, will hide 
 Their little bulk beneath the swelling tide ; 
 But when their growing mass no more can sink. 
 When the soft island looms above the brink. 
 Then check your hand ; you've got the portion due. 
 So taught my Sire, and what he taught is true. 
 
 There is a choice in spoons. Though small appear 
 The nice distinction, yet to me 'tis clear 
 The deep-bowled Gallic spoon, contrived to scoop 
 In ample draughts the thin diluted soup. 
 Performs not well in those substantial things, 
 Whose mass adhesive to the metal clings ; 
 Where the strong labial muscles must embrace 
 The gentle curve, and sweep the hollow space. 
 With ease to enter and discharge the freight, 
 A bowl less concave, but still more dilate. 
 Becomes the pudding best. The shape, the size, 
 A secret rests, unknown to vulgar eyes ; 
 
I08 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 Experienced feeders can alone impart 
 
 A rule so much above the lore of art : 
 
 These tuneful lips, that thousand spoons have tried, 
 
 With just precision could the point decide. 
 
 Though not in song ; the Muse but poorly shines 
 In cones and cubes, and geometric lines, 
 Yet the true form, as near as she can tell, 
 Is that small section of a goose-egg shell 1 
 
 Which in two equal portions shall divide 
 The distance from the centre to the side. 
 
 Fear not to slaver ; 'tis no deadly sin. 
 Like the fine Frenchman, from your joyous chin 
 Suspend the ready napkin ; or, like me. 
 Poise with one hand your bowl upon your knee; 
 Just in the zenith your wise head project, 
 Your full spoon, rising in a line direct, 
 Bold as a bucket, heeds no drops that fall, 
 The wide-mouthed bowl will surely catch them all. 
 
 It proved a dreary winter to the little wife, however, 
 shut up alone in great, dreary London, and made to bear 
 the odium of being a proscribed Republican's wife. Her 
 situation certainly was distressing. Her husband could 
 not safely return to England, and she feared to join him 
 abroad, for a general European war was imminent. With 
 this war, no doubt, mingled wifely fears for her husband's 
 welfare, both moral and physical. " Whither will these 
 wild projects lead him," we can imagine her saying, 
 "into the dungeons of England, of Austria, or the bloody 
 hands of Robespierre ? and into what company ? " for 
 Republicanism in that day made strange bed-fellows. 
 This winter, too, her feelings are outraged by bitter at- 
 tacks upon him in the public press, and by the silent con- 
 demnation of old friends who stand aloof. 
 
 Under date of Jan. i, 1793, she writes from London on 
 this subject : " Would to Heaven you had not left me — 
 that is, unless it has given you satisfaction ; if so, I have 
 nothing to say. Here you cannot return at present ; 
 everything evil is said of you, and I am obliged to avoid 
 company not to hear you abused. I hope you may be 
 
JOEL BARLOW. IOQ 
 
 provided for in some eligible way in Paris, or what is to 
 become of us ? For myself it matters little ; I can and 
 shall go home in the spring. Our friends in Paris wrote 
 that they expected me there ; why should I go unless 
 you are like to continue ? .... Our friends the P.'s have 
 quite withdrawn their attentions. I have not seen nor 
 heard from them in more than a month — on account of 
 your pontics, I suppose, but am not sorry. . . ." Again, 
 Jan. 9th : " You cannot think how much you are abused 
 here. The Oracle of yesterday has promised his corre- 
 spondents that on Thursday he shall publish in his paper an 
 interesting account of the life of Joel Barlow, author of 
 the ' Advice to the Privileged Orders.' Mr. Burke often 
 makes honorable mention of you in Parliament ; some- 
 times he calls you a prophet — the prophet Joel. I shall 
 enclose you one of his sentences. You are very obnox- 
 ious here, and it is thought you cannot return with 
 safety; the Alien Bill would prevent you, if nothing 
 more. Mr. Burke said : ' The members of the Constitu- 
 tional Society held open correspondence with certain 
 societies in France, for the express purpose of altering 
 the Constitution of this country. A citizen by the name 
 of Joel Barlow, another by the name of John Adams, and 
 Citizen Frost were engaged in this correspondence, and 
 they had been deemed answerable.' Should England 
 go to war, as there is now every appearance, what would 
 you do with me ? I should not like to be in Paris, and all 
 the ports blocked up with fleets, and the frontiers sur- 
 rounded with armies. I could not be safe in Boulogne, 
 and could not go to America with safety if war is soon 
 declared, ... I fear, my love, you did wrong in going 
 to Paris with Mr. F — t : his character here is so bad it 
 has injured yours, hitherto spotless. I shall send you 
 Mr. Fox's speech upon the Kings,* at the opening of 
 Parliament : it is excellent." Still again, Jan. 28th : 
 
 *The Conspiracy of Kings (?). 
 
no LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 "Your affairs here are all a wreck, as Mr. J — n (Johnson, 
 his printer) will tell you. It is my present intention to 
 go to my country early in the spring : this you will un- 
 doubtedly advise, hard as it is for us both. My heart 
 revolts at the idea, but it must be. ... I told you our 
 friends the P.'s had quite withdrawn themselves from me. 
 I have not seen nor heard from either of them in more 
 than two months, . . . My feelings have been much 
 wounded, as you may suppose, to see and hear my be- 
 loved, my best friend, thus scandalized as he has been 
 here, when I know so well the goodness, the rectitude of 
 his heart and intentions. I was going to enclose a long 
 account of you which has been in the public papers, but 
 on the Avhole thought it not worth the notice. . . . Make 
 yourself happy and respectable ; follow entirely your own 
 inclinations in so doing, knowing that you will always 
 gratify me ; I knowyour conduct will always be directed 
 by humanity, integrity, and a desire to promote the good 
 of your fellow-creatures." 
 
 Feb. ist. — " I fear every mail will be the last, as we 
 are in daily expectation of war being declared by this 
 country or France, as the French Minister is ordered out 
 of this kingdom. . . ." The poet's answers to these 
 epistles are models of conjugal tenderness, respect, and 
 wisdom. He makes no attempt to defend his course, 
 does not combat her design of returning home, but in- 
 stead, gives a conditional promise to return with her. 
 
 The election in Savoy, for which he had been waiting, 
 was held late in February, and Citizen Barlow was not re- 
 turned as Deputy. He arrived in Paris on the 5th of 
 March, 1793, fully determined, as appears by his letters, to 
 sail for home as soon as a ship could be procured, and his 
 wife got over from England. He had several plans for 
 America on his return, as appears by the letters : ist. To 
 return to the law at Hartford ; 2d. To go to Musking. 
 mum, where he had land, received for his services in the 
 army; 3d. To Georgia; 4th. Some possible public ap- 
 
JOEL BARLOW. HI 
 
 pointment. But he did not visit his native land that year, 
 nor in many years. Just as he was on the point of sail- 
 ing, a friend, Colonel Hitchborne, approached him with 
 an advantageous offer, the character of which does not 
 appear, but which, after being referred to Mrs. Barlow for 
 approval, was accepted. It was nearly four months be- 
 fore the exiled husband could induce the wife to rejoin 
 him in Paris, then the terror of Europe. " I meddle 
 with no politics," he declares in one letter, and he seems 
 at this time to have withdrawn from active participation 
 in European affairs. " Paris is quiet," he says in another, 
 " and I believe will be," and he assures her that there is 
 no apprehension of personal danger to any peaceable 
 person there. At length, late in June, the lady ventured 
 to cross over, and the pair settled in lodgings for the 
 summer at Mendon, one of the suburbs of the city. For 
 the next three years Barlow seems to have devoted him- 
 self to commerce and speculation, with a view of retriev- 
 ing his fortunes, sadly impaired by his support of the 
 Republican cause. He is in Hamburg, Amsterdam, Ant- 
 werp, quite frequently, on "business." His ledgers of 
 the period show accounts with many ships, captains, and 
 cities. He invested largely in French Government con- 
 sols, which rose rapidly after the victories of Napoleon 
 and yielded him a handsome fortune. But he engaged 
 in no more political intrigues, and published no more 
 political writings except, in September, 1793, the last 
 part of the ''Advice to the Privileged Orders," the 
 first chapter of which had been left with his printer on 
 leaving London the year before. In the spring of 1793 
 he had received the MSS. from the printer, with a note 
 saying that its publication and sale had been forbidden 
 by the authorities, whereupon he completed the work 
 and issued it from the English press in Paris. His 
 American correspondents during this period were, 
 chiefly, Dr. Hopkins, of the tuneful four, Oliver Wolcott, 
 Abraham Baldwin, and Thomas Jefferson. Among his 
 
112 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 European correspondents were Stanislaus, King of Po- 
 land, Prof. C. D. Ebeling, of the University of Gottin- 
 gen, Abbe Gregoire, William Hayley, the poet. Dr. 
 Warner, and other English Constitutionalists. 
 
 Dr. Hopkins' letters informed him of the welfare and 
 fortunes of certain old friends, who have been lost sight 
 of in the progress of our story. " I still live," he wrote 
 in one, " where I did when you went away, though I 
 ought to live in the middle of the town, I have 
 followed my calling with great industry the whole time ; 
 still keep up my medical school, and have now five 
 pupils — all promising young men — with me. I have not 
 sold my estate at Litchfield, but have exchanged it for 
 one in the middle of that county, that where Samuel 
 Sheldon kept a tavern in the war. I hope to sell my 
 Litchfield property timely for moving to some place 
 where you shall live when you return, for you know I 
 would make large sacrifices for the sake of enjoying my 
 old friends. Hartford has become a very different place 
 to me since you and friend Wolcott left it, and, Trum- 
 bull apart, has no more charms for me than Musking- 
 mum. Indeed, I believe those boundless wilds would 
 yield me more pleasure than any old settlement ; but 
 friends are the chief comforts of life. Wolcott has 
 taken a permanent residence at New York. Where you 
 will provide for your old age I know not, but I wish to 
 know, and hope in due time to hear from you respecting 
 your future plan of life. I have lately found that the 
 prime of our days is speeding apace ; that the transition 
 from middle to old age will prove short, and what can 
 we do better on a stage that we must quit, than strive 
 to leave some fair monument of melioration behind us ? 
 You have already erected a literary monument to your 
 memory, and are now preparing to make the Western 
 wilderness vocal in your praise. I have now no doubt of 
 your success, but am afraid that your extensive plans 
 will deprive me forever of your acquaintance. As for 
 
JOEL BARLOW. jj» 
 
 myself, I grope about among the sick, and now and 
 then ease the pain or cure the disease of a fellow-mortal ; 
 but have not yet done anything to convince posterity 
 that I have been fairly awake. 'Tis true that, some time 
 after you left us, I returned (as Mickle says), ' Through 
 seas where vessel never sailed before,' even down to 
 the Nucleus of the Earth. I found it inhabited by a 
 race of creatures that looked queerly, and acted and 
 reasoned queerly, but I have not yet found time to de- 
 scribe them or their habitation in any tolerable degree. 
 However, I have spent six or seven sheets on that odd 
 race of beings, and shall probably fill twenty or thirty 
 more with the relation of this singular adventure. I cal- 
 culate that we shall renew our acquaintance, in part, by 
 looking over the manuscript.* Our friend Isaac Bron- 
 son has married his dulcinea, and where Mr. Wolcott 
 did. Mr. Goodrich has married Mary Ann Wolcott; 
 but she is in declining health, and I have some fears that 
 she will not recover. 
 
 " I thought I would not write you a word about poli- 
 tics, but I must just say that our friend Trumbull, a few 
 days ago, came very near being chosen a Representative 
 to the General Assembly; that Congress have lately 
 rejected the proposition for the assumption of the state 
 debts ; and that it seems to me that France has wrought 
 a wonder in the earth, which, with many concurrent 
 predisposirions in Providence, must eventually break 
 every yoke. I rejoice that you are on the theatre of 
 their noble achievements, and I anticipate, with great 
 pleasure, the time when I shall hear you relate them," 
 
 That the poet's Republicanism had not wholly 
 alienated the affections of his alma mater appears from 
 a letter written by President 3tiles, in March, 1793, 
 "introducing and recommending to his friendship and 
 civilities" a young gentleman of Windham, Conn., a 
 
 * This reference is undoubtedly to the Anarchiad. 
 
114 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 recent graduate of the college. The venerable President 
 adds : " Your humanity and guardianship of juvenile 
 virtue will introduce him to such acquaintance, both 
 French and English, at Paris, as will be safe, advan- 
 tageous, and agreeable to a young character who sets 
 out in life with resolutions of endeavoring to pass 
 through its most dangerous scenes with the preservation 
 of virtue and honor. I commend him to your faithful 
 counsel, advice, and friendship." 
 
 " I congratulate you," he continues, " upon the celeb- 
 rity and fame which your poetical and political writings 
 have justly merited and acquired to you, partly in pro- 
 curing your conspicuous elevation and seat in the National 
 Convention in France,* one of the most important and 
 illustrious assemblies that ever sat on this terraqueous 
 globe ; an assembly charged with the highest bestow- 
 ments, and coming up from the people with the express 
 power and authority for the accomplishment of three 
 great works : the form of a Constitution, the taking into 
 their hands the public administration and national gov- 
 ernment in the interim, and sitting as a judiciary tribunal 
 on the life of a king — works great and arduous, momen- 
 tous, and of vast consequence to the cause of public lib- 
 erty, the rights of sovereignty, and the indefeasible rights 
 of man. May you, may the whole National Assembly, 
 the authoritative and empowered representatives of 25 
 millions of people, be inspired with light and wisdom by 
 the Supreme Arbiter of Public Right." 
 
 In the spring of 1795, an epoch in the poet's career the 
 most arduous and honorable was approaching, and to 
 this the reader's attention is now invited. 
 
 * The President accepts as true the English report that he was thus elected. 
 Some of the articles in the Cyclopaedias make the same statement. But 
 we have Barlow's admission, in a letter to his wife, that the election was 
 ' decided against him. 
 
JOEL BARLOW. jj- 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 1795-1797. 
 
 Returning to Paris from a business trip to the Low 
 Countries in the summer of 1795, Barlow found awaiting 
 him there his old friend and companion-in-arms, Col. 
 David Humphreys. This gentleman, whom we last saw 
 in Hartford, had in the eight years which had elapsed 
 also much advanced his fortunes. Joining Washington 
 at Mt. Vernon in 1787, he had remained in his family 
 until 1790, when he was appointed by Washington Min- 
 ister to Portugal, with general supervision over Barbary 
 affairs. Algerine piracy was then at its height of inso- 
 lence and ferocity. The little bundle of wretched des- 
 potisms on the southern shore of the Mediterranean 
 dominated all Christendom. Great Britain, France, 
 Spain, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, and Venice paid them 
 tribute ; Algiers alone was now waging successful war 
 with Russia, Austria, Portugal, Naples, Sardinia, Genoa, 
 and Malta. Her first depredation against American 
 commerce was committed on the 25th of July, 1785, 
 when the schooner Maria, Captain Stevens, owned by 
 Mr. Foster, of Boston, was seized off Cape St. Vincent by 
 a corsair and carried into Algiers. Five days later the 
 ship Dolphin, Captain O'Brien, Messrs. Irvine, of Phila- 
 delphia, owners, was taken one hundred and fifty miles 
 to the westward of Lisbon. Other captures followed, 
 so that by 1795 there were fully one hundred and fifty 
 American prisoners in the slave-pens of Algiers. These 
 slaves, as appears from their own depositions, were 
 treated with the utmost rigor and cruelty. The most 
 promising were selected by the Dey for menial service in 
 his palace ; the others were dismissed to a life of grind- 
 
J i6 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 ing, degrading slavery. They were lodged in the slave- 
 1 bagnioSj^in the midst of filth, vermin, and loathsome dis- 
 1 eases. Their food was black-bread and olive oil, and 
 they toiled, chained like galley-slaves, some in the quar- 
 ries, some building public works, some unloading the 
 stores from their own captured vessels. 
 
 The steps taken by Congress for the liberation of these 
 captives were timorous, halting, and ineffectual, and 
 cannot be viewed even now without calling the flush of 
 indignation to the cheek. Our frigates then in commis- 
 sion could easily have blown every Algerine cruiser out 
 of the water, and have battered the Dey's crazy capital 
 about his ears ; the testimony of the prisoners proves 
 this. But instead of an aggressive policy, the American 
 Government preferred to follow the example of Euro- 
 pean nations, and negotiate. Its first overtures were 
 made through Mr. John Lamb, its agent at Algiers ; its 
 second, through the General of the Mathurins, a religious 
 order of France, instituted at an early period for the 
 redemption of Christian captives from the Infidels. 
 After consuming six years in negotiation both proved 
 abortive, the Dey's valuation of a Christian being nearly 
 double that placed upon him by Congress. In June, 
 1792, the celebrated John Paul Jones was appointed 
 Consul to Algiers, with the hope of negotiating a treaty 
 and ransoming the prisoners, but died at Paris before 
 reaching the scene of his labors, Mr. Thomas Barclay, 
 his successor, died at Lisbon, Jan. 19, 1793, while on his 
 way t» Algiers. After his death, Colonel Humphreys 
 assumed the general charge of Barbary affairs, and ap- 
 pointed Pierre E. Skjoldebrand, a brother of the Swedish 
 Consul, his agent at Algiers, but with no better results. 
 Humphreys came to America in 1794, and it was then 
 arranged that Joseph Donaldson, of Philadelphia, should 
 be appointed agent at Tunis and Tripoli, while Joel Bar- 
 low was to be induced, if possible, to accept the mission to 
 Algiers, and the general oversight of the Barbary States. 
 
JOEL BARLOW. H^ 
 
 Humphreys and Donaldson left America in April, 1795. 
 At Gibraltar they separated, Donaldson proceeding to 
 his post, and Humphreys going on to Paris, to enlist his 
 old friend in the cause, and induce the French Govern- 
 ment, then possessing great influence with the Dey, to 
 use its kind ofBces in advancing the treaty. 
 
 Barlow undoubtedly shrank at first from accepting the 
 mission. He had great business interests, a sufficient 
 fortune — his estate, in 1796, he valued at $126,000 — a 
 wife affectionate and beloved, a circle of choice friends, 
 literary undertakings, — all centred in Paris. To leave 
 these for a barbarous capital, even then smitten by the 
 deadly plague, on a mission that from its nature must 
 entail untold miseries, vexations, and dangers, was a sac- 
 rifice indeed. Yet the occasion seemed to demand it. 
 There were few men so well fitted for the task as he. 
 France was then the power highest in favor with the 
 Dey. French was the court language. Barlow, a citizen 
 of France as well as of America, thoroughly familiar 
 with the French language and customs, seemed particu- 
 larly well fitted for conducting these delicate negotia- 
 tions. These considerations, duly urged, produced the 
 desired effect. He accepted the mission, and entrusting 
 to him the purchase of the presents with which it was 
 proposed to buy a treaty and a ransom, Humphreys 
 shortly returned to his post in Lisbon. Barlow's official 
 correspondence while on this mission filled four large 
 manuscript volumes, and his letters to his wife, all written 
 in French, would fill as many more. It appears by the 
 former that he was occupied three months in Paris se- 
 lecting and purchasing the presents — which comprised 
 "jewels and other articles," to the value of 162,530 
 livres — and in making his preparations for the journey. 
 About the middle of December all was ready, and bid- 
 ding his friends and his faithful wife farewell, he sat out 
 in his own private carriage for Lyons, intending there to 
 take the public conveyance to Marseilles and thence pro- 
 
Il8 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 ceed by shipping to Algiers via Alicante. His sole trav- 
 elling-companion was a vache, in which the 162,530 livres 
 worth of jewels were packed. The carriage proceeded 
 southward through a level, cultivated country to the 
 wealthy city of Lyons on the Rhone. He reached it 
 Dec. 31, 1795. From this point, we learn by his letters, 
 a diligence d'eau (water diligence) plied down the river ; 
 but to save time he hired a barque de porte (mail boat) — 
 quicker and surer, but more expensive. Ponies, carriage, 
 postilions, and traveller embarked on this craft and 
 floated three days down the beautiful river to Avignon, 
 where they disembarked and took the post-road through 
 Aix to Marseilles, which they reached on the 5th of Janu- 
 ary. Here the ambassador remained twenty days, await- 
 ing a ship for Alicante, employing his time in writing let- 
 ters to Madame Barlow, who remained at Paris, and in 
 questioning such Algerines as he chanced to meet on the 
 state of their country, and the disposition and feelings of 
 the Dey. 
 
 He sailed from Marseilles on the 25th of January, but 
 was driven by a gale into the Bay of Roses, in Spain. 
 From this point, anxious to get on, and head-winds con- 
 tinuing, he proceeded on mule-back to Alicante, a jour- 
 ney of ten days. There he learned that Donaldson, who, 
 it will be remembered, had left Humphreys at Gibraltar 
 and had gone on to Algiers, on reaching his post had 
 found the Dey in a genial humor, and had somewhat 
 precipitately concluded a treaty * without awaiting the 
 arrival of his colleague. The treaty had been signed 
 nearly six months before. What had passed in the in- 
 terim is very concisely told by Barlow in a letter written 
 
 * Its principal provisions were : The opening of Algerine ports to Amer- 
 ican commerce, immunity of American vessels from search or capture by 
 the Dey's corsairs, and the right of our war-vessels to provision at, and 
 send their prizes into, Algerine ports. The cost of the treat)', according to 
 Treasurer Wolcott's report, was #992,463.25, of^which $522,500 was paid for 
 the ransom of the captives. 
 
JOEL BARLOW. Hq 
 
 at Alicante to James Monroe, our Minister in Paris : " On 
 my arrival here I found no letters or orders from Mr. 
 Humphreys, but instead of them I have collected from 
 the best information I could obtain here the following 
 statement of facts relative to the business in question : It 
 appears that in the treaty made by Mr. Donaldson no 
 precise time was fixed upon for the payment of the money 
 stipulated to be paid by the United States, but it was 
 understood that it would be within about three months. 
 The treaty, I believe, was signed in the early part of Sep- 
 tember. After the expiration of the above term the Dey 
 began to be impatient and to manifest his uneasiness 
 that the. money did not appear, and that there was no 
 sign of its appearance, saying that he was sorry that he 
 had made the treaty, as under present circumstances it 
 was against the interest of the regency, but as he had 
 signed the treaty it should be faithfully executed on his 
 part, provided the money was paid in a reasonable time. 
 Mr. Donaldson, being somewhat alarmed at these appear- 
 ances, and at hearing nothing from the money, procured 
 a Moorish barque and sent Mr. Sloan, his interpreter, 
 to Alicante with despatches for Mr. Humphreys. Mr. 
 Sloan left Algiers about the 5th of January, and arrived 
 here about the loth. He being obliged to perform quar- 
 antine, Mr. Montgomery, our consul here, took the 
 despatches and proceeded himself to Lisbon, supposing 
 the affair too pressing to admit of delay and the de- 
 spatches too important to be trusted to the post. Sloan 
 was one of the American prisoners, and had been em- 
 ployed as a domestic servant by the Dey. He is now 
 here awaiting an answer from Lisbon. 
 
 " We will now look to Lisbon and the causes of the 
 delay in that quarter. You know the credits on which 
 the money was to be raised was lodged in London. You 
 know, too, that Mr. Humphreys, who left Havre some 
 time in October, had a passage of more than 40 days 
 to Lisbon. Mr. Donaldson had despatched Captain 
 
120 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 O'Brien from Algiers to Lisbon with the treaty early in 
 September. He probably arrived within that month. 
 Mr. Humphreys did not arrive till towards the end of 
 November ; everything must have remained inactive dur- 
 ing that interval. I am informed that Mr. Humphreys, 
 after his arrival, could not negotiate bills on London for 
 more than one-fourth the sum, and it appears on this 
 account he did not negotiate any. Of this, however, I 
 am not sure. But in consequence of his not being able 
 to raise money in that place sufficient to fulfil the con- 
 tract with the Dey, he sent Captain O'Brien to London 
 to bring the specie from thence. O'Brien went in the 
 brig that Mr. Humphreys had retained in the public 
 service. By the last letter from Mr. Montgomery at 
 Lisbon of the 13th February nothing had been heard 
 then of O'Brien since he sailed. Indeed, if no other acci- 
 dent had delayed him, the contrary winds must have pre- 
 vented his return. They have been without packets 
 from England for nearly two months. One vessel has 
 arrived after a passage of ']6 days. It is now near six 
 months since the signing of the contract, and it doubtless 
 will be another mpnth before the money can be paid. 
 But there are some other circumstances that serve to 
 increase my apprehensions as to the result of this affair, 
 as they convince me that the Dey is sincere in saying 
 that the treaty is against the interest of the regency. 
 Since this was done he has had a rupture with the Eng- 
 lish, which is now settled, as it appears, to his satisfac- 
 tion. . . . 
 
 " In consequence of this new treaty with England he 
 has refused to accept the same consul who was there 
 before the rupture, but has desired that the old one may 
 be sent, a Mr. Logic, who was there in 1793, and who per- 
 suaded him to the truce with Portugal at that time by 
 holding up the advantages of going out of the straits 
 after the Americans. Sloan says he was present at some 
 of these conversations, and that he saw Logic, in the pres- 
 
JOEL BARLOW. I2i 
 
 ence of the Dey, instructing the captains by the charts 
 where to cruise for the American ships, saying he would 
 forfeit his head if they did not catch a dozen of them in 
 a month, provided they would follow his directions. It 
 is certain that the most inveterate enemies we have in 
 that place, as well as in all others under heaven, are the 
 English. But on the 26th he received letters from Mr. 
 Cathcart, interpreter to the Dey, and from Mr. Donald- 
 son, both saying that the Dey had fixed one month as 
 the ultimate term for which he would wait for the 
 money, and records his determination to go on at once, 
 as it can do no harm and may save the treaty." 
 
 Such were some of the unfavorable conditions attend- 
 ing these first essays in diplomacy. That the reader may 
 appreciate more fully these difficulties we will describe 
 briefly the country and ruler to whose court he was hast- 
 ening, using for the purpose a letter written by Mr. Bar- 
 low to the Secretary of State soon after reaching his 
 post. "The Regency of Algiers," he remarks, "which 
 contains from two to three millions of inhabitants, is 
 governed, and has been for nearly three centuries, by 
 about 12,000 Turks. These Turks are natives of the 
 Levant, and are enlisted and brought here as soldiers. 
 They are generally ignorant and ferocious adventurers, 
 and many have been guilty of crimes for which they have 
 fled their country. Their pay is very small at first, but 
 rises in proportion to the time they have been in service, 
 and they are all eligible to any office under Government. 
 They rarely marry. The laws of the Regency discourage 
 in several ways the matrimony of the Turks. 
 
 " A married Turk receives nothing but his pay. He 
 that is not married, in addition to his pay, is lodged in 
 the barracks and fed. Besides, if he marries a native 
 woman his children are not Turks, and consequently can 
 hold no ofifice, civil or military. ... It is a high crime 
 for a merchant to sell any arms or ammunition to a Moor, 
 and the excessive rigor of this military government has 
 
122 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 accustomed them to consider the Turks as a superior 
 race, not only as endowed with greater force, arising 
 from the use of arms, but as favorites of the prophet and 
 lords of the country. ... I mention these things to 
 show that the Algerine Turks are not patriots. . . . The 
 proper object of each individual is to enrich himself by 
 plunder — the poor soldiers by marauding among the coun- 
 try people, and the men in office by committing piracies 
 upon all nations who do not purchase their peace by pay- 
 ing large sums of money to every officer in the state, and 
 annual tributes, which go into the public treasury. The 
 Government was formerly an aristocracy, at least in the- 
 ory. The Dey was supposed to be elected by the whole 
 body of Turks, and every soldier had an equal vote. He 
 was Chief Magistrate and President of the Divan, which 
 was a council composed of 42 of the most ancient ofificers 
 in the army. . . . But the Government has now become 
 a simple monarchy. The Divan has not been assembled 
 for some years, and the Dey is subject to no other check 
 than that which arises from the necessity he is under to 
 distribute foreign presents, and sometimes his own 
 money, among the principal ofificers, to secure himself 
 from assassination and prevent mutinies. ... It is nec- 
 essary to observe that as the peace-presents which every 
 nation makes, and generally to a large amount, go prin- 
 cipally into the hands of the Dey and other great officers, 
 and as the annual tributes only are destined to the public 
 treasury, it is the interest of these men to break friend- 
 ship with every nation as often as possible. They are 
 sure to be enriched by every treaty, let the object of it 
 be what it may. They use no other precaution in this 
 kind of policy than that of allowing a nation to enjoy a 
 peace long enough to feel the advantages of a free navi- 
 gation in these seas, so far as to be willing to come for- 
 ward again with this peace-offering when the rupture hap- 
 pens. These breaches of peace are often made on the 
 most frivolous and unjust pretences, and, generally speak- 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 1 23 
 
 ing, every nation has its turn ; the only exceptions are 
 France and England, whose great naval strength over- 
 awes them in such a manner that their peace has been 
 less interrupted. But even these powers, though they 
 pretend not to pay tribute, expend a great deal of money 
 in occasional presents. If peace with America should 
 now take place, it will not probably last without inter- 
 ruption 7 years. They are now going to war with Den- 
 mark. After that it is probable they will take Venice or 
 Sweden, or both. They will then try Holland again, and 
 perhaps Spain, and our turn will be next. But the diffi- 
 culties in treating with this regency at present arises not 
 only from the constitutional character of the Govern- 
 ment, but likewise from the personal character of the 
 Dey, who is a man of a most ungovernable temper, pas- 
 sionate, changeable, and unjust to such a degree that 
 there is no calculating his policy from one moment to 
 another. During the reign of the late Dey, who died in 
 1791, this man held some of the first offices in the state, 
 and had made himself vastly rich, particularly by the 
 Spanish peace, which was the richest treaty they ever 
 made. The Government of Spain did not choose to 
 make known the expense of this treaty, but I am told 
 that it cost to make it and maintain it till this time about 
 five millions of dollars, of which this man received about 
 one million. By a proper distribution of money among 
 the chiefs of the Turks, this man procured his nomina- 
 tion, or rather proclamation, to the Deylik the moment 
 his predecessor expired. He then caused to be arrested 
 and banished or put to death the principal officers of 
 state who had served under the old Dey, and created a 
 new set of favorites, men who are mere ciphers in his 
 council, not one of whom dares to^ offer an opinion con- 
 trary to his own." To this we will add the following per- 
 sonal description of the Dey by General William Eaton, 
 who was sent to Algiers three years later as American 
 Consul. Under date of Feb. 22, 12 o'clock M., General 
 
124 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 Eaton writes in his diary : " Admitted to an audience with 
 the Dey. Consuls O'Brien, Cathcart, and myself, Cap- 
 tains Geddes, Smith, Penrose, and Maley, proceeded 
 from the American House to the courtyard of the pal- 
 ace, uncovered our heads, entered the area of the hall, 
 ascended a winding maze of five flights of stairs to a 
 narrow dark entry, leading to a contracted apartment of 
 about 12 by 8 feet, the private audience-room. Here 
 we took off our shoes, and, entering the cave (for so it 
 seemed, with small apertures for light, with iron grates), 
 we were shown to a huge, shaggy beast, sitting on his 
 rump upon a low bench covered with a cushion of 
 embroidered velvet, with his hind legs gathered up like 
 a tailor or a bear. On our approach to him he reached 
 out his fore paw as if to receive something to eat. Our 
 guide exclaimed, ' Kiss the Dey's hand.' The Consul- 
 General bowed very elegantly and kissed it, and we fol- 
 lowed his example in succession. The animal seemed at 
 that moment to be in a harmless mood ; he grinned sev- 
 eral times but made very little noise. Having performed 
 this ceremony, and standing a few moments in silent 
 agony, we had leave to take our shoes and other prop- 
 erty and leave the den, without other injury than the 
 humility of being obliged in this involuntary manner to 
 violate the second commandment of God and offend 
 common decency." 
 
 Such was Hassan Bashaw, Dey of Algiers, as full of 
 whims and fancies as a sick child, as difficult to amuse 
 and keep in a treaty-making mood as a cross bear. This 
 was indeed the ambassador's chief business for the first 
 six months after his arrival. The money failed to come, 
 and the Dey grew both impatient and suspicious. He 
 sulked and raged and threatened. When he sulked, he 
 was inaccessible. When he threatened, he swore that 
 the agents must go. When he raged, he declared that 
 the treaty was off, and that he never would make peace 
 with the Americans. 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 1 25 
 
 Some very piquant and interesting details of these 
 negotiations, and of the domestic life of the Algerines, 
 are given in the letters written by the ambassador at 
 this time to his wife in Paris. They, with Mrs. Barlow's 
 in reply, were written in French (one or two in Italian), 
 and, beside the account of his labors, contained grave 
 disquisitions, references to personal friends, and some 
 raillery. The extracts we present are literal translations. 
 
 Algiers, March 8, 1796. 
 
 " Here we are, at the end of our voyage. The good 
 wind, of which I spoke to you in leaving Alicante, lasted 
 only a little while : it changed into a terrible tempest, 
 which carried away one of our masts, with some sails. 
 Then, after we had been cast about for three days from 
 heaven to hell, it drove us to a port which certainly 
 belongs to neither, since they are not men who inhabit 
 it. This port is called Algiers. Here we entered the 
 harbor, but the sea was so strong that I was not able 
 to land until twenty-four hours after. Here I am, then, 
 weakened by the most violent sea-sickness I ever suf- 
 fered. . . . 
 
 " I find that our treaty is not yet lost, but lacks little 
 of it. I hope still to save it, although the Dey is ex- 
 tremely irritated. I can say nothing at this moment 
 of his inclinations in this direction. He said only what 
 he has repeated several times in six weeks, that if the 
 money is not soon paid it will be lost to us. You can 
 say to Monroe that I have more hope now than when 
 I wrote to him from Alicante the last time." 
 
 Algiers, March 14, 1796. 
 ** I have been here nine days in the greatest uncer- 
 tainty about our business. The Dey is excessively an- 
 noyed upon the subject, and I believe now that my 
 first resolution, taken at Alicante, was the better — to re- 
 main there until this affair was settled. On my arrival 
 he threatened very strongly to send us back, Donaldson 
 
126 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 and I, to break immediately the negotiation and to 
 declare war anew. Then his wrath passed away a little, 
 and the affair sleeps. I do not dare to waken it ; if I 
 can make it sleep for some weeks yet, I hope that all will 
 go well ; but that is perfectly uncertain, and I should not 
 be at all surprised at any moment to receive orders to 
 leave the country. . . . 
 
 " It is impossible to describe this city, and the objects 
 which strike one on arriving. With the exception of 
 the climate, the fruit, and the natural beauty of the vicin- 
 ity, it is doubtless, in all respects, the most detestable 
 place one can imagine. It is a city of about 100,000 in- 
 habitants, built on the ridge of a mountain which com- 
 mands the harbor. It is impossible to conceive of so 
 much physical and moral discomfort accumulated in a 
 single place. Properly speaking, there are no streets, 
 but little dark alleys, which run crosswise and zig-zag 
 among an enormous heap of houses, thrown together 
 without order and without number. It needs a long 
 residence before being able to walk a hundred steps in 
 this labyrinth without losing one's self. It needs not only 
 a guide to lead you from one house to another, but also 
 a Turkish guide, to guarantee you from insults and from 
 being crushed by the crowd of peasants. The houses 
 here are badly built and almost unfurnished. Neither 
 the Turks nor the Moors ever have chairs. Their tables 
 are six inches high, and sometimes one does not find one 
 in a house. Their beds are straw carpets or mats ; few 
 cooking utensils, no forks, and few table-knives. A 
 Turk who has perhaps 100,000 piastres, and diamonds, 
 lives in this manner. He goes bare-legged all the year, 
 but his coat is richly gilded and his fingers adorned 
 with brilliants. 
 
 "As to society, in the first place, one sees neither 
 women nor girls ; it is forbidden a Mohammedan woman, 
 under penalty of a severe beating, to show her face to 
 any man excepting her husband. If a Turk or Moor 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 1 2* 
 
 entefs the house of a friend he must stop at the gate, 
 call some one, and be announced, so that the woman of 
 the house may be concealed during his visit. If a 
 Mohammedan woman is taken in adultery, the law con- 
 demns her to be placed in a sack with a large stone and 
 be cast into the sea. And what adds to the horror of 
 this usage, the husband asks and obtains permission to 
 take the law into his hands, when he makes himself 
 judge and executioner. The man in all these cases es- 
 capes with a beating, unless the woman is of high rank, 
 and in that case he is punished with death. The kind of 
 punishment differs for the different sects: a Christian or 
 Moor is hung; a Jew is burned alive; the Turk has the 
 honor of being decapitated, or strangled in the house 
 of the general executioner, who is a Turkish ofificer of 
 great distinction. The present Dey has improved upon 
 these rules, and almost everybody is beheaded, with the 
 difference that the punishment of Infidels and Moors is 
 public. Two days ago a Spanish slave was beheaded 
 before the palace of the Dey for having killed two of 
 his companions in the prison. The last victim of this act 
 was a girl, convicted of having comforted a Christian 
 last winter. She received the bastinado. 
 
 "The number of mosques or churches is infinite in 
 Algiers. They are very spacious, not at all decorated 
 within ; but well lighted during the night, for it is neces- 
 sary to pray there five times in the twenty-four hours — 
 twice during the night. One can look in while passing 
 before the door, but it is forbidden an Infidel to enter. 
 The penalty for this crime is to become a Mohammedan, 
 or to be hanged, or burned alive, according as one is a 
 Christian or Jew. If it happens to me, through intox- 
 ication or some other accident, to fall into this death, I 
 shall become a Mohammedan immediately, for I have 
 not enough religion of any kind to make me a martyr. 
 
 " An incident occurred the other day which came 
 near being bloody. Bacry, the Jew, our banker, a man 
 
128 ^^P^ "^^^ LETTERS OF 
 
 of much merit, was with us. Some one came to call 
 him with much agitation and he went out quickly. I 
 sent a servant to know what was the matter. He came 
 back and told me that the affair was most serious ; that 
 there was a stupid Jew who had cried in the street, 
 ' Mohammed is the great prophet, I wish to become a 
 Mussulman ' ; that they immediately led him before the 
 Dey to make him keep his word and finish the conver- 
 sion ; that, arrived in presence of his Majesty, his cour- 
 age had failedj and he refused to change his religion. 
 The penalty written against a retraction of this kind was 
 death, and everybody was expecting the burning of the 
 Jew that same afternoon. Luckily for the poor man, 
 his protector, Bacry, has great influence with the Dey, 
 and the affair was settled by means of a little money. 
 
 Algiers, April 2, 1796. 
 
 " It seems to-day that my sojourn here draws to a 
 close, and that the business has failed. The money 
 has not yet come ; the Dey does not wish to wait much 
 longer. He sent us word to-day that we would be sent 
 back in eight days ; that then war would be declared ; 
 that he will then give thirty days before taking prizes, as 
 is the custom when they declare war here ; but if the 
 money comes during these thirty days he will receive it and 
 the peace will be concluded. We send an express coUTier 
 by Tangier and Gibraltar to take this news to our com- 
 patriots. It is on this occasion that I send these letters." 
 
 April %. — "I have most agreeable news to announce 
 regarding our country and our miserable slaves who are 
 here. The Dey, after some threats, some injuries, some 
 insupportable insults, has consented to give us still three 
 months to get our money. If it does not come within 
 that time, to the devil with the treaty and all those who 
 have made it fail. This business for three days has over- 
 whelmed me with trouble and pain. The port is open. 
 This letter goes straight to Marseilles to-morrow. M. 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 1 29 
 
 Andrews goes day after to-morrow. I will send you a 
 word by him." 
 
 Under the above date — April 5 — Mr. Barlow wrote to 
 Colonel Humphreys concerning the prisoners and the 
 treaty, which we will insert here in place of the letters 
 to his wife referring to the same matter. The letter was 
 also signed by Mr. Donaldson. 
 
 Algiers, April 5, 1796. 
 
 "Sir: — After finishing our despatches on the 3d inst., 
 to send by the courier to Tangier, we found that the port 
 was to be opened immediately. We therefore gave up 
 that mode of conveyance for a more direct and speedy 
 one by way of Alicante. We have now what we hope 
 will be more agreeable news to announce. For two days 
 past we have been witnesses to a scene of as complete 
 and poignant distress as can be imagined, arising from 
 the state of total despair in which our captives found 
 themselves involved, and we without the power of ad- 
 ministering the least comfort or hope. The threat which 
 we mentioned to you in our last, of sending us away, had 
 been reiterated with every mark of a fixed and final de- 
 cision, and the Dey went so far as to declare that after 
 the thirty days, if the money did not come, he never 
 would be at peace with the Americans. 
 
 " Bacry, the Jew, who has as much art in this sort of 
 management as any man we ever knew, who has more 
 influence with the Dey than all the Regency put together, 
 and who alone has been able to soothe his impatience on 
 this subject for three months past, now seemed unable 
 to make the least impression, and the Dey finally forbade 
 him, under pain of his highest displeasure, to speak to 
 him any more about the Americans. His cruisers are 
 now out, and for some days past he has been occupied 
 with his new war against the Danes. Three days ago 
 the Danish prizes began to come in, and it was thought 
 that this circumstance might put him in good humor, so 
 9 
 
I30 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 that the Jew might find a chance of renewing our subject 
 in some shape or other. And we instructed the Jew 
 that if he could engage him in conversation on his cruis- 
 ers and prizes, he might offer him a new American-built 
 ship of twenty guns, which should sail very fast, to be 
 presented to his daughter, on condition that he would 
 vv^ait six months longer for our money. The Jew ob- 
 served that we had better say a ship of twenty-four guns, 
 to which we agreed. After seeing him three or four 
 times yesterday, under pretence of other business, with- 
 out being able to touch upon this, he went this morning 
 and succeeded. The novelty of the proposition gained 
 the Dey's attention for a moment, and he consented to 
 see us on the subject. But he told the Jew to tell us 
 that it must be a ship of thirty-six guns or he would not 
 listen to the proposition. We were convinced that we 
 ought not to hesitate a moment. We accordingly went, 
 and consented to his demand, and he has agreed to let 
 everything remain as it is for the term of three months 
 from this day, but desired us to remember that not a 
 single day beyond that will be allowed on any account. 
 We consider the business as now settled on this footing, 
 and it is the best ground that we could possibly place it 
 upon. You still have it in your power to say peace or 
 no peace ; you have an alternative. In the other case, 
 war was inevitable, and there would have been no hope 
 of peace during the reign of this Dey. ... In order to 
 save the treaty, which has been the subject of infinite 
 anxiety and vexation, we found it necessary some time 
 ago to make an offer to the Jew of ten thousand sequins 
 (18,000 dollars), to be paid eventually if he succeeded, 
 and to be distributed by him, at his discretion, among 
 such great officers of state as he thought necessary, and 
 as much of it to be kept for himself as he could keep 
 consistent with success. The whole of this new arrange- 
 ment will cost the United States about fifty-three thou- 
 sand dollars. We expect to incur blame because it is im- 
 
JOEL BARLOW. I^i 
 
 possible to give you a complete view of the circum- 
 stances, but we are perfectly confident of having acted 
 right." 
 
 We continue the narrative by means of the letters to 
 Mrs. Barlow. 
 
 Beginning with one of April 13th: . . . . " I am now all 
 alone, and so crazed with business that I have not time 
 to think one moment of my other troubles. You will 
 see by this packet what work I do. But I am so much 
 happier since we have got our affairs on some footing 
 that I care nothing for the fatigue. I do not intend to 
 go to Tunis, but will come home as soon as possible. 
 My love, I don't know what I write. I have sat at this 
 table with very little intermission for thirty-six hours." 
 
 April 26. — " I sent you, a few days ago, a very great 
 packet for Monroe and the Secretary of State. I do 
 the like now. If these ^two arrive safe they will give 
 you a tolerable idea of what I have done and thought ; 
 and they will prove at least, and to others as well as to 
 you, that I have not been idle. Nothing has come from 
 Humphreys since Feb. 7, and then, and before then, as 
 good as nothing. . . . All would have been finished be- 
 fore now, and $6o,ock> saved to the United States, if we 
 had had a good banker's clerk at a certain place for a 
 minister. ... I told you that Donaldson wa^ gone to 
 Leghorn, and Andrews back to France. I am alone. 
 But here is a very good society if I had time to enjoy it, 
 and a charming country to promenade a pied et a cheval. 
 The Dey has given me a very fine horse, and I can bor- 
 row a saddle. We are going to make a little journey 
 one of these days," 
 
 May 2)tk. — " Our business here has been about the same 
 for a month. No news from Lisbon nor from Liborne. 
 I remain alone and I work like a slave. I sent to-day a 
 large packet for Lisbon and for Philadelphia. If Donald- 
 son comes with the money to finish here, he will go to 
 Tunis and I shall fly to your arms. If he does not come 
 
 Q> 
 
132 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 I shall be driven from here, so I shall be free soon in any 
 case. I shall have now very little to do after the depart- 
 ure of the ship which carries this. Then I shall try to 
 amuse myself in my garden, — for I have taken a country 
 house here for the sake of appearances, as they believe 
 me a fixed consul, and will think when I go, it is to bring 
 my wife and other necessities for a long residence. Ah, 
 well ! I shall bring her whenever she and I consent to 
 bury ourselves in Barbary." 
 
 In May the plague, the scourge of the African coast, 
 broke out in Algiers with virulence. The poet's descrip- 
 tion of it in letters to James Monroe, then our Minister 
 to Paris, to Colonel Humphreys, and to hiswife are of 
 exceeding interest. To Mr. Monroe he wrote on the 
 31st of May, 1796: " My letter having been detained by 
 the detention of the ship, I have now to add the fright- 
 ful news that the plague has broken out at Algiers. It is 
 four months later than the usual season for it to appear. 
 It usually commences in February and begins to go off 
 in June. The hot, dry weather kills it in this country, so 
 that we hope it will not be severe nor last long. One of 
 our poor fellows is attacked and will probably die. I am 
 trying to get leave for them to quit their work and come 
 into the country near me, where I have taken a house and 
 garden for them, to save as many as I can." 
 
 And to Colonel Humphreys, June 12th : "Two of our 
 finest young fellows, Nicholas Hartford, of Portsmouth, 
 and Abraham Simmonds, of Cape Ann, have already 
 fallen." (The Dey would not consent that the prisoners 
 should go into the country.) " They were not yet paid 
 for ; they were therefore the property of the Regency, 
 and if he should consent to such an unusual proceeding, 
 he said, it would bring the Turks upon him in a body. 
 Indeed, of all governments in the world this is perhaps 
 the least susceptible of innovation in the most trifling 
 usage, especially on the side fortified by religion, of 
 which a contempt of disease, and an obstinate refusal to 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 1^3 
 
 use precautions against the plague, are among the strong- 
 est features," 
 
 And again, June i6th : " Since my last, Joseph Keith, a 
 native of Newfoundland, one of our mates, has died with 
 the plague. Lunt is still in »the hospital, and John 
 Thomas,' a black man from Massachusetts. The conta- 
 gion rages with greater severity than was expected." In 
 the midst of. the pestilence, stimulated thereto by the 
 suffering and danger to which his countrymen were ex- 
 posed, he succeeded in effecting their delivery, accom- 
 plishing it by a stratagem worthy of Machiavelli. An 
 interesting account of it is contained in a letter which 
 the liberated captives bore from him to Thomas Jeffer- 
 son, Secretary of State. He wrote : — 
 
 " I have the pleasure at last to announce the liberation 
 of our citizens from slavery in this place. To keep the 
 peace after the expiration of the time limited for the 
 payment, and finally to redeem our people without any 
 money, has been a subject of more difficulty and vexa- 
 tion than will be imagined by those w^ho are unac- 
 quainted with the capricious and savage character of the 
 Dey. A few weeks after the arrangement made in 
 April, having heard nothing from the funds, and foresee- 
 ing that they probably would not be here by the time, 
 I thought it highly expedient to engage the Dey in a 
 step of his own by which he should be insensibly brought 
 to consider the peace as established on a footing different 
 from that of the punctuality of a moment in the pay- 
 ment of money. Mr. Cathcart, from the office he held, 
 enjoyed a portion of his flighty confidence. I thought it 
 probable that if he could be engaged, as from his own 
 mere motion, to send this man to America on the subject 
 of the peace-presents and annual tribute, it would give a 
 new turn to his contemplations : he would be looking to 
 America for answers and arrivals instead of counting the 
 days in which he was looking to me for money. But it 
 was necessary that neither he nor Cathcart should know 
 
134 L^P^ ^^^ LETTERS OF 
 
 that the idea came from me ; and even his Jew Brobar, 
 who was the only man who could engage him in this 
 business, must not know my real motive. The Jew hated 
 Cathcart and wished him away ; this was sufficient for 
 the Jew, and I engaged him to hint the matter to the 
 Dey in such a manner as that he should conceive the 
 project to be his own. . . . The plan was properly man- 
 aged at the time, and Cathcart was sent in the manner I 
 stated to you in my letter by him. I believe it is in a 
 great measure owing to the circumstance of this mission 
 that we are now at peace with Algiers. My being able 
 to procure the liberation of the captives at this time has 
 been owing to an accident. Money has been extremely 
 scarce here for some months back. The Jew house who 
 serve as our brokers, and who do the greater part of the 
 business here, have had their funds for some time in the 
 hands of the French Government to the amount of half a 
 million dollars. The operations of some other houses 
 for a year past had centred nearly in the same point, so 
 that there was no money left except in the public treas- 
 ury. Though I had so far gained the confidence of the 
 Jews that they declared to me that they would advance 
 the money to the amount of the redemption if it could 
 be raised, I had very little faith in these professions, 
 because I believed they said so under the idea that the 
 money could not be had in the town. The plague broke 
 out in the latter end of May, and very much increased 
 my anxiety for the fate of our people. Some time in 
 June a new French Consul arrived, and by some brilliant 
 presents revived the influence of the Republic with the 
 Dey so as to borrow from the public treasury about 
 $200,000, which he paid into their Jew house. I imme- 
 diately insisted that they should prove the sincerity of 
 their friendship by lending me this sum, and as much 
 more as the redemption would amount to, for which I 
 would give them my bills on Mr. Donaldson at Leg- 
 horn." This argument proved unanswerable to the Dey, 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 135 
 
 and the strange spectacle was presentea of his lending 
 the American Consul the very money which was paid in 
 for the ransom of his prisoners. The prisoners once at 
 his command, Barlow hastened to ship them out of the 
 country before the mind of the fickle ruler should change. 
 The American brig Sophia, Captain Calder, was then in 
 port, and on her the redeemed captives were at once em- 
 barked and despatched to Marseilles, on their way to 
 America, They bore a letter from their deliverer ad- 
 dressed to the Secretary of State, which did equal credit 
 to his head and heart. It was as follows : 
 
 " Sir : — This will be presented to you by the remnant 
 of our captive citizens who have survived the pains and 
 humiliation of slavery in this place. After effecting 
 their deliverance in the manner which I state to you in 
 my letter of this day, without funds or even any direct 
 intelligence that they are soon to be expected, I have 
 another task to perform, in which it is irr^ossible to 
 promise myself success : it is to embark them without 
 the infection of the plague. Five of their fellow-sufferers 
 have died of the contagion and another who is attacked 
 must be left behind. It still rages with such violence in 
 the town that, although they cannot embark without 
 risk, yet it is much more dangerous for them to stay. If 
 they escape infection we shall be much indebted to 
 Captain Calder, who commands the ship, and to the care- 
 ful assistance of the other captains who inspect the em- 
 barkation. 
 
 " When we reflect on the extravagant sums of money 
 that this redemption will cost the United States, it 
 affords at least some consolation to know that it is not 
 expended on worthless and disorderly persons, as is the 
 case with some nations who are driven, like us, to this 
 humiliation to the Barbary States. Our people have 
 conducted themselves in general with a degree of pa- 
 tience and decorum which would become a better con- 
 dition than that of slaves. And though, after they are 
 
136 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 landed in'their country, it would be useless to recommend 
 them to any additional favors from Government, yet I 
 hope they will receive from merchants that encourage- 
 ment in their professional industry which will enable 
 them in some measure to repair their losses, and from 
 their fellow-citizens in general that respect Avhich is due 
 the sufferings of honest men. Several of them are prob- 
 ably rendered incapable of gaining a living : one is in a 
 / state of total blindness, another is reduced nearly to the 
 ' same condition, two or three carry the marks of unmer- 
 ciful treatment in ruptures produced by hard labor, oth- 
 ers have had their constitutions injured by the plague. 
 Some of these are doubtless objects of the charity of 
 their countrymen, but whether this charity should flow 
 to them through the channel of the Federal Government 
 is a question on which it would be impertinent in me to 
 offer an opinion." 
 
 The deliverer was himself, however, far from being 
 delivered from the perils of his position. The payment 
 of the money borrowed was yet to be made and the 
 treaty effected. He stayed with a fair probability of 
 dying with the plague, or, if fortunate enough to escape 
 that, in constant peril of losing his head from the caprice 
 of the Dey should the money fail to come or any incident 
 occur to excite his anger. He was kept here nearly a 
 year longer through the criminal carelessness or indiffer- 
 ence of his superiors, as the following letters to Mrs. 
 Barlow show : 
 
 Algiers, Aug. 30, 1796. 
 
 " You know M. Skjoldebrand, Consul-General of Sweden 
 to Algiers ; he will give you this letter, and will answer 
 a thousand questions about your friend. You cannot 
 show him too much attention or friendship. He has 
 given the greatest service both to our affairs and to me 
 personally, and it is necessary for me to call to my aid all 
 my friends to fulfil the duty of being useful to him 
 which he has imposed on me." 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 1 37 
 
 Algiers, Sept. i, 1796. 
 " Without a patience above all trial, and indomitable 
 courage, and a management which will never be compre- 
 hended by our Government, all would have been lost a 
 hundred times. The Consul of Denmark said the other 
 day in his society, * The American agent is not a man, he 
 is an angel that God has sent to save the interests of his 
 country.' And our poor slaves, what tender scenes at 
 the moment of their departure, what benedictions, what 
 tears of gratitude ! They all said that without me, 
 and without the operations which have astonished them, 
 they would all have perished in slavery. And that is 
 true. As to the operations, they have attributed to me 
 more than I have done ; but they are certainly indebted 
 to me for their libert)^ and their life, for if this treaty 
 had been broken it would have been impossible to con- 
 clude another for many years, and without spending 
 three times, perhaps ten times, as much money. I re- 
 main still without means, without money, and without 
 credit. The affairs at Tunis are not yet arranged, nor 
 those of the two ships taken at Tripoli. I hope to finish 
 all business soon : but how ? I have not yet the orders 
 to make peace with Tunis, and still less the funds. I act 
 without orders and without money. Nothing is equal to 
 the negligence of our public agents, unless the folly and 
 temerity of our mariners. If it were not for interests 
 other than theirs I would leave these people at Tripoli to 
 their fate. They merit slavery of ten years for having 
 come within these seas before peace was made. ... It 
 is true that this announces the probability of a longer 
 absence. Unhappily, I cannot speak with any certainty 
 of my return. If Donaldson comes with the money, as I 
 expect every instant, I can go quickly afterward. But 
 who can tell? His path is blockaded. . . . You will 
 find here an Italian song, quite pretty, with the music. 
 The Swedish Consul gave it to me. He plays very well." 
 
138 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 Algiers, Sept. 7, 1796. 
 " Since my letter of the first of the month I have been 
 overwhelmed with work. I sent to-day two packets of 
 thirty pages of close writing to Lisbon and Philadelphia. 
 I am the only American slave in Algiers, and I work like 
 a dozen. I am always in perfect health. ... I begin to 
 see, I think, the end of my sojourn here." 
 
 Algiers, Sept. 8, 1796. 
 
 " Now that the plague is over the quarantine will not 
 be so long. It will probably be only 25 days. You are 
 mistaken in supposing that at Marseilles they make it on 
 board ship. There is a very convenient lazaretto, sep- 
 arated like a quarter of the city. . . . 
 
 " If Trumbull remains in Paris tell him to make a very 
 pretty portrait of you for me — large ; I will pay him. 
 He can also prepare his brushes for a Barbaresque figure 
 when I come myself. Do not fail to withdraw my books 
 from Relieur. I have left my note for them. They are 
 many and precious." 
 
 Algiers, Sept. 25, 1796. 
 
 " It is nine months to-day since my unhappy departure 
 for this cursed country. If Hitchborn had come (as he 
 was engaged before my arrival in Hamburg) he would 
 have let the treaty go to the devil to get out of the bus- 
 iness, as his son advised me very strongly. But I, who 
 have too much obstinacy to be discouraged so quickly, 
 and who would wish to die Hke a good soldier in the last 
 ditch, have taken the part of disputing, inch by inch, and 
 of not yielding till after the last efforts. But it seems at 
 last that my efforts, except in liberating the prisoners, 
 are in vain. 
 
 " Humphreys writes that he sent the money from Lis- 
 bon two months ago. The ship passed through Gibral- 
 tar 44 days ago ; the wind has been good ; the ship does 
 not come ; it is probably taken or lost. I am waiting to 
 know the truth. If it comes I can quickly finish the 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 1 39 
 
 business ; if it does not come I shall be driven from 
 Algiers, and farewell to the peace with Barbary for a half 
 century, or until our wise Government finds by sure 
 geography that Lisbon is not Algiers. I am very well ; 
 in perfect health and full of that energy inspired by the 
 feeling of having done my duty. The Government can 
 blame me or not, that is perfectly indifferent to me : my 
 happiness by no means depends on it. I do not value 
 the commission of any Government so much as to do 
 good to humanity. I have just learned, by way of Spain, 
 that our unfortunates have come to Marseilles to make 
 quarantine ; and that still another one died of the plague 
 in the passage. Poor fellows ! if they had stayed here 
 six weeks longer half of them would have fallen ; the 
 sickness was very great after their departure. It has now 
 totally disappeared for more than a month." 
 
 Algiers, Oct. 9, 1796. 
 
 " Long live the Republic ! All kinds of good fortune 
 have happened to me at once. O'Brien came the first 
 of this month with nearly two-thirds of the money that I 
 owe here. But it is certainly enough to establish our 
 business and let me withdraw 
 
 *' Now I see clearly the end of my painful work. The 
 times are much changed here now. I will attempt to 
 picture some of these scenes for you some day. It is 
 necessary to tell you that O'Brien has been taken by the 
 Tripolitans. His was one of those two ships that I have 
 announced to Monroe taken by a Tripolitan corsair : and 
 the captain of the corsair is an English renegade, as I 
 said. After three weeks O'Brien was released by the Bey, 
 as he was afraid of the Dey of Algiers, believing that the 
 money belonged to him, as the ship had the passport of 
 the Dey. The other ship was broken up and the cargo 
 confiscated. When I obtained an audience to announce 
 to the Dey the arrival of the money, he seized my right 
 hand, put my left on his heart, and said, ' My friend, 
 
140 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 you have greatly suffered by the inconceivable delay of 
 that money. I have troubled you much ; I've treated 
 you with severity. I have had, however, much patience. 
 The enemies of your nation have done all in order to 
 ruin you. I have always felt something in the depth of 
 my heart which has told me, " This man is true and good ; 
 he is not capable of falsehood." Now you are well recom- 
 pensed for your constancy and sufferings. Your nation 
 is brave and worthy ; so long as I live I will be your 
 friend in spite of the English, who were always seeking 
 to ruin her in my estimation. Now if there is anything 
 in the world I can do for you, speak.' * My lord,' I 
 said to him, ' for myself it matters nothing. The inter- 
 ests of my nation open my mouth. The Tunisians and 
 the Tripolitans make a cruel war against us. For some 
 time I have proposed peace, asking him his terms, to the 
 Bey of Tunis. He told me that he would grant it for 
 fifty thousand piastres. I have consented to these terms 
 as soon as I shall be able to draw up a letter. But, in the 
 interval, he has taken one of our ships, so it seems that 
 he does not wish to keep his word. The Bey of Tripoli 
 has taken two of our ships. He has destroyed one of 
 them ; the other he wishes to return to us for fear of 
 being destroyed himself by your wrath. But this was 
 only after having scorned your passport by keeping a 
 long time the ship loaded with your money: and his 
 renegade Englishman who serves him as captain has 
 insulted your power by saying he does not recognize the 
 Dey of Algiers. Now I ask one letter from your hand to 
 the Bey of Tunis to force him immediately to keep his 
 word and conclude the peace for fifty thousand piastres, 
 and to return to me the prisoners and the ship. It is a 
 just ransom ; he has promised once to accept it. It is for 
 you, as the father of Justice, as you are, to hold these 
 people to the right and to their word, and save the honor 
 of Barbary. 
 
 " ' As to Tripoli, I am going to offer 40,000 piastres, in 
 
JOEL BARLOW. I^I 
 
 all, for the peace and the prisoners. I ask you for a 
 letter for the Bey, forcing him to give me these terms 
 precisely, to ask your pardon for the insult done to your 
 passport, and to send you the head of this renegade 
 English captain for the outrage he has done you in not 
 recognizing your power and your name.' 
 
 " ' My friend,' replied the Dey, * you have not asked 
 enough : you have not the money : prepare your ship to 
 go immediately with Captain O'Brien : I give you all the 
 money for the two places : O'Brien will carry them. I 
 give you letters strong enough to make your propositions, 
 which are only too just, immediately accepted. It is the 
 last time I shall write to the Bey of Tripoli. If he does 
 not send me immediately with your ship the treaty of 
 peace and this Englishman in chains, to give me the 
 pleasure of cutting off his head, I will send sixty thousand 
 men to cut off the head of the Bey. For paying the 
 90,000 piastres that I give you, your nation can send 
 them to me when she pleases. I find that she is just — 
 you are wise and humble — I am her friend and yours,' 
 
 " My tears flowed in response, and I took leave. 
 
 "All is arranged; O'Brien goes to-morrow. He will 
 return, I hope, in a month with the two treaties ; after 
 that I can quickly depart. If the Englishman comes, I 
 will save him. You will say this is a romance or a dream : 
 not at all ; this is the strictest truth." 
 
 Algiers, Oct, 12. 
 "O'Brien was taken by the Tripolitans, with 225,000 
 piastres, coming from Lisbon. I was truly on the point 
 of being driven from here, with war declared ; and I 
 should not have blamed the Dey if he had done it, put- 
 ting me in chains the same time, his patience had been 
 so long used and abused. Suddenly O'Brien came, re- 
 leased from Tripoli, with his cargo. I saw the Dey of 
 Algiers changed from a tiger to a lamb ; transformed from 
 a fierce tyrant to the gentlest of men. I seized the 
 
 r 
 
142 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 moment for making a great stroke : I demanded instruc- 
 tive and compulsory letters to the Beys of Tunis and 
 Tripoli, that they should make peace without delay, and 
 on the precise terms that I proposed ; . . . . in fact, O'Brien 
 has gone with the money, with the letters, with the pres- 
 ents of the Dey and myself, and with the necessary 
 power from me. I have reason to believe that he will 
 soon return with the two treaties ; I shall then think our 
 peace with Barbary is the most solid of all nations here ; 
 after that I shall take leave quickly. 
 
 *' There are two things which trouble me in this busi- 
 ness : the Venetians declared war the same day O'Brien 
 went away; the Consul here is the victim of my suc- 
 cess ; it lacks little that the balance should turn the other 
 way. 
 
 " Peter Lyle, the renegade English captain, in the service 
 of Tripoli, who took our two ships, and is a good fellow, 
 will certainly be beheaded. I am very sorry for it. Ask 
 Monroe if I have done wrong. 
 
 " It seems that our Government has approved all that I 
 have done at the beginning. I do not know what it will 
 say when it knows that, without a sou, I have sent back 
 the captives at a time when the city was all pestilence ; 
 that, without a sou, I have sustained the peace for three 
 months after all limits were passed ; and that the first 
 money which came, I borrowed from the Dey for an- 
 other object. I must tell you that without the knowledge 
 at Philadelphia, that the Tunisians had made a surprise. 
 The President gave me orders to give them a sum four 
 times as large as I shall probably make peace for, even 
 while treating under the disaster of a ship taken, and in- 
 cluding the ransom of the prize and the sailors. 
 
 "Another large ship, richly ladened, the Betsy, of 
 Boston, Captain Sampson, has been taken at Tripoli : 
 the crew are in slavery ; they will soon be free." 
 
JOEL BARLOW. I43 
 
 Algiers, Oct. 19. 
 " Our business goes on wonderfully. I shall probably 
 leave in six weeks. I am master of the battle-field. If 
 Victory is no more flighty than usual, she will give this 
 field to the honor of our nation for long years." 
 
 Algiers, Nov. 20. 
 " I have had some trouble with Tunis and Tripoli ; but 
 all is arranged : the Dey plays well the part I have given 
 him. I await O'Brien from day to day. They think 
 I shall be able to leave in fifteen or twenty days." 
 
 Algiers, Nov. 20. 
 
 " Always new difificulties ; still trouble with the Bey of 
 Tunis. This man, profoundly wicked, has found some pre- 
 texts for increasing his pretensions : notwithstanding the 
 letters of the Dey of Algiers, he has had the impudence 
 to demand of O'Brien three times more than he himself 
 proposed formerly. On this occasion, I put to the test 
 the friendship and attachment which the Dey has for me, 
 and found them stronger than ever. I played so well 
 upon his passions, above all, self-love, honor, and friend- 
 ship for me, that the Bey of Tunis is certainly lost. You 
 would not believe that I came to Barbary to behead 
 kings ; I shall have, however, the pleasure of dethroning 
 one. If every Jacobin could do as much, the face of the 
 world would be changed. 
 
 " My business seems now to be perfectly arranged. The 
 Bey has already cried for mercy, saying that peace is al- 
 ready made with the Americans, precisely as the Dey 
 wished it ; and he hopes to be pardoned for his indiscre- 
 tion. But he is too late, he has not three months to 
 live. 
 
 ** Everybody here is astonished at this stroke of policy. 
 There is nothing surprising, however ; the Dey is of a cer- 
 tain temperament — difficult to manage, but easy to cap- 
 tivate. I have had to play here, for seven months, a role 
 the most sad, painful, and desperate. I have conducted 
 
144 ^^"^-^ ^^^ LETTERS OF 
 
 myself only as a man of good sense, patriotism, and 
 humanity would have done. It surprises me a little, I 
 confess ; I was surrounded by enemies. By a natural 
 movement of the human heart he put himself on guard 
 against them. Without being sure of the sincerity of 
 our Government, he saw in my tranquillity and constancy 
 something which won him. Finally, the end of this 
 strange comedy — namely, the discovery of the truth of 
 what I had said — flattered his heart, pre-occupied in my 
 favor without knowing why. To-day he would give me 
 his beard, hair by hair, if I should ask it ; but this humor 
 cannot last long, for caprice is the first of his virtues ; if 
 his favor lasts while I am obliged to remain here it is all 
 I can hope for." 
 
 Algiers, Dec. 25. 
 " Nothing important." 
 
 Algiers, Dec. 30. 
 
 "What I told you, that the Bey of Tunis cried for 
 mercy, was true at the time ; he did it in a moment of 
 fright ; but that circumstance having passed, he broke 
 everything. There is a long story, details of which I can- 
 not give you ; the result is, that after many examples, of 
 perfidy on the part of the Bey, the Dey has sent fifty 
 thousand ambassadors on horseback, well armed, to 
 negotiate my affairs in Tunis. These good negotiators 
 ought to bring the head of the Bey to me and his treas- 
 ures to the Dey. At that price our peace is assured 
 with the successor whom it shall please our friend to 
 place on the throne of Tunis. 
 
 " All is happily ended at Tripoli. O'Brien is en route 
 for here, and I expect from day to day the end of the 
 afifair in Tunis ; after that I shall embark immediately for 
 Spain, and my return to Paris will be as precipitant as 
 though I had been beaten. 
 
 " I hear, to my great regret, that our excellent friend 
 Monroe is going to leave Paris, replaced by a man whom 
 
JOEL BARLOW. I^e 
 
 I think an aristocrat. I hope this change will not hap- 
 pen before my arrival in Paris ; I know well our Gov- 
 ernment has lost his energy with his wisdom. We had 
 last week a great hunting-party to the Numidians. The 
 Minister of the Marine, son of the late Dey, invited us 
 — the consuls of England and Sweden and the father of 
 all consuls, for so they call your poor husband — to a 
 wild-boar hunt. It was fifteen miles distant in the forest. 
 We were three days absent, and slept two nights under 
 tents. We were all well mounted, hunting with the lance 
 like the ancients. We killed fourteen sangliers (wild- 
 boars) and one hyena. I must tell you, for I was there 
 and saw all, although I did not shed a drop of blood that 
 day. Two hours after midday I was so excessively fa- 
 tigued that I dismounted, leaving all the honor to my two 
 sons. The day of our return, the Dey asked the Minister 
 why the American was fatigued ; he said because the 
 American had a horse hard to manage. That was a lie ; 
 the horse was excellent, but the horseman was worth noth- 
 ing. But the Dey said, ' To-morrow I will send him one 
 of the best from my stable.' Next day the horse came. 
 He can give me two hundred, it will never make me a 
 horseman, and I shall never go again to the chase : it is a 
 good thing to see, but nothing more. 
 
 " You are proprietor of half of a ship ; the other half be- 
 longs to a friend whom you will see some day. The ship 
 is called the Friendship, commanded by Captain Samp- 
 son, of Boston, a brave man, recently captured at Tripoli. 
 The ship is in good condition : I have bought it here 
 and sold half of it ; the other half I give to you. I 
 have ordered the captain to sail with it as much as he 
 pleases and send the gains to Wm. Biddle, at Boston ; I 
 have written to him to place the money, as it comes, 
 in United States funds in the name of Ruthy Barlow, 
 a woman that he once knew. Behold your fortune 
 made ! " 
 
146 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 Feb. 6, 1797. 
 
 " I have been in despair for some time on account of 
 the delay of news from Tunis. To-day I received letters 
 which console me, but they necessitate my remaining 
 here almost another month. Another courier is needed 
 to finish the treaty ; this one I shall send away in an 
 hour, and he ought to return in sixteen days — say twenty, 
 and then ten days to leave here ! 
 
 " The Swedish Consul wrote from Paris to his brother, 
 Dec. 3, that he had taken tea with you, and praises your 
 intellect and grace. 
 
 " The brigantine Friendship came safely from Tunis, 
 delivered her cargo, and has been chartered at $450 a 
 month to my friend the Ambassador of France, to carry 
 him to Tripoli, and then to Naples : this service ended, it 
 will go to America. It is a ship of 150 tons. 
 
 " The other ship, called the Rachel, is 250 tons. It 
 went out day before yesterday to take a cargo to Spain. 
 Both are chartered. I let the captains sail where they 
 wish, with orders to place the gains with Biddle, in 
 Boston. 
 
 Feh. i^th, 17^7. 
 
 " I have had no news from Humphreys for four 
 months, from Philadelphia for eight. I shall expect 
 them till after my departure, and then I shall cease to 
 trouble the affairs of Barbary. All will go to the devil, to 
 whom I give it, with all those who neglect their duty so 
 plainly. I have never had the least idea that the Govern- 
 ment would follow my advice. I did not wish, however, 
 to fail in giving it, but once out of Africa I promise to 
 keep my mouth shut. Our engagements with Barbary 
 will be forgotten ; there will be war, that is the end. It 
 will, no doubt, be very hard for me to see undone a 
 work which has cost so many sacrifices. If Monroe goes 
 before I return, I pray you tell him to watch the Barbary 
 affairs. If he asks what he can do at Philadelphia, beg 
 him only to engage the new President to read my letters 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 
 
 147 
 
 in the Bureau of the Secretary. If it is Jefferson he will 
 not fail to be instructed, but if it is a new man of a dif- 
 ferent cast probably a Barbary war will not be the great- 
 est evil to come." 
 
 Algiers, March ^th. 
 " The Swedish ship for Alicante, of which I wrote you, 
 goes to-day without me. Nothing hinders but the delay 
 of my courier from Tunis. This cursed affair drags on, 
 and it is impossible to say when it will end." 
 
 April id. 
 
 " I received from my agent at Tunis certain news that 
 the peace with that country is finally concluded. He 
 has delayed my courier for a few days only, to insure the 
 treaty. I expect him every moment. I have arranged 
 with a good ship and captain to take me to Marseilles, 
 and I can go in five or six days. One thing may still hin- 
 der me : I have expected for six months a ship from Phila- 
 delphia bearing presents for this nation. (It is a shame- 
 ful thing for the Government, very mortifying to me 
 and vexing to the Dey that it has not come sooner.) If 
 it comes before my departure it will be necessary to re- 
 main here twenty days longer to unload it. 
 
 " Give a thousand thanks to my good son Powlikowski 
 for his interesting letter." 
 
 Maf i^th, 1797. 
 
 "I would not have believed, fifteen days ago, that I 
 should still be here. All is prepared : I only wait for 
 the treaty from Tunis. The sickness of a minister, they 
 assure me, has only hindered the registering of the signa- 
 ture ; and they do not know the extent of my haste, so 
 they let the affair delay. I expect every moment the ar- 
 rival of the treaty." 
 
 May 2'i,tk, 1797. 
 
 " I have nearly taken leave, and the large ship is here to 
 carry me to Marseilles, but it is necessary to remain fif- 
 teen days. The cursed ship coming with presents for 
 
148 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 the Dey from Philadelphia has been taken by the Span- 
 iards. They shall pay for it ; the Dey threatens them 
 strongly with war. This affair has given me much trou- 
 ble, but the Dey says he will send me back with great 
 honor." 
 
 June ^th, 1797. 
 " My ship on which I shall go is not yet ready, having 
 some unloading to do." 
 
 July 17 th, 1797. 
 
 " Our Government has praised me much for the opera- 
 tions of last year. If they should reckon the sacrifices 
 I have made, I merit still more for this one. I am al- 
 most sure of going before the end of the month." 
 
 This was the last letter from Algiers. On the i8th of 
 July, 1797, having released the prisoners and effected 
 treaties with Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, he sailed for Mar- 
 seilles ; but on arriving there on the 30th found himself 
 condemned to the lazaretto for forty days' fumigation — 
 he had come from a port infected with the dreaded plague. 
 A score of letters, very much stained and crumpled by 
 the fumigation they underwent, remain as the fruit of 
 his pen during this interval. He wrote to his wife every 
 other day — letters gay, sparkling, exuberant in his joy at 
 being so near her, and as ardent and lover-like as those 
 written under the elms of New Haven. One or two of 
 these will serve to show the character of all. " Mar- 
 seilles," he exclaims in the first letter written from the 
 lazaretto, " Marseilles ! How pretty the name is ! It is 
 necessary to write it again — Marseilles ! There ! But it 
 merits better writing. It is the most harmonious, the 
 sweetest, the most charming word which can strike the 
 ear of a returner escaped from hell. All the letters that 
 compose it are either vowels or liquids, which roll like 
 honey and melt in the mouth ; for example, M is a liquid 
 letter, which the infant pronounces even in nursing ; it 
 says 'mama,' and in any language that letter is never 
 
JOEL BARLOW. I^q 
 
 lost from the name of that beloved person who bears 
 and nourishes us : Mama, mere, madre, mater, mother, 
 moder, morhnma, etc. 
 
 " A — it is the first letter in all the alphabets, and the 
 most easy of all the vowels. 
 
 " R — another liquid, which rolls rapidly, and which 
 forms the principal character in the sound of my name, 
 which is Barlow. 
 
 " S — a liquid which sighs sometimes, but rolls always. 
 
 '' Ei — two vowels, which form a diphthong always agree- 
 able in French, and especially agreeable when it stands 
 before the two I's which come rolling to terminate with 
 the little 
 
 " e — almost mute, the dear name of Marseilles." 
 
 August 1st, 1797. 
 
 " Behold me, then, dear friend, well established in the 
 lazaretto since yesterday evening, in the most agreeable 
 place in the world. It would be difficult to form an 
 
 idea of the satisfaction I felt on landing I came 
 
 on my ship named the Rachel, commanded by Philip 
 Sloan. I never had such a voyage — gentle and calm nav- 
 igation of twelve days, of which I was sick only the first. 
 .... The Consuls of France, Spain, and England gave 
 me passports, and forbade the cruisers of their nations to 
 stop me in my voyage. The Dey made me a present 
 more superb than he has ever made, they say, on a like 
 occasion. Then he charged me with a little present for 
 you, something which is certainly not the custom. In 
 presenting it to me he said, * Carry that to your wife, and 
 tell her to go with you to Constantinople, as she does 
 not wish to come to Algiers.' I have another present 
 for you from my friend Micay Baccry, and that is not all. 
 
 " I wear large mustaches — long, beautiful, and black (a 
 little gray, however). Do you wish I shall cut them here, 
 or do you wish to see them and cut them yourself? It is 
 necessary to say why I let them grow. There is a prov- 
 
ISO 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 erb which is only too true, although very humiliating for 
 humanity, ' Who makes himself mutton, the wolf eats ' : 
 nowhere is this so useful as in Barbary. I discovered 
 that on arriving there, and as I am a lamb at heart it was 
 necessary for me to conceal this character beneath the 
 exterior of some other animal, and my mustaches give 
 me very nearly the air of the tiger, a beast which the 
 wolf does not eat. They have been very useful in my 
 business ; I attach to them no value, except as a souve- 
 nir of the services they have rendered me. I place 
 them on your altars ; pronounce their fate. 
 
 " I have never enjoyed so perfect health as in this cli- 
 mate. I am not so fat as I was last year, but never so 
 clean before." 
 
JOEL BARLOW. jcj 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 ^ 1797-1805. 
 
 On the nth of September the tedious quarantine was 
 finished, and the exile hastened to his wife and friends 
 in Paris. The city was the same, but the Republic had 
 changed. The victories of the young general, Bona- 
 parte, in Italy, had given her prestige, and put an entirely 
 different face on the politics of Europe. The strained 
 nature of French relations with America alone gave the 
 poet uneasiness. Restored to his wife, his books, his 
 friends, he settled down to a life of scholarly and literary 
 retirement, enough disturbed by incursions of business, 
 society, and politics to prevent its becoming stagnant. 
 In a letter to Donaldson, written in 1800, he estimates 
 his losses by the mission to Algiers at $20,000 ; but this 
 was probably a hypothetical loss — the amount which he 
 would have made had he remained. His fortune, thanks 
 to the prudent management of his wife, had been kept 
 intact ; indeed, by the rise in French securities, of which 
 he held or controlled a large block, it had been con- 
 siderably added to. A future of happiness and con- 
 tentment seemed his lot. His chief occupations for the 
 next seven years were of a literary character, though he 
 watched with intensest interest the progess of political 
 movements in both Europe and America. We will no- 
 tice first his literary enterprises : fiction excepted, these 
 covered the entire range of literature — poetry, history, 
 translations, and essays on political, economic, and scien- 
 tific questions. His activity in this direction was in- 
 tense. A vast array of notes and the prospectus for a 
 contemplated " History of the P'rench Revolution " were 
 prepared at this time. He had published, before accept- 
 
152 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 ing the mission to Algiers, a superb edition of the " Vision 
 of Columbus," and now set about the execution of a long 
 cherished design of expanding the poem into a larger 
 and more complete work, to be called the " Columbiad." 
 The notes and the first draft of the epic were written 
 during this period. 
 
 Volney's most famous work, " The Ruins," had been 
 published in Paris in 1791, and had rapidly passed 
 through several editions. It had been translated into 
 English soon after its appearance ; but this translation 
 was very unsatisfactory to its author, who asserted that 
 the translator must have been overawed by the Gov- 
 ernment or clergy from rendering his ideas faithfully. 
 Volney at that time was travelling in the United States, 
 and an English friend, residing in Philadelphia, hearing 
 the remark, undertook a revision of the work. In his 
 efforts to give the author's ideas literally, however, he 
 made a very inelegant translation, which proved still 
 more unsatisfactory. Volney had now returned to Paris. 
 He and Barlow were on the most intimate terms, and 
 the latter, at the author's suggestion, and under his su- 
 pervision, undertook a new translation, which succeeded 
 admirably, and remains to-day the best rendering of the 
 French classic ever accomplished.* 
 
 * Compare the invocation in the three principal translations: 
 Paris Translation (Barlow's). 
 
 " Hail, solitary ruins, holy sepulchres, and silent walls ! You I invoke ; 
 to you I address my prayer. While your aspect averts, with secret terror, 
 the vulgar regard, it excites in my heart the charm of delicious sentiments, 
 sublime contemplations. What useful lessons, what affecting and pro- 
 found reflections you suggest to him who knows how to consult you ! 
 When the whole earth, in chains and silence, bowed the neck before its 
 tyrants, you had already proclaimed the truths which they abhor, and con- 
 founding the dust of the king with that of the meanest slave, had an- 
 nounced to man the sacred dogma of Equality ! Within your pale, in soli- 
 tary adoration of Liberty, I saw her genius arise from the mansions of the 
 dead ; not such as she is painted by the impassioned multitude, armed with 
 fire and sword, but under the august aspect of Justice, poising in her hand 
 the sacred balance, wherein are weighed the actions of men at the gates of 
 eternity." 
 
JOEL BARLOW. jt^ 
 
 Another literary work that occupied his thoughts was 
 a history of his native country. Jefferson, as Barlow 
 informs us in one of his letters, first broached the idea, 
 when he was Minister at Paris. He now wrote again, 
 returning to the attack : " We are rich ourselves in ma- 
 
 LoNDON Translation. 
 
 " Solitary ruins, sacred tombs, ye smouldering and silent walls, all hail ! 
 To you I address my invocation. While the vulgar shrink from your as- 
 pect with secret terror, my heart finds in the contemplation a thousand 
 delicious sentiments, a thousand admirable recollections. Pregnant, I may 
 truly call you,'with useful lessons, with pathetic and irresistible advice to 
 the man who knows how to consult you. Awhile ago the whole world 
 bowed the neck in silence before the tyrants that oppressed it ; and yet 
 in that hopeless moment you already proclaimed the truths that tyrants 
 hold in abhorrence. Mixing the dust of the proudest kings with that of 
 the meanest slaves, you call upon us to contemplate this example of 
 equality. From your caverns, whither the musing and anxious love of 
 Liberty led me, I saw escape its venerable shade, and with unexpected 
 felicity direct its flight and marshal my steps the way to renovated 
 France." 
 
 Philadelphia Translation. 
 
 " Hail, ye solitary ruins, ye sacred tombs and silent walls ! 'Tis your 
 auspicious aid that I invoke ; 'tis to you my soul, wrapt in meditation, 
 pours forth its prayer ! What though the profane and vulgar mind shrinks 
 with dismay from your august and awe-inspiring aspect, to me ye unfold the 
 sublimest chains of contemplation and sentiment, and offer to my senses 
 the luxury of a thousand delicious and enchanting thoughts ! How sump- 
 tuous the feast to a being that has a taste to relish, and an understanding 
 to consult you ! What rich and noble admonitions, what exquisite and pa- 
 thetic lessons do you read to a heart that is susceptible of exalted feelings ! 
 When oppressed humanity bent in timid silence throughout the globe be- 
 neath the galling yoke of slavery, it was you that proclaimed aloud the 
 birthright of those truths which tyrants tremble at while they detect, and 
 which, by sinking the loftiest head of the proudest potentate, with all his 
 boasted pageantry, to the level of mortality with his meanest slave, con- 
 firmed and ratified by your unerring testimony the sacred and immortal 
 doctrine of Equality. Musing within the precincts of your inviting scenes of 
 philosophic solitude, whither the insatiate love of true-born Liberty had led 
 me, I beheld her genius ascending, not in the spurious character and habit 
 of a bloodthirsty Fury armed with daggers and instruments of murder, and 
 followed by a frantic and intoxicated multitude, but under the placid and 
 chaste aspect of Justice, holding with a pure and unsullied hand the sacred 
 scales in which the actions of mortals are weighed on the brink of Eter- 
 nity. 
 
154 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 terials, and can open all the public archives to you : but 
 your residence here is essential, because a great deal of 
 the knowledge of things is not on paper, but only 
 within ourselves for verbal communication. John Mar- 
 shall is writing the life of George Washington from his 
 papers. It is intended to come out just in time to influ- 
 ence the next presidential election. It is written, there- 
 fore, principally with a view to electioneering purposes. 
 But it will consequently be out in time to aid you with 
 information, as well as to point out the perversions of 
 truth necessary to be rectified. Think of this, and agree 
 to it, and be assured of my high esteem and attach- 
 ment." 
 
 Jefferson saw that the history of the great struggle 
 in which he had taken part was being given to posterity 
 entirely by his political adversaries, and was exceedingly 
 anxious that a competent writer should treat of it from 
 the Republican point of view. Barlow accepted the 
 trust and made extensive preparations for it, both in 
 Paris and on his return to America, but his untimely 
 death prevented the completion of the work. Several 
 hundred pages of notes on every topic in the remot- 
 est degree connected with it remain to attest his indus- 
 try and the thoroughness of his preparation. Nearly a 
 dozen essays on political matters — commerce, maritime 
 law, religion, science — addressed to the Governments of 
 England, France, the United States, and to various 
 learned societies, also remain to show the activity of his 
 pen during this period. A curious essay, in which he 
 traces the origin and progress of idolatry back to the 
 expulsion from Eden, and another in which he demon- 
 strates the right of the Republicans of America to the 
 title of ** Federalists," since they supported the Federal 
 Constitution, and were carrying out to their legitimate 
 conclusion the principles of the Revolution, both found 
 among his unpublished papers, may be ascribed to this 
 period. He also busied himself with replying to criti- 
 
JOEL BARLOW. j-- 
 
 cisms, by the leading reviews, on his " Vision of Colum- 
 bus," and other works. 
 
 His services to his native country at this time cannot 
 be overestimated : these alone entitle him to the respect 
 and gratitude of his countrymen. 
 
 The years 1 797-1 800 were peculiarly fraught with 
 danger to the young Republic. The general war in 
 Europe destroyed her commerce, while the monarchical 
 tendencies of the Federalists made it probable that an- 
 other revolution would be necessary before the people 
 could secure their rights. But the most serious danger 
 was the threatened collision with France. The sym- 
 pathy of the mass of the American people was with 
 France, their old ally, now that she was engaged in a 
 heady struggle for her liberties against the combined 
 sovereigns of Europe. But the Government, then in the 
 hands of the Federalists, resolved on a course of strict 
 neutrality. Jay's treaty, which was something more 
 than this, almost provoked a popular uprising in 
 America, and with the French Directory came near be- 
 ing considered a casus belli. It favored England, they 
 urged, as against France, and they particularly exclaimed 
 against the clause giving their ancient enemy the right 
 to seize French goods in American bottoms, and that, 
 permitting freedom of trade between America and the 
 English colonies. 
 
 The bitter opposition of the Republican party in the 
 United States to this treaty, the arbitrary and high- 
 handed proceedings of the French Directory in retalia- 
 tion, and the putting of the American nation on a war- 
 footing by President Adams in consequence, are mat- 
 ters of history so familiar as to need no recapitulation. 
 It will be remembered that the matter was settled by 
 the French Directory's receding from its position, but 
 it is not generally known that that retrocession was 
 largely due to the influence of Joel Barlow, exerted 
 privately on the members of the Directory, and in pub- 
 
156 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 lie on the French people through the medium of the 
 press.* 
 
 He also wrote to Washington (on hearing that he had 
 been appointed Commander-in-chief of the army to wage 
 war against France) a letter presenting urgent reasons 
 why the two Governments should refrain from the arbit- 
 rament of arms. It was as follows : — 
 
 " Paris, 2d October, 1798. 
 
 " Sir : — On hearing of your late nomination as Com- 
 mander-in-chief of the American armies I rejoice at it, 
 not because I believe the war which that nomination 
 contemplates is yet inevitable, and that it will furnish 
 an occasion for a further display of your military talents, 
 but because it may enable you to exert your influence 
 to greater effect in preventing that war. By becoming 
 more the centre of information than you could be in 
 your retirement, you will be better able to judge of the 
 disposition of both countries, and to offer such counsels 
 to your own Government as may tend to remove the 
 obstacles that still oppose themselves to reconciliation. 
 Were you now President of the United States I should 
 not address you this letter, because, not knowing my 
 inclination for the tranquillity of a retired life, you might 
 think that I was seeking a place, or had some further 
 object in view than the simple one of promoting peace 
 between the two Republics. 
 
 " But I hope, under present circumstances, you will 
 believe my motive to be pure and unmixed, and that 
 the object of my letter is only to call your attention to 
 the true state of facts. 
 
 " Perhaps few men who cannot pretend to be in the 
 secrets of either Government are in a better situation 
 
 * Some of these articles were found among his papers. One, designed to 
 show that France was sharing equally with England in the commerce of the 
 United States, was endorsed in Barlow's handwriting : " Published by 
 Maselet in the PublicitS, the 25th Nivose, an 8." 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 
 
 than myself to judge of the motives of both, to assign 
 the true causes, and trace out the progress of their un> 
 happy misunderstanding, or to appreciate their present 
 dispositions, pretensions, and wishes. I am certain that 
 there are none who labor more sincerely for the restora- 
 tion of harmony upon terms honorable to the United 
 States and advantageous to the cause of liberty. 
 
 *'Iwill not in this place go over the history of past 
 transactions ; it would be of little use. The object is 
 to seize the malady in its present stage, and try to arrest 
 its progress. The dispute at this moment may be 
 characterized as simply and literally a misunderstanding. 
 I cannot persuade myself to give it a harsher name, as it 
 applies to either Government. 
 
 It is clear that neither of them has an interest in going 
 to war with the other, and I am fully convinced that 
 neither has the inclination— that is, I believe the balance 
 of inclination as well as interest on both sides is in favor 
 of peace. But each Government, though sensible of this 
 truth with respect to itself, is ignorant of it with respect 
 to the other. Each believes the other determined on 
 war, and ascribes all its conduct to a deep-rooted hos- 
 tility. The least they can do, therefore, under this im- 
 pression is to prepare for an event which they both be- 
 lieve inevitable while they both wish to avoid it. 
 
 " But by what fatality is it that a calamity so dreadful 
 must be rendered inevitable because it is thought so? 
 Both Governments have tongues, and both have ears. 
 Why will they not speak? Why will they not listen ? 
 
 " The causes that have hitherto prevented them are 
 not difficult to assign. I could easily explain them, as I 
 believe, to the satisfaction of all parties, and without 
 throwing so much blame on either ^Government as each 
 of them at present ascribes to the other. But I will avoid 
 speaking of any past provocations on either side. The 
 point that I wish to establish in your mind is that the 
 French Directory is at present sincerely desirous of re- 
 
158 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 storing harmony between this country and the United 
 States, on terms honorable and advantageous to both 
 parties. I wish to convince you of this, and through you 
 the American Government, because that Government, 
 being desirous of the same thing, would not fail to take 
 such steps as would lead immediately to the object. In 
 offering you my proofs of the present disposition Oii this 
 side you will permit me to observe that some of them are, 
 from their nature, incapable of being detailed, and others 
 improper to be trusted to the casualties of a letter. But 
 I will mention a few that are ostensible, and, so far as they 
 go, undeniable. First, the Directory has declared that it 
 will receive and treat with any minister from America who 
 shall appear to be sent with a real intention of treating 
 and terminating existing dififilculties. I have no doubt 
 but this was the intention when the last envoys were 
 sent ; but from some unfortunate circumstances the 
 Directory did not believe it. Secondly, as a preliminary, 
 it has declared that in the negotiation there shall be no 
 question of a loan of money, or apologies for offensive 
 speeches pronounced by the executive on either side. 
 Thirdly, all commissions given to privateers in the West 
 Indies are recalled ; and when new commissions are 
 given, the owners and commanders are to be restricted, 
 under bonds, to the legal objects of capture. Fourthly, 
 an embargo that was laid on the American ships within 
 the Republic, in consequence of a report that a war was 
 begun on the part of the United States, was taken off as 
 soon as it was ascertained that such a war had not begun ; 
 and a new declaration was, at the same time, sent to 
 America of the wishes of France to treat. These facts will 
 doubtless come to your knowledge through other chan- 
 nels before you receive this letter. But there are other 
 facts which, in my mind, are equally clear, though to you 
 they will be destitute of corroborating circumstances, and 
 must rest upon my own information and opinion. 
 ''First, that this Government contemplates a just in- 
 
JOEL BARLOW. I^q 
 
 demnity for spoliations on American commerce, to be 
 ascertained by commissioners, in a manner similar to the 
 one prescribed in our treaty with England. 
 
 " Second, that the legislation will soon be changed here 
 with respect to neutrals ; and that all flags will be put 
 on the footing of the law of nations. 
 
 " Third, that a public agent would have been sent to 
 Philadelphia soon after Mr. Gerry's departure were it 
 not for apprehension that he would not be received. 
 There was a doubt whether the American Government 
 would not have already taken such measures of hostility 
 as to be unwilling to listen to terms of accommodation ; 
 and the Directory did not like to risk the chance of see- 
 ing its offers refused. 
 
 " Fourth, that the Directory considers these declarations 
 and transactions as a sufficient overture on its part ; that 
 it has retreated to an open ground which is quite unsus- 
 picious ; that a refusal on the part of the American Gov- 
 ernment to meet on this ground will be followed by 
 immediate war ; and that it will be a war of the most 
 terrible and vindictive kind. 
 
 " This, sir, is my view of the present state of affairs. 
 Should it make that impression on your mind which I 
 desire for the sake of humanity that it may, you will 
 judge whether it does not comport with the independence 
 of the United States and the dignity of their Government 
 to send another minister to form new treaties with the 
 French Republic. In a war there is clearly nothing to 
 h& gained \iy us, not even honor. Honor indeed may be 
 saved by war, and so it may be by negotiation. But the 
 calamities inseparable from a war, and under present cir- 
 cumstances, would be incalculable. I do not say that the 
 United States, or any portion of them, would be con- 
 quered. But they would sacrifice great numbers of their 
 best citizens, burden themselves with four times their 
 present debt, overturn the purest system of morals, and 
 lose the fairest opportunity that ever a nation had of 
 
l6o LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 rising to greatness and happiness on the basis of liberty. 
 Were I writing to a young general whose name was still 
 to be created I might deem it useless to ask him to stifle 
 in its birth a war on which he had founded his hopes of 
 future honors. But you, sir, having already earned and 
 acquired all that can render a man great and happy, can 
 surely have no object of ambition but to render your 
 country so. To engage your influence in favor of a new 
 attempt at negotiation before you draw your sword, I 
 thought it only necessary to convince you that such an 
 attempt would be well received here, and probably at- 
 tended with success. I can do no more than assure you 
 that this is my sincere opinion, and that my information 
 is drawn from unsuspected sources. I am not accustomed 
 to interpose my advice in the administration of any coun- 
 try, and should not have done it now did I not believe 
 it my duty as a citizen of my own, and a friend to all 
 others. I see two great nations rushing on each other's 
 bayonets without any cause of contention but a misunder- 
 standing. I shudder at the prospect, and wish to throw 
 myself between the vans, and suspend the onset till a 
 word of explanation can pass. I hope my letter will 
 have cast some light on the subject ; but if it shall not, 
 I know you will excuse the attempt, for you know my 
 zeal is honest. 
 
 " I have the honor to be, sir, with great respect, 
 
 ''Joel Barlow." 
 
 It will be interesting to follow the adventures of this 
 letter. Though written early in October, it did not come 
 into Washington's hands until the last day of January ; 
 the next day it was forwarded by Washington to Presi- 
 dent Adams under cover of the following note : 
 
 " I have conceived it my duty to transmit it to you 
 without delay, and without a comment, except that it 
 must have been written with a very good, or a very bad 
 design ; which of the two you can judge better than I. 
 
JOEL BARLOW. l6l 
 
 From the known abilities of that gentleman, such a letter 
 could not be the result of ignorance in him ; nor from the 
 implications which are to be found in it, has it been 
 written without the privity of the French Directory. It is 
 incumbent on me to add, that I have not been in the 
 habit of corresponding with Mr. Barlow. The letter now 
 forwarded is the first I ever received from him, and to 
 him I have never written one. If, then, you should be of 
 opinion that his letter is calculated to bring on negotia- 
 tion upon open, fair, and honorable ground, and merits 
 a reply, and will instruct me as to the tenor of it, I shall 
 with pleasure and alacrity obey your orders ; more espe- 
 cially, if there is reason to believe that it would become 
 a means, however small, of restoring peace and tranquil- 
 lity to the United States upon just, honorable, and digni- 
 fied terms, which I am persuaded is the ardent desire of 
 all the friends of this rising empire." 
 
 Contrast Washington's calm and temperate language 
 with the words of John Adams on receiving it : 
 
 " Philadelphia, Feb. i^tk. 
 " Barlow's letter had, I assure you, very little weight 
 in determining me to this measure.* I shall make few 
 observations upon jt. But in my opinion it is not often 
 that we meet with a composition which betrays so many 
 and so unequivocal symptoms of blackness of heart. 
 The wretch has destroyed his own character to such a 
 degree that I think it would be derogatory to yours 
 to give any answer at all to his letter. Tom Paine is not 
 a more worthless fellow. The infamous threat which he 
 has debased himself to transmit to his country to intimi- 
 date you and your country — ' that certain conduct will be 
 followed by war, and that it will be a war of the most 
 terrible and vindictive kind ' — ought to be answered by a 
 Mohawk. If I had an Indian chief that I could converse 
 with freely, I would ask him what answer he would give 
 
 * Sending envoys to treat with the Directory. 
 
l62 ^^PE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 to such a gasconade. I fancy he would answer that he 
 would, if they began their cruelties, cut up every French- 
 man, joint by joint, roast him by a fire, pinch off his 
 flesh with hot pincers, etc. I blush to think that such 
 ideas should be started in this age." 
 
 On reflection, however, the sturdy old patriot seems 
 to have become ashamed of this ebullition of feeling. 
 Years after, in his series of interesting letters to the Bos- 
 ton Patriot, he made this retraction : 
 
 " I, however, considered General Washington's question 
 whether Mr. Barlow's letter was written with a very good 
 or a very bad design ; and as, with all my jealousy, I 
 had not sagacity enough to discover the smallest room for 
 suspicion of any ill design, I frankly concluded that it was 
 written with a very good one." 
 
 The above letter (to Washington) was enclosed in one 
 addressed to the writer's brother-in-law, Abraham Bald- 
 win, Senator from Georgia, dated Paris, 3d October, 1798, 
 which contains the following reference to it : " Enclosed 
 is a letter in duplicate which I have thought it my duty 
 to address to George Washington. I wish you to seal 
 and forward it, but first to take a copy of it ; and if you 
 find that neither this nor any other statement of facts is 
 likely to calm the frenzy of him and his associates, but 
 that they continue running wild after a phantom to the 
 ruin of their country, I should think it best to publish it 
 with my name and his, that our countrymen may see, 
 whenever they will condescend to open their eyes, that 
 one of their chiefs at least has had a warning in proper 
 time, and from an unsuspicious quarter. But the whole 
 of this is submitted entirely to your judgment, and there 
 are few men whose discretion I would trust in a point so 
 delicate. As I do not contemplate its being published 
 but in a case of extremity, when matters cannot be made 
 worse, it may in that case not be amiss that you should 
 appear to be the channel through which it comes. That 
 circumstance might add to its weight ; and it might be 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 163 
 
 proper to introduce it by publishing the first paragraph 
 of this letter to you." 
 
 The year 1800 was the year of the fourth presidential 
 election. Shrewd observers saw that a crisis was ap- 
 proaching; that with proper exertion the Government 
 could be given into Republican hands. The course of 
 the Federal leaders toward France, as we have seen, had 
 been vastly unpopular, while their arrogance and con- 
 tempt of all opposition had become insufferable. Barlow 
 watched the contest with the keenest interest, and by an 
 accident was made a potent factor in deciding it. Early 
 in March, 1799, a copy of the Columbian Centinel, pub- 
 lished in Boston, the leading organ of the Federalists of 
 New England, fell into his hands. It contained an arti- 
 cle which excited his interest at once, and which we feel 
 impelled to give entire, not as a literary curiosity (as 
 might be suspected), nor as an exhibition of the partisan 
 rage of the period, but as necessary to our narrative. 
 The article is presented verbatim et literatim, the cap- 
 tions and italics being the editor's own. 
 
 "JOEL BARLOW'S LETTER. 
 
 ** Quos Deus vult perdere prius dementat. 
 
 " APOLOGY. 
 
 " The Editor has repelled for some time an inclination 
 to give insertion to the following letter. He was unwill- 
 ing to promulgate the degradation of a Man whom every 
 American once revered for talents, patriotism, and erudi- 
 tion — without the strongest proofs : And it was, at first, 
 difficult to believe the author of the ' Vision of Colum- 
 bus ' could be the vile ejector of falsehood, froth and 
 filth, which would cast a midnight shade over the black- 
 est character of his contemporary Thomas Paine. But 
 assured of the transforming qualities of the Upas-air of 
 Paris, and satisfied of the fact of the authorship, the Edi- 
 tor will no longer withhold from the eyes of his numer- 
 
164 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 ous readers, evidence of a '■falling off' compared with 
 which that oi Judas Iscariot is but a foible. — The latter 
 betrayed his Master, but he repented himself of it and 
 returned the money. The former has not only betrayed 
 his country, but glories in his shame. 
 
 " QUINTESSENCE OF VILLANY. 
 
 " Copy of a Letter from an American Diplomatic Char- 
 acter in France, to a Member of Congress in Philadel- 
 phia. 
 
 " I March, 1798. 
 
 "'My Dear Friend: — It is now a long time, even 
 many years, since I have indulged myself,' etc. 
 
 " 3d Paragraph. — ' America by the man whose mon- 
 strous influence formed an inexplicable contrast with the 
 weakness of his political talents.' 
 
 " Close of 4th Paragraph. — ' He was a wide-mouthed 
 brawler, and had been for two years the exaggerated 
 echo of all the abuse in all Burke's pamphlets, and of the 
 worst papers in London.' 
 
 " 3d. — ' Through a silence marked with resentment and 
 contempt.' 
 
 "'This accounts for the interest which the French 
 seemed to take in the event of that election. Their 
 
 wishing you to elect Q E proves that they did 
 
 not want to quarrel with you, and that they still hoped 
 that the people of America were friends to liberty. 
 
 " 'Answer Propre (f) 
 
 " * That in everything but wisdom I am the worst or 
 best of the present race.' " 
 Then follows : 
 
 "CENTINEL COMMENTS. 
 
 " We have now discharged our duty in giving a place in 
 the Centinel to the preceding epistle. It is a useful doc- 
 ument, and will serve as an appendix to the volume of 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 1 65 
 
 the despatches from our Envoys. It incontestably proves 
 what the Jacobins have often desired, a fixed determina- 
 tion in the French Directory to dictate measures and 
 men in the United States as they have done in Holland 
 and Italy, and develops the causes of the French robber- 
 ies of our property. It unquestionably was written in 
 Talleyrand's bureau, while that arch apostate sat at the 
 elbow of the, duped American and dictated every word. 
 A greater quantum of folly, arrogance, egotism and false- 
 hood could not be condensed within equal limits. Were 
 the United States the most insignificant, conquered col- 
 ony of France, and * Joel Barlow,' as great an advocate 
 for * passive obedience ' and servile dependence as 
 Thomas Hutchinson, he could not have uttered insinua- 
 tions more humiliating, or have more strenuously advo- 
 cated the right of the French to dictate not only the 
 Constitutions, Laws and Treaties, but the Men who shall 
 preside in the Councils of the country which gave him 
 birth. — ' We must,' says this Joel, * choose first such men 
 as will please France, for President and Ambassador, or 
 the " five-headed monster," after devouring the European 
 whales, will " shark" the American "shrimps," — Buffon 
 could not have been the parent of a more belittleing idea. 
 Again, Citoyen ' Joel ' swears, ' He will not Excuse the 
 Executive for printing,' the despatches. O ! Adams ! 
 President of the Union ! Your fate is fixed ! The indig- 
 nation of J-o-e-1 B-a-r-1-o-w will hurl you from your ele- 
 vated sphere, and bury all your boasted Fame in obscur- 
 ity ! But what ill-starred Fiend tempted Citoyen Joel to 
 tell the silly tale of the letter from Gen. Washington to 
 Morris ? — Barlow, the ci-devant American, Knew it was a 
 lie ; — But Barlow, the Poet, had been in the habit of fib- 
 bing ; and Barlow the Frenchman must write what Tal- 
 leyrand dictates." 
 
 It only remains to prove that this letter had been 
 stolen, and then so garbled and altered that an entirely 
 different construction could be placed on its contents, to 
 
1 65 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 convict its publishers of the height of moral turpitude. 
 In the same letter to Abraham Baldwin which enclosed 
 that to Washington, Barlow had written : " I have been 
 apprehensive that a letter of March last — very long ; 8 or 
 10 sheets — by William Lee, has fallen into wrong hands, 
 as well as another by the same occasion to Thomas Jef- 
 ferson. Relieve my anxiety if you can on this head." 
 
 He at once recognized in the Centinel extracts, garbled 
 portions of that letter, and in answer to the comments 
 they had called forth, addressed an open letter to his fel- 
 low-citizens of the United States, which proved one of 
 the most effective documents of the campaign. After 
 calling attention to the extracts in the Centinel, and de- 
 claring that there was not a paragraph " without some 
 omissions, additions, or changes which vitiate or wholly 
 destroy its meaning," he proceeds : " But the substan- 
 tial character of the letter, so far as it respects my opin- 
 ion on the system of policy pursued by our Executive 
 toward France and England during the period to which 
 it relates, must answer for itself. I see nothing in it 
 to retract or correct. Though I always reserve to my- 
 self the right of changing my opinions, as every man who 
 is not omniscient must often have occasion to do, yet 
 on this subject I have not changed them during the last 
 year. It is my belief that it would cost you dearer, even 
 now, to settle your dispute with France, than it would 
 have done (had your negotiations been properly managed) 
 at the time I wrote the letter. How much you have un- 
 fortunately suffered from the piracies carried on under 
 the French laws since that period, you can doubtless de- 
 termine better than I ; and what will be the final ex- 
 pense of the negotiation, those only will be able to de- 
 cide who shall live to see it. Thus much for the senti- 
 ments originally contained in that letter. I will now 
 rectify one or two mistakes which I have observed in 
 the American papers, relative to the circumstances un- 
 der which it was written. First. It is supposed by some, 
 
JOEL BARLOW. ig^ 
 
 who do not reflect on the chronology of dates, that I was 
 knowing to the attempts which had been made here to 
 extort from our commissioners a bribe to individuals, and 
 a promise of a loan to the Government. They imagine 
 that I wrote under this impression, and consequently ap- 
 proved the measure. I believe that not the most distant 
 hint of either of these base attempts was known or whis- 
 pered (beyond the circle of those persons mentioned in 
 the despatches) until their publication in Philadelphia — 
 which happened to be on the same day that my letter 
 was dated in Paris. The printed despatches arrived here 
 in May, and no man in America could feel a greater in- 
 dignation than I did at the piece of villany therein de- 
 tailed, though I amx far from thinking that a proper use 
 was made of the circumstance, either before or after it 
 was communicated to the American Government. The 
 despatches of General Pinckney, alluded to in my letter, 
 were not those of the three commissioners, as supposed 
 by the Centinel, but were dated the year before, and were 
 the fruits of his former embassy. Secondly. Had that 
 letter been designed for publication, I should not have 
 left it open to criticism in another point more remarka- 
 ble than the one above noticed. In reviewing the errors 
 of the American Government I then made no men- 
 tion of the French, and it has been concluded, from this 
 omission, that I approved the conduct of the latter ; that 
 I saw nothing wrong in that monstrous system of piracy 
 and plunder exercised towards neutrals ; indeed, I am 
 supposed to have relished all the horrors that have at- 
 tended this tremendous revolution. God forbid that I 
 should lose my senses to such a degree ! I have not 
 only disapproved the innumerable acts of injustice and 
 violence committed under the order of the 2d of March, 
 1797, and the law of the i8th of January, 1798, but I have 
 uniformly remonstrated, with as much force as an indi- 
 vidual of little influence could do, against that order and 
 that law, and against the general current of resentment 
 
l68 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 which has marked the measures of this Government 
 towards that of the United States, ever since the ratifi- 
 cation of the British treaty. This resentment has ap- 
 peared to me far greater than the occasion would justify ; 
 and I have not failed to enforce this opinion whenever 
 I thought it could be usefully done. But Paris is the 
 place where it is proper to point out for correction the 
 errors of the French Government, and Philadelphia those 
 of the American. My friend was in Philadelphia. My 
 letter was written with the simple hope of doing some 
 immediate good, not with the design of transmitting 
 history to future ages. Where then would have been the 
 use of swelling it with a list of blunders, or crimes if you 
 please, which no man of candor will deny, but on which 
 his silence ought not to be construed into approbation ? 
 You might as well say I believe in the doctrines of Ma- 
 homet because I do not go out of my way to refute 
 them. We are so constituted and circumscribed in our 
 powers of action that most of the good or ill which we 
 do in the world, is the result of circumstances, not always 
 in our power to control. Whoever will give himself 
 the trouble of obtaining a competent knowledge of the 
 French Revolution, so as to be able to judge it with in- 
 telligence, and weigh the infinite complication of diffi- 
 culties and incentives to ungovernable passions that have 
 lain in the way of its leaders, must indeed be shocked at 
 their follies and their faults ; but he will find more occa- 
 sion to ask why they have committed so few, than why 
 they have committed so many. A state of political in- 
 sanity is not at all inconsistent with the situation in which 
 they have been placed by the irresistible force of circum- 
 stances. And there are cases in which we ought to ap- 
 plaud men for the mischiefs they have not done, as well 
 as to seek excuses for those they have brought about. I 
 am sensible that, in your view, the wrongs committed by 
 the French towards the United States are less excusable 
 than those towards other nations. You form this opin- 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 1 69 
 
 ion not so much from national prejudice as from a con- 
 sciousness of the purity of your own intentions in your 
 conduct towards this Republic ; from having felt a gen- 
 eral friendship to her cause, and not perceiving a suffi- 
 cient ground of complaint on which her resentment can 
 be founded. But you are not to learn that jealousy is 
 one of the strongest and blindest of the human passions ; 
 and I beheve you will be convinced that the facts hinted 
 at in my letter, viewed through the mist of jealousy that 
 had constantly surrounded the leaders in the Revolution, 
 could not fail of producing effects similar to what we 
 now deplore. No ! my fellow-citizens ; I have too high 
 a sense of justice and of the rights of nations to sanction 
 maritime plunder from any quarter, or even to approve 
 the least restriction on trade. A perfect liberty of 
 commerce is among the most indubitable rights of man, 
 and it is the best policy of nations. The establishment 
 of this principle alone, with proper measures to preserve 
 it, would have a powerful tendency, if not an infallible 
 effect, to maintain a perpetual peace between countries 
 separated by the ocean. The opposers of this branch of 
 liberty, who do it from reflection, are not only the ene- 
 mies of America, but they are the abettors of injustice 
 and the foes of humanity. They strive to perpetuate a 
 system of war, of public devastations, private rapine, fraud 
 and cruelty, which disturb the tranquillity of the states, 
 discourage honest industry, and blacken the character 
 of man. Those who oppose it through ignorance, and at 
 the same time aspire to the task of administering the 
 government of a free people, ought to be sent back to 
 school, and there taught the rudiments of the science 
 which solicits their ambition. Possessing these opinions, 
 and seeing America move nearer to this principle than 
 any other nation, how is it possible that I could approve 
 the blind policy of European plunder, or look with in- 
 difference on the tyranny of the seas? From the time 
 when your first vessel was taken by the English at the 
 
I/O 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 beginning of the present war, I expected to see some 
 of your great men in power come forward with something 
 luminous on the rights of nations relative to trade. 
 From the reputed wisdom of America I expected to see 
 Europe at last enlightened on a subject of so much im- 
 portance to the human race. In addition to the free- 
 dom of your constitution, I considered you as possess- 
 ing two singular advantages for the attainment of this 
 great object : ist. Nature had placed a wide ocean be- 
 tween you and those nations to which your commercial 
 intercourse extended. And you had not, or ought not 
 to have, any other political intercourse abroad but what 
 relates to commerce. 2d. From the nature of your trade, 
 and the constant result of your accounts current, you are 
 always indebted to those nations in sums amounting to 
 from fifteen to thirty millions of dollars. This state of 
 your accounts was not confined to England. It extended 
 (before the present war) to those other countries whose 
 manufactures you were in the habit of importing; and to 
 France and Holland in as high a proportion, compared 
 with their manufactures imported, as to England. The 
 first of these advantages, being a sufificient bulwark 
 against attacks by land, secured you from the political 
 squabbles of Europe, leaving you vulnerable only in 
 your commerce. The second furnished you, in your 
 commerce itself, with a most powerful weapon of de- 
 fence. The English began to plunder you in the year 
 1793, in a manner totally unprovoked, and without even 
 a pretext. Here was an occasion which called for the 
 talents of your leaders, and invited them to use with 
 dexterity this weapon, which was the most legitimate, 
 the most pacific, and the most effectual that was ever put 
 into the hands of any Government. But instead of this, 
 an embassy is despatched to London to resign this pre- 
 cious weapon, the only infallible one you had, into the 
 hands of the British king, and this for no other reason 
 than for fear that a future Congress, and another Execu- 
 
JOEL BARLOW. I^I 
 
 tlve might use it. Your situation, though new to you, 
 was not difficult nor delicate ; it required a declaration 
 of neutrality, a solemn declaration and definition of the 
 rights of neutrality, and a notification of your intention 
 that all property taken unjustly from you-r citizens by 
 any power at war should be compensated by so much 
 property of the subjects of that power found within your 
 jurisdiction, whether in the public funds or in the hands 
 of private debtors. There is nothing unjust or immoral 
 in this mode of proceeding. The aggression would be 
 on the part of the foreign power. You compensate your 
 own citizen, and leave that power to compensate hers ; 
 and if she does not do it the injustice is on her side, both 
 as first aggressor and final delinquent. If she makes the 
 compensation she will not be likely to repeat the of- 
 fence, because it would be an expensive business ; if she 
 refuses compensation, she will soon be brought to reason 
 by the clamors of her suffering subjects. England in 
 such cases would not fail to do you justice, and that on 
 the only principle you can count upon with certainty 
 from any foreign nation — an attention to her own in- 
 terests." 
 
 From this point he went on to notice and discuss 
 nearly all the public measures then attracting atten- 
 tion — the funding of the debt, the establishment of a 
 navy as another department of Government, the ulterior 
 effects of the Jay treaty, the rupture with France, and 
 other interesting topics, and concludes with the following 
 spirited question : " What are the measures that Amer- 
 ica ought to take to secure her own liberty, establish a 
 permanent and equal independence from every foreign 
 power, command the respect and gain the confidence of all 
 mankind, and induce the commercial nations to adopt a 
 general plan of pacific intercourse which will perpetuate 
 itself and better the condition of society ? It is possible 
 that these inquiries may be the subject of another letter 
 which I may address to you, my fellow-citizens, whose 
 
1/2 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 interests I will never cease to cherish. I am your brother 
 by the close and complicated ties of blood, of early 
 sympathies, common dangers, and common triumphs ; 
 and your happiness is naturally and habitually nearer 
 to my heart than that of any other nation, though 
 my general philanthropy leads me to pity the condition 
 of every injured people, and to censure, if I cannot 
 restrain, those who lead them into error. Some of you 
 have blamed me for the severity of my remarks on the 
 conduct of your Executive. It is because you have 
 made them gods that you are offended with me for 
 finding them but men. I never doubted the patriotism 
 of your principal leaders, that is, so far as patriotism 
 consists in good intentions. But I doubt the patriotism 
 of those who lead your leaders. I see immense for- 
 tunes made by your funding legislators out of the public 
 funds which they funded for themselves. I see the most 
 perfidious measures proposed, adopted, and persisted in 
 for hurling you from the exalted station which enabled 
 you to give commercial law to the Governments of Eu- 
 rope, and for couching you under the pelican wing of 
 the worst of those Governments. I see the treaty that 
 consummates this business ratified in a gust of passion, 
 a moment of personal resentment at an intercepted letter 
 written by an officious French Minister, which happens 
 to speak of the western insurrection. And when the in- 
 dignation of France, though excited by repeated prov- 
 ocations, rises with symptoms of extravagant fury, and 
 threatens an unjustifiable measure of revenge, I see no 
 prudent or manly attempts on your part to allay the 
 storm and prevent a rupture; but prevarication about 
 facts is given for explanation, and gasconade at home 
 keeps time with humiliation abroad. Then comes the 
 flood of piracy and plunder let loose upon your prop- 
 erty ; a scene of wickedness, which no man can abomi- 
 nate more than myself, and no man has endeavored 
 more to prevent or mitigate. But when I trace the de- 
 
JOEL BARLOW. jy^ 
 
 plorable effects to their proper and indubitable causes, 
 I cannot confine my animadversion to this side of the 
 Atlantic. Though you may choose to deify your first 
 magistrates, the original authors of these calamities ; 
 though you enshrine them in the temple of infallibility, 
 fence them round with sedition laws, and intoxicate 
 them with addresses, birthday odes, and bacchanalian 
 toasts, I see in them some of the frailties of men, and 
 I will not join the chorus of adoration. With respect 
 to men, I am of no party ; with respect to principle, I 
 am a Republican in theory and practice, notwithstanding 
 the disgrace into which that principle seems to be fall- 
 ing in America. I consider it as my inalienable right, 
 as well as my indispensable duty, to render a service to 
 you wherever I find occasion. And when such service 
 has lead me to notice what I thought wrong in the ad- 
 ministration of your Government, I have always done 
 it, and in such a manner as I thought would be most 
 likely to lead to a correction of the abuse ; and I shall 
 not relinquish this right, nor neglect this duty, whoever 
 may be the men, and whatever the party, to whom you 
 may choose to delegate your powers. Among my en- 
 deavors to serve you as a volunteer in the cause of hu- 
 manity, there is none which I have had more at heart 
 than that of preventing a war between you and France, 
 and of bringing about a reconciliation on terms honora- 
 ble and advantageous to each. I have no doubt but that 
 both Governments desire it ; but whether they do or not, 
 as long as I deem it for the interest of both nations, and 
 there remains any hope of success, I will not slacken my 
 exertions. I do not believe in the modern doctrine of 
 your cabiftet, that it is a crime in a private citizen to 
 serve his country, or even to call in question the infalli- 
 bility of its administration, and I know no man in Amer- 
 ica who did believe it as long as he remained a private 
 citizen. I am confident, and you may be in time, that 
 the labors of myself and a few other men, not commis- 
 
174 ^^^^ ^^D LETTERS OF 
 
 sioned for the purpose, have hitherto prevented a war. 
 But how long this will continue to be the case I cannot 
 pretend to say. . . . But if you really have no talent 
 among you of a higher nature than what is necessary to 
 copy precedents from old monarchies, I pity you, and call 
 upon you to pity me ; it is time to despair of the per- 
 fectibility of human society, and make up our minds to 
 return to slavery, monarchy, and perpetual war." 
 
 One has only to contrast this cool, temperate, convinc- 
 ing argument with the gasconade of the Centinel to dis- 
 cover one reason for the change in parties that charac- 
 terized the election of 1800. The letter was followed a 
 few months later by another on the remaining topics of 
 interest indicated. 
 
 Their effect on friend and foe cannot be better de- 
 scribed than is done in the introduction to the first edi- 
 tion of the " Letters," published in Connecticut — which, 
 by the way, was not until 1806, seven years after their 
 first appearance. The bitterness with which Mr. Barlow 
 was assailed by those who had been in youth his warm- 
 est friends is also indicated. The editor observes : 
 
 " The following letters were written in the time of 
 terror, and although they went through several editions 
 in Philadelphia and in the Southern States, as well as in 
 England and France, they never found their way into 
 Connecticut. No printer, at that time, would venture 
 to publish them here. Such was then our liberty of the 
 press, and such our candor in refusing to hear a man 
 whom our Tories thought proper to condemn for adher- 
 ing to those solid principles of liberty on which all our 
 political institutions were founded ! Mr. Barlow was vol- 
 unteering in the most important services of his country 
 abroad, while his former friends and companions were 
 reviling him at home. He was laboring with all his influ- 
 ence to prevent a war with France, or he was risking his 
 life in the midst of a desolating plague at Algiers to 
 rescue our citizens from slavery and death, at the same 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 1 75 
 
 time that the Royalist faction, who were then in posses- 
 sion of the government of this country, were employed, 
 with a meanness and cowardice worthy of their cause, 
 some in forging and publishing the vilest calumnies 
 against him, and some in making laws to entrap him on 
 his return to his native country. He was one of the 
 objects of that memorable act of Congress imposing pen- 
 alties on any private citizen who should dare to hold any 
 conversation with any foreign prince, government, or 
 ministers on our political relations with them. Happily 
 for his country, his disregard of that formidable effort of 
 legislative imbecility saved her from a war with France. 
 The fraudulent and hostile conduct of our Government 
 toward that nation had excited a spirit of vengeance, 
 which to a certain degree was certainly just, but which 
 was swelling beyond due bounds, and had fallen heavily 
 on our commerce. It is well known that his exertions 
 had a much greater effect in healing the rupture between 
 the two countries than those of the six ambassadors who 
 were sent in two triplicate assortments for that purpose. 
 The public will recollect his famous letter to Mr. Bald- 
 win, which was intercepted, mutilated, and published. 
 It was full of weight and galling truths. They will also 
 recollect the use which the Pickering faction made of 
 that letter to throw the country into a flame. It was 
 that publication, and the clamor it excited, that occa- 
 sioned these two addresses to his fellow-citizens. We 
 now publish them for the first time in this his native 
 state, and we beg our countrymen to read them ; this is 
 all we ask. They require no commendation ; they admit 
 of no comment. People of Connecticut, men of all par- 
 ties, ancient schoolfellows, former friends and present 
 calumniators of Joel Barlow, read these letters, then call 
 him Jacobin, Infidel, Democrat, whatever you please ; he 
 will force on you the conviction that he is a wise and 
 virtuous man. You will recognize in him the same dig- 
 nified and amiable companion you once loved ; the 
 
iy6 I-^P^ ^^^ LETTERS OF 
 
 unchangeable friend of his country, the most zealous and 
 able defender of her rights. If you find between him 
 and you a difference of principle that did not formerly 
 exist, it is yours that has changed, and not his. If in all 
 the heavy volumes that load your shelves, on the " De- 
 fence of the Americaft constitution," you find enough of 
 solid matter to balance a dozen pages of this pamphlet, 
 return the pamphlet to the bookseller, and he will return 
 your money ; and if you find a legislator or a magistrate 
 who shall read these addresses, and not grow wiser and 
 better for the reading, trust him no longer; he is unfit 
 for his place, being unable, from his prejudices, to dis- 
 cern the truth." 
 
 It is a proof of the versatility and comprehensiveness 
 of the man, that while thus deeply interested in poli- 
 tics and letters he was also keenly alive to the impor- 
 tance of that question which was a test of the statesman- 
 ship of his age — the question of internal improvements. 
 In his Fourth of July Oration at Washington in 1809, he 
 put into words what his prophetic eye had seen at Paris 
 in 1800, that this great country could only be developed 
 and made a homogeneous whole by safe, rapid, cheap 
 communication between its most distant parts. He at 
 once saw what a factor in effecting this the. steamboat, if 
 successful,r would be, and entered, heart, soul, and purse, 
 into the schemes of its inventors. Among the names of 
 the pioneers of the steamboat, not the least is that of 
 Joel Barlow. The proofs of our assertion are to be found 
 in a large bundle of faded, time-stained letters, written at 
 Paris by the poet, between the years 1 800-1 803, to Mrs. 
 Barlow during her various absences in the provinces, and 
 to which the reader's attention is now invited. 
 
 In 1797, Fulton, weary of assailing the deaf ears of 
 the British Ministry with his schemes for canal and sub- 
 marine navigation, crossed over to France, hoping to be 
 more fortunate with the Directory. It is probable that 
 
JOEL BARLOW. lyj 
 
 he had letters of introduction to his distinguished coun- 
 tryman, as did most Americans who visited Paris at that 
 time ; it is at least certain that he found in him the 
 patron which he so much needed. A warm friendship 
 at once sprung up between the young inventor and Mr. \ 
 Barlow: the latter invited him to take up his abode with 
 him, and during the seven years that Fulton remained in 
 Paris, a room in the poet's house, and a seat at his fire^ 
 side were alwg-ys reserved for him. The relations be- 
 tween the two men of genius during this period were 
 those of father and son. Mrs. Barlow, too, regarded and 
 treated her guest with maternal affection. The first y^ >f 
 essay of the two was the construction of a torpedo-boat 
 — "a machine by which metallic cases filled with gun- 
 powder could be projected under water to a given point 
 and then exploded." The first experiment with this 
 contrivance, tried on the Seine, is said to have come near 
 drowning both the projectors, although subsequent 
 experiments produced a very effective and formidable 
 machine. The summer of 1800, was spent by Mrs. Bar- 
 low at Havre for the benefit of the sea air and baths, 
 Fulton accompanying her, both as escort and to experi- 
 ment with his torpedo-boat on the British frigates then 
 blockading the port. Mr. Barlow remained in Paris. 
 His letters to his wife during this summer, from their 
 frequent reference to Fulton and his projects and their 
 gossip of the poet's friends, pursuits, and surroundings, 
 are exceedingly interesting, and worthy of publication. 
 We content ourselves with extracts. '' Toot," we may 
 premise, was the pet name of Fulton. 
 
 Under date of 29th Thermidor (Aug. 17th) he writes: 
 . . . . *' Tell Toot he shall have the $1000 in a day or two, 
 but Thayer has not paid according to his promise. The 
 pictures go not well — 50 or 60 livres a day for both, and 
 at this season ! But the excessive heat prevents every- 
 body from stirring out, especially on the Boulevard and 
 
i;8 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 in the day time.* The Clos St. Lazare is still for us, but 
 I have concluded nothing." 
 
 2()th Thermidor — at night. 
 
 " I am glad to hear of Toot's success in experiment. 
 Always repeat to him how much I love him ; you cannot 
 tell him too much of it. I shall send him some money 
 to-morrow." 
 
 2d Fructidor. 
 
 " Tell Toot to go to the house of Homburg Freres and 
 there he will find $500 from Hottingner. He will have 
 more in a day or two. 
 
 " P. S. — Toot may wish to send for the book of which 
 the advertisement enclosed is taken from a magazine." 
 
 iit/i Fructidor. 
 
 "Apropos of praise or flattery in the matrimonial 
 state. It is always my opinion (I don't know how often 
 I have told you of it) that it ought to be indulged and 
 cultivated as far as possible. It has a doubly good 
 effect when hearts are well disposed: ist. It makes 
 the party praised improve the mind and actions to de- 
 serve that praise ; and, 2d. It helps the praising party 
 to fix in his mind a sort of standard of sentiment to 
 which he resorts under every different feeling. When 
 he forgets the merits of his other moiety and feels peev- 
 ish he recollects himself and says: 'But I often tell her 
 she possesses such and such good qualities ; surely I don't 
 tell her lies. Well, then, she does possess them ; well, 
 then, she merits my love,' and it's ten to one but all his 
 love returns with this single reflection. 
 
 " I have written a long letter to Professor Ebeling to 
 condole with him for the loss of Professor Bosch, to talk 
 with him about the armed neutrality, and to propose a 
 better way to secure the rights of neutrals." 
 
 i^ith Fructidor. 
 
 ". . . . Tell Toot that every strain and extraordinary 
 exertion in middle life, and cold, and damp, and twisting, 
 * Probably refers to a panorama Fulton had opened in Paris. 
 
JOEL BARLOW. i>j(^ 
 
 and wrenching, and unnatural and strained position that 
 our bodies are exposed to in middle life, tend to stiffen 
 the nerves, joints, and muscles, and bring on old age pre- 
 maturely, perhaps sickness or decrepitude ; that pains, 
 gouts, rheumatisms, and death are not things of chance, 
 but are all physical effects from physical causes ; that 
 the machine of his body is better and more worthy his 
 attention than any other machine he can make ; that 
 preservation is more useful than creation ; and that un- 
 less he could create me one in the image of himself he 
 had better preserve his own automaton. Read this lect- 
 ure to him, or a better one, on the preservation of health 
 and vigor every morning at breakfast." 
 
 This and the following letter refer to a grand trial of 
 his plunging boat which Fulton was about to make. 
 The references will be better understood, perhaps, if we 
 give a short account of the machine and its perform- 
 ances: its construction had occupied the attention of 
 both the inventor and his patron from the day of the 
 initial experiment on the Seine in 1797. Fulton called 
 it the " diving or plunging boat," and later the Nau- 
 tilus. His design in inventing it was to provide a mo- 
 tor for his torpedo, and thus add another arm to naval 
 warfare ; but subsequently he designed it for general 
 purposes of communication. The only description of it 
 extant, probably, is that given by St. Aubin, a member of 
 the French tribunate, in one of the newspapers of the 
 day. He says : " The diving boat will be capacious 
 enough to contain eight men and provision for twenty 
 days, and will be of sufficient strength and power to en- 
 able him to plunge 100 feet under water if necessary. 
 He has contrived a reservoir of air, which will enable 
 eight men to remain under water eight hours. When 
 the boat is above water it has two sails, and looks just 
 like a common boat : when she is to dive, the mast and 
 sails are struck. In making his experiments, Mr Fulton 
 not only remained a whole hour under water with three 
 
l80 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 of his companions, but had the boat parallel to the hori- 
 zon at any given distance. He proved that the compass 
 points as correctly under water as on the surface, and 
 that while under water the boat made way at the rate of 
 half a league an hour by means contrived for that pur- 
 pose. ... It has the advantage of sailing like the com- 
 mon boat, and also of diving when it is pursued. With 
 these qualities it is fit for carrying secret orders, to suc- 
 cor a blockaded fort, and to examine the force and posi- 
 tion of an enemy in their harbors. But who can see all 
 the consequences of this discovery, or the improvements 
 of which it is susceptible ? Mr. Fulton has already added 
 to his boat a machine by means of which he blew up a 
 large boat in the port of Brest, and if by future experi- 
 ments the same effect could be produced in frigates 
 and ships of the line, what will become of maritime 
 wars, and where will sailors be found to man ships of 
 war, when it is a physical certainty that they may at every 
 moment be blown into the air by means of diving boats, 
 against which no human foresight can guard them." 
 Fulton made some interesting experiments with this 
 boat in the harbor of Brest in July, 1801. At his first ex- 
 periment he attained a depth of twenty-five feet, and re- 
 mained below the surface one hour. This descent was 
 made in darkness ; a second was made with candles, but 
 finding that these made too great inroads on his stock of 
 air, he placed a round window of thick glass in the bow 
 of the boat, and again descending, found that he received 
 sufficient light from his window to discern the figures 
 on his watch. His next effort was to prove the sailing 
 qualities of his craft. " On the 26th of July he weighed 
 his anchor and hoisted his sails ; his boat had one mast, 
 a mainsail, and jib. There was only a light breeze, and 
 therefore she did not move on the surface at more than 
 the rate of two miles an hour; but it was found that she 
 would tack, and steer, and sail on a wind, or before it, 
 as well as any common sailing boat. He then struck her 
 
JOEL BARLOW. j3j 
 
 mast and sails, to do which, and perfectly to prepare the 
 boat for plunging, required about two minutes. Having 
 plunged to a certain depth he placed two men at the en- 
 gine which was intended to give her progressive motion, 
 and one at the helm, while he, with a barometer before 
 him, governed the machine which kept her balanced be- 
 tween the upper and lower waters. He found that with 
 the exertion of one hand only he could keep her at any 
 depth he pleased. The propelling engine was then put 
 in motion, and he found upon coming to the surface that 
 he had, in about seven minutes, made a progress of 400 
 metres, or about 500 yards. He then again plunged, 
 turned her round while under water, and returned to 
 near the place he began to move from." With this ex- 
 planation we return to the correspondence, the next let- 
 ter referring to Fulton's expedition against the British 
 ships. 
 
 I'jth Fructidor. 
 
 . . . . " And poor Toot, I suppose, is now gone. I 
 have not believed of late that there was much danger in 
 the expedition, especially if they don't go over to the 
 enemy's coast. I have certainly seen the day when I 
 would have undertaken it without fear or apprehension 
 of extraordinary risk. I can't say that I am now without 
 uneasiness. I should probably have less if I was in the 
 boat and without bodily pain. But there is really very 
 little to fear. The weather is fine ; they are only going 
 along the coast. He is master of all his movements, and 
 it appears to me one of the safest of all hostile enter- 
 prises." .... 
 
 \Zth Fructidor. 
 
 " I am glad you made such good lectures to the poor 
 boy before he went away. They will be useful to him 
 always, whether there is any other danger but fatigue or 
 not. I feel very anxious, but it is rather from the mag- 
 nitude of the object than from that of the danger. . . . 
 
 "Volney says he is certain that Moreau will be in 
 
1 82 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 Vienna in 40 days ; he has received great force during 
 the armistice. The latter campaign will be short, and, I 
 think, will end in peace and a universal detestation of 
 the English, the only authors, fomenters, renewers, and 
 continuers of the war. Kleber is certainly murdered : it 
 is thought Menon will keep Egypt." 
 
 \^th Fructidor. 
 " Dear Fulton: — Your letter of the i6th came yester- 
 day about 4 o'clock, too late to see the Minister, and this 
 morning he seems to have got up wrong end foremost. 
 
 1 went to his porter's lodge at 9 o'clock, and sent up a 
 letter concise and clear, explaining the affair and telling 
 him I should wait there for an answer, or for leave to 
 speak to him. The porter returned and said he put the 
 letter into his hands, and he read it and shrugged his 
 shoulders, and when the porter asked him for the 
 answer he said, 'J^e ne puis pas, je ne puis pas,' and that 
 was all he could get out of him ; that he seemed to be 
 very busy and vexed about other things. The porter, 
 who was very civil, said it would be useless for me to 
 wait ; he was sure I should get no answer to-day. How- 
 ever, as to-morrow is de cadi, I will go again to-day about 
 
 2 o'clock and send up another note, and write you 
 to-morrow my success. I always doubted whether this 
 Government would suffer your expedition to go into 
 effect. It is possible they have reserved to themselves 
 this method to prevent it, always in hopes before that 
 your preparatory experiments would fail, or that your 
 funds and patience would be exhausted." 
 
 20th Fructidor. 
 " Toot : — I went to the Marine again yesterday at 
 
 3 o'clock and sent up a written request for an answer to 
 my letter of the morning. The Minister referred me to 
 Forestier, who, he said, had orders to attend to this affair. 
 I went to Forestier's bureau : his adjoint told me that 
 the business was done ; that the orders were sent that 
 day by port to the prefet of the marine at Havre to de- 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 1 83 
 
 liver you the commission and dispense with the caution. 
 Thus if you can rely on a class of men on whom I have 
 learned long ago not to rely at all, the business is done. 
 .... But if there is any more difificulty, which is alto- 
 gether probable, explain it to me, and I will go to For- 
 fairt with pleasure to get it removed. . . . Your old idea 
 that these fellows are to be considered parts of the 
 machine, and that you must have as much patience with 
 them as with a piece of wood or brass, is an excellent 
 maxim. It bears up my courage wonderfully every 
 time I think of it, and makes me a better part to the 
 machine than I should otherwise be. I have told it to 
 several persons, who say it is a maxim to be quoted as 
 the mark of a great mind. I will take care that it shall 
 not be forgotten by the writer of your life, who, I hope, 
 is not born yet." 
 
 A letter dated the 26th Fructidor ended the series. 
 Husband and wife were reunited, and shortly after 
 returned to their new home in Paris for the winter. 
 The poet was chiefly busied this winter, we know, with 
 his '* Columbiad," and with aiding Fulton in his projects. 
 On the 26th of April, 1802, the white ponies and the 
 little phaeton were again put in requisition, the preca- 
 rious state of Mrs. Barlow's health having determined her 
 husband on sending her to the famous medicinal springs 
 at Plombiferes for treatment. Fulton was again her 
 escort, the poet's business affairs keeping him in Paris. 
 Again the gossipy letters commenced, fuller, more sat- 
 isfactory as to his affairs than the preceding. In his 
 first, dated May-day, 1802 (nth Florial), he gives a sum- 
 mary of his movements for a week, thus : " The 6th, came 
 home and ate a little dinner here about 3 o'clock, and 
 about 4 Mme. Villette came in to get consolation, and 
 took me home to dine again with her, where we found 
 Skipwith. The 7th, dined at Leavenworth's and stayed 
 till ten at night; 8th, dined with Madame Villette; 9th, 
 with Helen — (Helen Marie Williams, the English poetess) 
 
1 84 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 — where, by the by, I am invited to spend this evening ; 
 lOth, dined with Swan with a good deal of company. 
 To-day I have promised to go with Skipwith to Riteaux, 
 where we shall get a little dinner. I called 13th ; dined 
 yesterday at Leavenworth's, night before at Williams', 
 where was the usual great circle of letter folks. This 
 evening, invited to Madame Merinskas to celebrate the an- 
 niversary of the Polish Constitution, which has long since 
 ceased to exist. I suppose next Vend^miaire we shall 
 be called upon to celebrate the anniversary of the French 
 Republic, which has never existed at all." 
 
 " i^th. Toot, the little rascal Cala has not yet sent off 
 the boat ; he says he had to get made a barrclier, and to 
 get the boat painted several times. Here is another let- 
 ter from London, which I opened the same as before. 
 No news yet from St. Dominique nor America except 
 failures of merchants and the burning of the Jersey Col- 
 lege." 
 
 " I'jth. I met Mme. Pestallori, and she sent her love to 
 her ilhistre rivale, and charged me to ask her if she had 
 yet been sur le trone des Capucins. She says Plombi^res 
 was famous autrefois .... but then alors there was a 
 convent of fat Capuchins who used to visit the baths every 
 day to whom you must give alms. Since these beggar 
 gentlemen are no more there, she supposes the place is no 
 more remarkable than other mountainous places, v/here 
 people eat and drink, and bathe and feel glad. ... I am 
 invited by Skipwith (American Consul-General) to dine 
 to-morrow at his new country house on the plain back of 
 Montmartre. ... I expect another sweet little tell-tale 
 to-night from about Chaumont. I almost see the little 
 whites now trudging along this fine morning and turning 
 back their short ears to hear wife and Toot talking about 
 Hub, and then they stop and laugh to hear her say, 
 * Come, Lazybones, get out and walk up this hill ; see how 
 steep it is : if Hub was here he would walk up every one 
 of these hills. Ctigner ! desqendes donnez moi les regnes' 
 
JOEL BARLOW. igc 
 
 Oh, I wish I was there. This night I suppose you will 
 get to Langres and the 13th to Plombi^res, where I sup- 
 pose these stupid letters will greet you. . . . 
 
 " Toot, I spoke to Livingston about King ; he says it 
 shall be done right. After four days' trial I met Thayer 
 yesterday : he promises to meet me and settle the day 
 after to-morrow. Here is a letter which, as it came by 
 post from England, I knew pretty well I might open. 
 Mr. Livingston has returned from London. Lee was to 
 set out a few days after him. Doctor Darwin is dead. 
 Sir John Sinclair's books have come ; they are of no great 
 importance — one giving an account of his improve- 
 ments on his own estate, and one little piece on Longev- 
 ity, which you had before. 
 
 " Toot, I believe little Cala has sent the model, but am 
 not sure. I have run, and scolded, and arranged with 
 the diligence, and given him the address, and he has 
 promised time after time ; but he is a shuffler. 
 
 " 26^/2. I have a letter from Jefferson — good and kind — 
 by Dawson, a Member of Congress of Virginia, an old 
 crony and classmate of Codman, educated at Cambridge ; 
 is a clever, modest, sensible man ; seems a particular friend 
 of Prom's and quite a pet of Jefferson. He is of the size 
 of William Lee, only not so fat — not unlike him in the 
 face : he wants to see Wifey that he has heard so much 
 of. He is come to bring the treaty, and get the condi- 
 tional ratification of Adams agreed to here, when he 
 returns immediately, and then Chancellor Livingston is 
 to come — minister. Poor Murray at the Hague, John 
 Q. Adams at Berlin, Carolina Smith at Lisbon, recalled 
 and their places suppressed. Humphreys recalled and to 
 be replaced by Charles Pinckney, the Republican — of a 
 different family from the General and Thomas. Poor 
 Montflorence is done up ; Skipwith will be Consul here. 
 All seems prosperous and happy in America ; people 
 never seem more united. The new President quite the 
 ton ; in danger of being spoiled by adulation." 
 
1 86 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 " Tpth. Toot is calling for funds. Besides the 3000 
 which I must pay for him to-morrow, and 3000 more at 
 the end of the month, he wants 3000 more still to build 
 another new boat at Brest. I see no end to it ; he is 
 plunging deeper all the time, and if he don't succeed I 
 don't know what will become of him. I will do all I can 
 for him, but the best way I can serve him is to keep a 
 sheet anchor for him at home that he might be sure to 
 ride out a gale there if he can't keep the sea nor get 
 into port. St. Aubin says it's a grand damage that he 
 is not here now ; Roderer is so enthusiased with his 
 small canals that he would certainly be employed to 
 make one. French froth! 
 
 " I sit altogether in the bedroom, so don't have to go 
 into my room for shoes nor coat. . . . Min (the cat) and I 
 go out and work in the garden about an hour every morn- 
 ing as soon as we are out of bed, while they make room 
 and bed and breakfast ; then we come in together, but 
 Min outruns me in coming in. I breakfast always on 
 milk and bread and two eggs — no tea, nor coiTee, nor but- 
 ter, nor anything else ; boil the milk and toast the bread 
 myself while I read the paper. Madame is getting bet- 
 ter slowly." 
 
 I Prairial. 
 
 " Toot : — In the House of Lords the 13th May, 
 the galleries being uncommonly full to hear the great 
 discussion on the treaty of peace. Lord Stanhope rose 
 and stated that he had a matter of such importance 
 to communicate to the House in secret as would admit of 
 no delay, and he demanded that the galleries should be 
 cleared. Lord Moira begged his noble friend to withdraw 
 his motion for that day, as the object to be discussed was 
 of such an interesting nature to the people of England as 
 he could wish they might all hear it. Lord S. replied 
 that certainly no man could wish more than he that the 
 people should be instructed, but if his noble friend was 
 possessed of the secret that he was going to communicate 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 1 87 
 
 he would surely not oppose the galleries being cleared. 
 Moira could say no more. The sovereign people then 
 withdrew, and their lordships were left in secret. In a 
 few minutes the doors were again opened. The Morning 
 Chronicle states that it is not permitted to publish what 
 passes in the House when the doors are closed ; but we 
 understand that his Lordship's communication was rel- 
 ative to submarine navigation, which to his certain knowl- 
 edge was brought to that perfection by a person in France 
 as to render the destruction of ships absolutely sure, and 
 that that person could at any time blow up a first-rate 
 ship of war with 15 pounds of powder, and that there was 
 no way of preventing it. This is all that is stated in the 
 Chronicle. Grant is all in the high ropes about it, and 
 thinks it was a plan concerted between Stanhope and St. 
 Vincents, that the former should give the facts to the 
 House as preparatory to the latter's taking some measures 
 with the author of the invention. This is Harry's con- 
 jecture. Mine is a little different. Stanhope disdains any 
 communication with the ministers. He was possessed of 
 the fact, and not wishing to impart it to the ministers 
 alone, he probably made use of his right as a peer to lay 
 it before the only body with which he has ofificial inter- 
 course, and then as the ministers would be in possession 
 of it, if they neglected to make a proper use of the infor- 
 mation they might be open to a future attack." 
 
 I Prairial. 
 
 " I am going to dine to-day at Grant's. His wife 
 and daughters are interesting women, though not hand- 
 some ; free of English affectation and of American awk- 
 wardness. She is a Scotch woman, and very sensible 
 and well informed. She talks to me of the ' Vision of 
 Columbus' as a book of her most familiar reference and 
 reading and delight for many years. Now you know I 
 don't want a greater proof than that of a person's good 
 sense." 
 
 " Toot : — Mme. Villette desires you would send Char- 
 
jgg LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 lotte's portrait by the diligence if you can. I don't send 
 you any subject for a drawing for the poem * this time, nor 
 perhaps any more until you write me how you like the 
 project, and whether you can do them properly. I wish 
 this work could be done in the family as much as possi- 
 ble /^z/r /'^^««^2<^ du Pavilion^ 
 
 3 Prairial. 
 " Ah ! the old bed. I must leave it. The rightful 
 owners of these walls have come out from their winter 
 quarters this night for the first time. Their attack was 
 impetuous, like that of the French at St. Domingo. 
 But many a blood-bloated chief as well as vulgar warrior 
 was left sur le champ de battaille. Still, like many other 
 victorious generals, I think it prudent to retreat, and I 
 establish myself this night in the blue room. When 
 William comes I shall put him in Toot's bed ; broad or 
 narrow he shall content himself with it. But there is no 
 new sign of his coming. I found a little mouse this 
 morning in the bag of Indian meal, and I murdered him. 
 But this put me in mind of eating up the rest of the meal 
 to save it, so I shall make Mrs. Pavis make me a po- 
 lenta, as the barbarous, conceited coxcombs of the great 
 nation call it, who know as little about a hasty-pudding as 
 they do about a republic. As well might they call it 
 mush in imitation of an obstinate, incorrigible race of men 
 who might know better, since they inhabit a country 
 which gave birth to the second person in the new and 
 happy trinity, the much-inventing and life-endearing 
 Toot. But whatever it be called, whether pudding, 
 -A- polenta, or mush, she shall make me every other morning 
 ■ enough for two breakfasts, and I will eat it with my 
 milk. It won't make me fat, but healthy." 
 
 (^th Prairial. 
 " Dear Toot :— How happy I am that you succeed 
 so well with the drawings, and that you have it so much 
 
 ♦The " Columbiad," the drawing for which Fulton superintended. 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 1 89 
 
 at heart to make a splendid edition of the work. Here 
 is another subject, which makes six — all, in my opinion, 
 very interesting, and the last not the least." 
 
 2^th Prairial. 
 
 *' Dear Toot : — To-day I went to the National Depot of 
 Machines with Parker to show it him, and there I met 
 Montgolfier and there I saw a strange thing ; it was no 
 less than your very steamboat, in all its parts and princi- 
 ples, in a very elegant model. It contains your wheel- 
 oars precisely as you have placed them, except that it has 
 four wheels on each side to guide round the endless chain 
 instead of two. 
 
 " The two upper wheels seem to be only to support the 
 chain ; perhaps it is an improvement. The model of the 
 steam-engine is in its place, with a wooden boiler, cylin- 
 der placed horizontal, everything complete. I never saw 
 a neater model. It belongs to a company at Lyons, who 
 got out a patent about three months ago. Montgolfier 
 says they have made their funds to the amount of two 
 millions for building boats and navigating the Rhone. 
 They have already spent six hundred thousand francs in 
 establishing their atelier at Lyons. They have not yet 
 tried the experiment en grand. I talked with M. a great 
 deal about it, and told him it was Fulton's idea in every 
 part except the cylinder being horizontal, which I be- 
 lieved would not do. He says none of it will do, and ' if 
 M. Fulton had spoken to me of that, I would have com- 
 plained to him of that defect ; and if I had 30,000 francs 
 in that enterprise at Lyons, I would have sold them for 
 a thousand ecus.' 
 
 "I found, however, after a long discussion, that his 
 objections arose entirely from what you are well aware 
 of, and have calculated exactly, using water instead of 
 land for the point d'apuye. He said nothing that would 
 be new to you. He says that common oars and all 
 modes of moving a thing in water by pushing against 
 water lose 99 hundredths of your power. You see he 
 
190 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 is not aware that it is a subject of accurate calculation, 
 and that you may know exactly the difference between 
 pushing against water and against solid bodies. I shall 
 say nothing to Livingston of this model." 
 
 " 15M. ... I dined the day before at Mr. Livingston's 
 with a high flock of ambassadors, etc.; no American but 
 Hub. There I met Sir Charles Blagdon, Secretary of 
 the Royal Society, formerly Dr. Blagdon, who used to 
 see us sometimes in Litchfield Street (London). Toot, 
 there I met Count Rumford, and he and I were friends 
 in a moment. He told me a great many things both 
 new and good, and all the particulars about the Royal 
 Institution. I complimented him liberally and hand- 
 somely. He talked a great deal about the plunging 
 boat of Fulton's. He and Sir Charles agreed that its 
 effects could not be doubted, but that it would never 
 be brought into use, because no civilized nation would 
 consent to use it ; that men, governments, and nations 
 would fight, and that it was better for morals and gen- 
 eral happiness of all people that the fighting should be 
 done on land. Here Livingston interposed with great 
 dignity and energy, and observed that the greater part 
 of modern wars were commercial wars, and that these 
 were occasioned by navies, and that the system ought 
 to be overturned ; that as to the humanity of the use 
 of the plunging boat, he was so convinced of it that he 
 had written to the American Government recommending 
 those experiments to be made which should prove its 
 efificacy, and then to adopt it as a general mode of 
 defence for our harbors and coasts. Volney joined in 
 enforcing with his usual strength of expression these 
 ideas. Schimmelpinnick sat by and said not a word." 
 
 "215-^. Dined yesterday with Volney, day before at 
 Sumpter's, to-day with Sir Francis Burdett and his bro- 
 ther, Colonel Bonville, and a whole host of English Re- 
 publicans ; last evening at Lady Montcastle's." 
 
 " 2\th. Toot, I see, without consulting Parker, that 
 
JOEL BARLOW. jqj 
 
 you are mad; i6 miles an hour for a steamboat, le 
 pauvre homme ! I shall do all I can with Livingston 
 when I come back. I don't intend to see a single 
 acquaintance in London but Erving and Gore, nor let 
 anybody in Paris know where I am going except Sk., 
 Melville and Parker." 
 
 " 2ph. There is a letter for Wifey from Clara Baldwin, 
 the eldest of Wifey's two little sisters, the handsomest 
 girl in New Haven. Here are three New Havenites, 
 fresh, left the ist May : Benedict Brown, Captain Greene, 
 and a Mr. French. They dined yesterday at L.'s. 
 
 " 26th. Toot, the drawings appear to me very perfect. 
 I shall not have time to show them to Denon till my 
 return. Mme. Villette popped in on me yesterday as I 
 was putting Charlotte into a cadre which I had brought 
 home for the purpose. She was highly pleased and 
 grieved at the sight of it. I send it her this morning 
 with a few verses pasted on the back, as I like to have 
 your work and mine go together."* 
 
 Dover, 20th June. 
 
 " I started at 4 o'clock in the courier, as I told you I 
 should. I came with that courier only to Amiens, 31 
 leagues ; then the best I could do was to take the Calais 
 courier, who, to my great mortification, goes in a down- 
 right cart, not a patoche, for that is a covered cart 
 
 * Charlotte Villette, a beautiful, accomplished girl of sixteen, had died 
 a few months previous, and Fulton had been employed by her mother to 
 paint the above portrait. The following are the lines referred to : 
 
 " Could youth, could innocence, could virtue save. 
 Our Charlotte sure had found a later grave. 
 But, hapless mother, cease : your tears but show 
 The poor scant measure of our common woe. 
 Ah ! cease that vulgar grief : a tribute find 
 More just, more worthy her exalted mind. 
 Resume the virtues that you planted there. 
 Reclaim that merit none with you can share ; 
 Reclaim her force of thought, her vermeil hue, 
 Your friends demand her promised life in you.' ' 
 
192 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 but this is an open, one-horse cart, without springs, with- 
 out cover, and where the greatest luxury is to be 
 seated on a sack of straw, exposed to the burning heat 
 by day and the chilling damps by night ; however, a 
 good cloak, which I made the courier borrow for me, 
 wrapped me so round in every part of my earthly sub- 
 stance as enabled me to sleep very sound the greater 
 part of the short night, and this morning, at 8 o'clock, I 
 arrived at Calais, 69 leagues. There we found a packet, 
 and I got over here by 4 o'clock this afternoon." 
 
 On his return he wrote again from Dover, 12th Mes- 
 sidor ; 
 
 " Arrived here this forenoon, and have got to wait till 
 9 this evening to embark. Toot, the business I went 
 upon was good and solid, equal to the highest representa- 
 tion made of it. I did your commission as well as possi- 
 ble with Chapman : he will write you very fully by next 
 post on all the points of your inquiry. He showed me 
 the secret of his economy of powers by lessening his 
 friction. It consists in the formation of the plate of his 
 piston, which dilates or contracts by springs. He says 
 that a 26-inch cylinder in what he calls a double engine 
 gives the force of 50 horses ; he says to move a boat of 
 6 feet wide, one foot deep in water, and 80 feet long, 8 
 miles an hour, will not require a cylinder of more than 14 
 inches. This is only a rough guess in conversation. (He 
 can't know this because he don't know your application 
 of the power.) He says to give a movement of 3 feet 
 a second with the piston it is not necessary that the 
 stroke should be more than 3 feet to make 30 double 
 strokes a minute. He says a cylinder of 26 inches would 
 require rather less than 2 bushels of coals an hour ; that 
 one of 14 inches would burn about i bushel an hour. — I 
 obstinately avoided seeing anybody in London but the 
 three or four persons with whom my business lay, I 
 knew if I broke loose among my democratic friends I 
 could not avoid running the gauntlet of all their dinners, 
 
JOEL BARLOW. jg^ 
 
 getting my name in the papers, and becoming an 
 object of jealousy with the Government. The Govern- 
 ment found me out as it was, and without the friendly 
 and unasked interference of Mr. King I should have 
 found difficulty in getting off so easy as I have done. 
 After all, I found in the coach last night a gentleman 
 coming to Canterbury, a great Republican, who quickly 
 found me out, and said he was led to the discovery by 
 having been told the day before by Home Tooke and 
 Sir Francis Burdett that I was in London incog. 
 
 Paris, i^thMess. 
 
 "This, I believe, is the 4th of July. I find an invita- 
 tion to dine with Livingston. Helen is moved onto 
 the Quay Malaquai. Thomas Melville is married to 
 a Mdlle. Fleury, niece to Recamier. Toot, you asked 
 about Washington's and Cornwallis' hats.* I informed 
 myself in London, but without seeing any painter or 
 pictures, that Copley's picture of the surrender of Ad- 
 miral Dewwinter to Admiral Duncan represents them 
 both with their hats off in their left hands, Dewwinter 
 with his right foot advanced presenting his sword to 
 Duncan, and he receives it in a similar posture, — that 
 is, the right foot forward and the hat in the left hand, — 
 both with their bodies a little inclined in a respectful 
 posture. The principal difference should be that the 
 sword of the conqueror should be hanging by his side. 
 The eyes of the vanquished should be a little inclined 
 towards the earth, and those of the other a little more 
 elevated, but not with a haughty air. I give you these 
 details in this first letter lest you should be out of work. 
 The letter from Calais will contain another subject, that 
 of the Dragon." 
 
 ^^ lythMess. Now for London. \ . . I came to Charing 
 Cross at 6 in the evening ; took a hack and drove to the 
 Grand Hotel, Covent Garden, where I thought to be 
 
 * For " The Surrender of Cornwallis," in the " Columbiad.'' 
 13 
 
194 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 incog,, supposing that Americans did not frequent that 
 place. Wrote immediately to Mr. Gore and Mr. Erving, 
 the Consul, to call on me the next morning. Both came 
 at dififerent hours. Went to the city with E. When I 
 returned the waiter asked me if I was not acquainted 
 with one Mr. Cutting, an American gentleman, whose 
 brother was Consul in Paris. I said no. Says he, ' He 
 lodges in this house.' To see Mr. J. B. Cutting, you 
 know, would be to give your name to the bell-man to cry 
 it through the town. Soon after, Mr. Erving came in 
 again. I called the waiter, paid my bill, and told him to 
 call a coach, that this gentleman, my friend, was going to 
 take me to his own house to lodge. My little portman- 
 teau was put in the coach, and we drove to a hotel in 
 Brook Street, Grosvenor Square, where I had a charming, 
 clean, snug lodging, elegant, airy, still, and well attended. 
 E. took me to this quarter for the sake of being near his 
 father, who lives in George Street, Hanover Square, six 
 doors below Copley's, because he said I must dine with 
 his father and him every day : he lives and lodges there 
 though his bureau is in the city. The father was a Bos- 
 ton refugee from our Revolution, a King's Counsellor 
 in the time of Gage, now a good Republican and a sensi- 
 ble old man. His son is one of the best Republicans, and 
 the best informed you ever met. In passing by Copley's 
 (the other side of the street bicn entendre) I saw, one day, 
 his wife and daughter standing knocking at the door. 
 Passing along Oxford Road another day, I sheered off 
 into Litchfield Street, guided by an unaccountable attrac- 
 tion — I don't know why, but I couldn't help it — till I came 
 to No. 1 8.* I ran up close to the door, being near 
 sighted, and got onto the very last stone, and there 
 stood a good while with one hand partly over my face to 
 hide half of it, and there I read, ' Snoiuelon, Cabinet Ma- 
 ker,' cut on a brass plate. Above was a paper, * First 
 
 * The Barlows' house while in London, 1792-93. 
 
JOEL BARLOW. igc 
 
 floor to let, genteelly furnished' Never did I resist so 
 strong an inclination to go into a house. I wanted to 
 hire that lodging, if it was only to sleep one night in the 
 back room." 
 
 " \<^th. Now again for London. That story was 
 broken off before in the middle. It was a gay time : the 
 town full for the season ; Parliament not then dissolved, 
 though midsummer ; the weather remarkably fine. But 
 the ladies dress astonishingly different from what ours 
 do. Why, they cover all their bosoms, and necks, and 
 gorges quite up to the chin. They wear nothing but 
 stays as long as one's arm. . . . The milliner shops and 
 haberdashers' warehouses are full of them. I would lay 
 any money that there are 10,000 pounds' worth of stays 
 in Broad Street alone now for sale — long, labored, stiff, 
 and armed with ribs of whale. It is a frightful thing to 
 think of. They don't walk so handsomely as our ladies 
 do, but they have handsomer streets, finer shops, and 
 cleaner houses. London is sensibly increased and filled 
 up ; the display of carriages and other signs of wealth 
 is very great. I was at Helen's last night ; I believe she 
 has a party almost every night — 30, or 40, or 50, chiefly 
 English. There have been a good many lords and sirs 
 among them, and now Mr. Fox and Lord Holland are 
 expected here." 
 
 '''• 2\st. . . . Toot, Parker and I have studied over the 
 memoir of experiments and calculations pretty well, and 
 yesterday I went to Livingston's to have a talk with 
 him ; but, behold ! the little new-born boy was dying and 
 I did not see him. In my idea the other day about Corn- 
 wallis' picture I forgot to mention that he must pos- 
 itively have his star on. Whether he had the order at 
 that time or not is a matter of no consequence. If he 
 had not, no admirer of your work will ever go to search 
 the Heralds' Office to detect this little anachronism. 
 Everybody knows he has the order now. It is a sort of 
 disgrace you must throw upon that royal mark of dis- 
 
196 L^P^ ^^^ LETTERS OF 
 
 tinction. If you insist on having a subject from every 
 book, I can give you a tolerable one from the 3d : it is 
 Capac relieving his son Rocha from the burning pyre, 
 having killed Zamor and routed the savages." 
 
 " 25^/^. ... I went, the day before I left (London), to 
 Harry Bromfield's and found three trunks and the box of 
 books. The two big trunks, chiefly filled with books, 
 papers. Hub's coats, etc., seemed not to have been opened 
 or suffered any injury from thieves. The coats were well 
 riddled with moths, but the new black court-coat lined 
 with silk and the silk coat were not touched by them. 
 But, alas ! Wifey's round hair trunk, where, I suppose, had 
 been stowed and treasured up so many of her precious 
 things of this world, offered a mournful lesson to those 
 who put their trust in earthly trunks. Epictetus or Sen- 
 eca, or Harvey, or Sancho Panza, could not have taken a 
 better text : ' Seest thou that lady's trunk ? ' What a 
 mine of moral reflection is to be found in that little mass 
 of worms, who, after having devoured all that could 
 nourish their frail and filthy bodies, have died themselves 
 for want of food. Their prison is their tomb .... void 
 is the spacious cave, save where lie the shreds and 
 remnants of what once were garments. Lo, the lank 
 skeleton of that once envied tippet ! Not a hair ; not a 
 particle of soil ; no sign by which it can say, ' I once 
 warmed a martin on the frozen banks of Hudson, and 
 then passed to the most consummate seat of earthly splen- 
 dor — curled round the neck and panted on the bosom of 
 the loveliest of her sex.' Alas, poor Tippet ! a long, thin, 
 brittle strip of untanned leather. Thy fur, thy warmth, 
 thy pride, thy name is lost. And thy fond sister, Muff — 
 Ah, me ! her fate is thine. Long indeed it behooveth the 
 curious searcher in this hollow house to turn them over 
 and reshape their substance ; to scan their length, their 
 breadth, the form they must have had, before he can 
 determine aught about them, or derive their nature or 
 use of old. The Hning of the muff is left entire, for it 
 
JOEL BARLOW. jgy 
 
 was made of silk. Worms eat not silk ; worms eat not 
 flax or cotton. But naught of hair, naught of soft wool, 
 unless 'tis lined with vegetable web, can escape this garb- 
 devouring tooth. Learn hence, my brethren, to line your 
 souls with a conscience soft as satin, white as cambric, 
 and strong as corduroy, and then, when it comes your 
 turn to be closed up in that sable trunk which shall yield 
 your bodies to the worms, they can never eat your souls." 
 
 " 2()th. Toot, I had a great talk with Livingston. He 
 says he is perfectly satisfied with your experiments and 
 calculations, but is always suspicious that the engine 
 beating up and down will break the boat to pieces. He 
 seems to be for trying the horizontal cylinder, or for re- 
 turning to his mercurial engine. I see his mind is not 
 settled, and he promises now to write you, which he says 
 he should have done long ago but he thought you were 
 to be back every fortnight. He thinks the scale you talk 
 of going on is much too large, and especially that part 
 which respects the money. You converted him as to 
 the preference of the wheels above all other modes, but 
 he says they cannot be patented in America because a 
 man (I forget his name) has proposed the same thing 
 there. You will soon get his letter. Parker is highly 
 gratified with your experiments ; he wishes, however, 
 something further to remove his doubts — about keeping 
 the proportions and as to the loss of power in different 
 velocities. He wishes to have another barrelier made, 
 four times as strong as this or thereabouts, to see whether 
 the proportional velocity would be the same when mov- 
 ing by the paddles as when moving by the fixture on 
 shore. I should like to see this, too. If you desire it, I 
 can take this barrelier to Cala and see whether he can 
 make another of the same volume four times as strong, 
 and know what it will cost. These relative velocities 
 can be tried in Perrier's pond on the hill." 
 
 " Was forced to go to Helen's again last night. The 
 most remarkable persons were Carnot, Livingston, and 
 
198 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 Lord Holland. Fox is not yet come. ... It begins to 
 be the fashion there now (England) to look to America 
 for examples of good government. Jefferson's character 
 as a statesman, uniting honesty with talent, stands higher 
 in England than that of any man now living." 
 
 ** 5^/2 Therm Toot, I have been to Denon and 
 
 then to Gamble with the drawings. They both agree 
 that for first-rate stroke engraving they must cost about 
 25 louis, but for good point engraving — as Godfrey has 
 done the Psyche and Cupid of Gerard, by which he has 
 got a great reputation — they can be done for 12 louis. 
 He praised the composition a good deal, but found some 
 defects in the drawing." 
 
 " ^th Therm. Toot, your reasoning is perfectly right 
 about inventions and the spirit of the patent laws, and I 
 have no doubt it may be secured in America. , . . My 
 project would be that you should pass directly over to 
 England, silent and steady, make Chapman construct an 
 engine of 12 inches, while you are building a boat of a 
 proportionate size. Make the experiments on that scale, 
 all quiet and quick. If it answers, put the machinery on 
 board a vessel and go directly to New York (ordering 
 another engine as large as you please to follow you), 
 then secure your patent and begin your operation, first 
 small and then large. I think I will find you the funds 
 without any noise for the first operation in England, and 
 if it promises well you will get as many funds and 
 friends in America as you want. I should suggest a 
 small operation first, for several reasons : it can be made 
 without noise. There must be imperfections in the first 
 trial which you can remedy without disgrace if done 
 without noise ; you can easier find funds for a small ex- 
 periment, etc I have talked with P. on your ob- 
 servations about great boats with merchandise." 
 
 "II//2 Therm. Here, darling, is Jefferson's letter. I 
 think it a good one, friendly and frank. I send it chiefly 
 that Wifey may see what he says about the house, and 
 
K 
 
 JOEL BARLOW. 1 99 
 
 garden, and ground to sell. I am strongly tempted to 
 order him to buy it for Wifey, that is, if it is sufificiently 
 modest, and not too vast, and to cost too much money. 
 I can't tell what extent of meaning they attach to the 
 words, superb house and garden and most lovely seat. I 
 should like to have the place that has the garden already 
 planted and in full bearing. I should like, too, the situ- 
 ation on a hill with a most extensive view of the Poto- 
 mac, etc. For that climate an elevated situation would 
 be preferable to a plain." 
 
 " I'^th .... I have had a long talk with John Apple- 
 ton about America, and Washington City, and George- 
 town, and about the society. He came from there in 
 April. I asked him about Scott's house that Jefferson 
 speaks of. He happened to know it and the circum- 
 stances of the property, but don't know the price. He 
 says it must have cost from 3000 to 4000 guineas, built 
 about 12 years ago, garden well planted and in full 
 growth, situation delightful, house about 60 feet front, 
 two wings, built of brick, body of the house two stories, 
 wings one. He gave me a little sketch of the position. 
 Appleton don't like America, for the same reasons that 
 destroy Mme. Pichon, who dies with ennui. She says 
 the ladies know the price of a bunch of turnips, but know 
 nothing of the Paris opera. I have not seen M. Dupont 
 de Nemour. He called here once with his wife, who 
 has come too. I called there and saw her ; he was out. 
 She speaks in high terms of commendation of America, 
 and I am told he is charmed with it. I am to dine with 
 the Hotingers in the country day after to-morrow, and 
 I am to call for Kosciusko, who lives half way. Toot, 
 Grant apprises me that Smith has found a method of 
 purifying sea-water without fire : it is done in his com- 
 mon fountains. G. says the Government (there, not 
 here) will give him 30,000 pounds for the discovery." 
 
 " i(^th. Here are two letters from our little friend 
 
200 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 Gibbs.* He is a young man of a great deal of merit, 
 has been all over Europe, and is now going to set down 
 in America ; a man of fortune and a gentleman chem- 
 ist and mineralogist. I go with him to-day to Guyton 
 and other dava?is to help him complete his cabinet of 
 mineralogy and his chemical laboratory. He don't know 
 a great deal about it yet, but he intends to, and has got 
 his taste decided. He may be a useful man. Hub in- 
 tends to take some merit for forming his taste and fixing 
 his attention to useful and laudable pursuits." 
 
 ''23^. I have got the rich Quaker Johnson here from 
 London. He is talking of buying Wifey's house, and is 
 coming this morning at 9 o'clock with his wife to look at 
 it and take breakfast. Toot knows him, he says. He is 
 a great mechanician and chemist. Member of the Royal 
 Society, and Royal Institution, and of all the societies of 
 arts. He was proprietor of that famous establishment 
 of polygraphic picture-copying business in Piccadilly, by 
 which he says he made 30,000 pounds. Toot, I notice 
 what you say of Bernadotte. I know he gave up the 
 Louisiana scheme some time ago. It is not impossible 
 that Bonaparte will give it up likewise. There is a pro- 
 ject on foot that may end in our having the Floridas as 
 far as the Mississippi, and let Louisiana return to Spain." 
 
 '^ 2$ih. John Seyle goes off this day to America to try 
 to get the consulate of Havre. Ed. Livingston and his 
 wife are going right home by way of England. Sumpter 
 is expecting his dismission — which he asked for loing 
 ago — when he quits. Tom Paine's baggage is gone to 
 Havre ; he goes after it soon. Toot, I did not leave your 
 memoir with L. above 3 or 4 days. I brought it home for 
 the same reason which you suggest and locked it up, and 
 here it is. I talked with him yesterday again. He seems 
 to be desirous of bringing the thing forward. There is 
 no danger of his trying to do the thing without you : he 
 
 * George Gibbs, American mineralogist and political writer. 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 201 
 
 has no thought of it ; he sees too many difficulties in the 
 way ; he has heard unfavorable reports about Cart- 
 wright's engine ; he doubts whether it will do. If you 
 recur to Watts, it is probably best to lay it horizontal ; 
 his fears with regard to the strain on the boat from the 
 up-and-down stroke are not without foundation." 
 
 2'jth Thermidor. 
 
 " We have got a great fete to-day for the birthday of 
 Napoleon ; the bells are ringing and cannon firing ever 
 since sunrise — enough to deafen one ; high mass and 
 Te Deum all over France ; more powder burnt than 
 would serve to conquer half Europe. And this is to 
 conquer the French people ! " 
 
 I Frjictidor. 
 
 "Toot, whenever in your travels you find any minerals 
 that are rare and valuable, and you can get them for 
 nothing or for little, bring them along. I wish to collect 
 as many as I can conveniently, not for my own use but 
 for the advancement of science in America." "" 
 
 3</. " Toot, you are in general right, and particularly 
 in your present ideas about the transportation of mer- 
 chandise by a string of boats, hooked or chained together, 
 with a few inches interval, but that interval should be 
 covered by ox-hide to keep the water from coming between 
 them. This is the best plan, too, for passage boats. The 
 engine boat should only be sufficiently long to carry the 
 engine and its accessories. This appears to be the Lyons 
 plan ; in that he may have infringed on your patent. . . , 
 The effect of Livingston's shock from the stroke of the 
 piston may doubtless be guarded against in part, and I 
 make no account of his vacuum. But all the difficulties 
 taken together, particularly that of the movement of the 
 waves destroying the perpendicularity of the stroke, 
 make me incline to think that if you take Watts' engine 
 it may be best in all boat business to lay the cylinder 
 horizontal. I shall lay your last letter before Parker, but 
 I don't like your one great round wheel ; you will lose 
 
202 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 force by it. In the little wheels and chains there are 
 more buckets in the water at a time according to the 
 weight and friction. Another thing : all paddles of this 
 sort should be made in form of a triangle, with the long 
 face sternward made solid, the hinder part of cork, trian- 
 gular too, the other way : if not of cork, let it be of thin 
 boards and water-tight, and tarred. Flat paddles would 
 lose as much by the vacuum in the back-water as boats 
 would with a square stern." 
 
 " 'jth. Toot, I am going to make you long to be in Paris. 
 Benjamin West and his son Ben are here, and Opie and 
 his wife, and my friend Tarell and his wife, and Kemble 
 of the Drury Lane Theatre. I have not seen West ; 
 only knew of his coming last evening. Saw Opie at 
 Helen's, and shall call on West. We can have his judg- 
 ment about your drawings, etc." 
 
 " 13//^. Went last night to Helen's to see Mr. Fox; go 
 again to-night to see Mr. West." 
 
 " 2^th. . . . Toot will find West here, though he seems 
 to think he shall go the last of the present week. He 
 and Ben are coming to breakfast with Hub this morning 
 and to see all Toot's works, mechanical and glyphical — 
 (there, now, you don't know what glyphical is. Glypho, 
 in Greek, signifies to paint or draw ; hence, hieroglyphics, 
 sacred painting)— and among the rest the designs for the 
 poem. I now wish they were all here : he has promised 
 to give me his observations on them, too, and on the 
 other subjects which I shall explain to him, and to give 
 me an account about himself, and the revolution which 
 has been brought about in art within the last 30 years by 
 his having broken the ancient shackles and modernized 
 the art. He is to furnish me, too, a catalogue of his 
 works. This is all to complete an interesting note in the 
 poem, where Hub has said of West — 
 
 " Spurns the cold critic rules to seize the heart, 
 And boldlv bursts the former bounds of Art. 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 2O3 
 
 He has a great affection for Toot, and says his wife has a 
 still greater — comme de raisonJ" 
 
 The letters to Plombieres ceased with that of the 27th 
 Fructidor. With the frosts of September the white 
 ponies bore their mistress back to the capital, and the 
 circle at Nt). 50 Rue de Vaugirard was again complete. 
 It remained unbroken for the next two years, except for 
 a short absence of Mr. Barlow in England during the 
 summer of 1803. Of authentic details of this period we 
 have few. Hjs letters from England contain nothing of 
 interest, save the fact that dt one time he acted as medi- 
 ator-between Sn* Benjamin West and Mr. Fulton, the 
 former having been very much offended at a certain prop- 
 osition made to him hy the latter, the nature of which 
 does not appear. It is apparent, however, what occu- 
 pied his attention during these two years. The comple- 
 tion of the " Columbiad," the preparation of the plates 
 for it, his correspondence, and an active partnership in 
 the enterprises of Fulton's busy brain, doubtless left him 
 few leisure hours. 
 
 Amid all this business, however, his interest in his 
 native land seems never to have lessened. To return 
 and spend his days in America was his pet dream during 
 every year of his exile. A score of times he is on the 
 point of embarking, and as often an advantageous busi- 
 ness opening, or war, or the illness of his wife, or inabil- 
 ity to dispose of his real estate in France, interposes to 
 prevent. At length, on the 2d November, 1804, he was 
 able to write from London to Senator Baldwin that he 
 was in England on his way to America. In London 
 they remained during the winter, Mrs. Barlow continu- 
 ing in delicate health, but about the middle of May 
 they embarked for New York, aad after a stormy voy- 
 age of 52 days arrived in safety. 
 
204 ^^^^ ^^^ LETTERS OF 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 1805-1811. 
 
 Again, after eighteen years absence, the poet was amid 
 old familiar scenes. No one knew him : he had grown 
 out of remembrance. But greater changes had occurred 
 in his native land than in him. Vermont, Kentucky, 
 Tennessee, and Ohio had been admitted into the Union. 
 The centre of population had shifted far to the westward. 
 Ohio, which he had left a wilderness, contained 75,000 
 souls. Politically, there were greater changes. The 
 Constitution had been adopted, and had stood the test of 
 nearly eighteen years of trial. Washington was dead, 
 his tomb to be henceforth the Mecca of all devotees of 
 liberty. With him had died Federalism, the last relic of 
 early English domination. The old order had changed, 
 giving place to the new. A new party was in power, 
 with new men, new ideas, a new policy, and under its 
 impetus the nation was going gayly on to its destiny. 
 Necessarily it was an era of the fiercest partisan hatred 
 and bitterness. The Federalists took their defeat sorely, 
 and indulged in the most vituperative abuse of their 
 opponents. Nor were the Republicans models of meek- 
 ness under this torrent of invective. Barlow's arrival 
 ~f-- seems to have created quite a ripple in the political and 
 religious world. The Republicans greeted him warmly, 
 as the honored citizen of two Republics, the poet and 
 philosopher of repute, the patriot who had risked life 
 and health in perilous service to his countrymen. 
 
 The Federalists, on the other hand, so far as they were 
 represented by their newspapers, joined in traducing him. 
 It is a striking commentary on the vicious, debasing char- 
 acter of partisanship, that these sheets could see nothing 
 
JOEL BARLOW, 205 
 
 noble, lovely, or praiseworthy in the man who, in the 
 Algerine mission alone, had performed an act of as great 
 heroism and self-abnegation as any hero or martyr of 
 antiquity. Many old friends addressed him, expressing 
 their pleasure at his return, and inviting him to their 
 homes. , Jefferson, among the rest, wrote this cordial and 
 generous letter : — 
 
 MONTICELLO, Aug. 14th, 1805. 
 
 " I received on the 12th at this place your favor of the 
 4th, and I received it with great pleasure, and offer my 
 congratulations on your safe return to our country. 
 You will be sensible of a great change of manners gen- 
 erally, and of principles in some. The most important 
 change, however, is the influence gained by the commer- 
 cial towns on public opinion, and their exclusive posses- 
 sion of the press. But of these things we will speak here- 
 after. I do not expect to be in Washington till the end 
 of September, and as you propose a visit to that place 
 let me invite your extending it as far as this. The stage 
 comes from Washington by Fred'bg to this place in two 
 days and passes within 100 rods of my door, where we 
 shall receive you with joy and be glad to retain you as 
 long as your convenience will permit. 
 
 " The mountains among which I live will offer you as 
 cool a retreat as can anywhere be found, and one enjoy- 
 ing as much 'health as any place in the Union. Pursuing 
 the stage route you will see but a poor country till you 
 reach our canton ; but if you take a horse and gig from 
 Washington you will come a nearer and better route by 
 Centerville, Fanquier Court House, Culpepper C. H., 
 Orange C. H., and Mr. Madison's, if he be at home. 
 From his house or from Orange C. H. take the road on 
 the lower side of the mountain : along this route you will 
 see a fine country, but not yet in a course of good cult- 
 ure ; and you can return by a different one, equally good. 
 Believing you will have more satisfaction in this little 
 peregrination than in whiling away the month of Sep- 
 
206 ^^P^ ^^^ LETTERS OF 
 
 tember in New York, I will believe that you will adopt 
 the proposition, and en attendant offer you my friendly 
 salutations and assurances of respect and esteem." 
 
 Thomas Jefferson. 
 To Mr. Barlow. 
 
 A letter written to Abraham Baldwin, soon after his 
 arrival, indicates his plans, so far as he had formed them. 
 
 " We intend," he says, " to pass the winter at Washing- 
 ton, and it is possible I shall take a short trip there in a few 
 days to prepare the way. As the yellow-fever is in the 
 North * I shall not go there at present. Indeed, I have 
 no great inclination for that journey, at least until I learn 
 from some of my friends there, if any there be, that the 
 people will not throw stones at me. I have seen nobody 
 here as yet, not a human face, that I ever saw before. I 
 sent for Pierrepont Edwards this morning, but find he 
 is gone to Connecticut. I hardly know who to strike for 
 next. But we shall probably get into civilization as soon 
 as we wish, or sooner." 
 
 On August 20th he wrote again : " My plan was to 
 join you if I could find you, then come on here, and all go 
 to the land of steady habits together. But the heats 
 have been too great for me to travel, or to leave her in 
 this place, and having learned that I shall meet nobody 
 in Washington at this season we have concluded to lay 
 wait for you in the North — that is. New Haven. We 
 shall go slowly forward on the road to Albany, Ball- 
 ston, Boston, Providence, Hartford, Middletown, Guil- 
 ford, and then to New Haven, where we shall hope to 
 meet you." 
 
 September and a large part of October seem to have 
 been occupied in the carriage drive mentioned above. At 
 New Haven, where the distinguished visitor remained for 
 some days, the Republican members of the Legislature, 
 then in session there, tendered him a public reception, 
 
 * Vermont, where he had lands and relatives. 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 207 
 
 which he modestly declined. Subsequently, a dinner was 
 given in his honor by Abraham Bishop, Collector of the 
 Port, which was attended by prominent Republicans in 
 and out of the state. In an address presented on this 
 occasion occurs these sentiments : " You will be received 
 cordially and sincerely respected by an immense majority 
 of your fellow-citizens, and your political writings will be 
 held in honor as often as you shall submit them to the 
 H- tribunal of an enlightened public." The address also 
 expressed the hope that he would make the state his per- 
 manent residence. 
 
 The poet, in his reply, reiterated the expressions of 
 patriotism and interest in his fellow-citizens made in his 
 " Letters," and closed with the following reference to his 
 calumniators : 
 
 '' My friends, you have doubtless seen much more than 
 I have of the malicious calumnies that the Monarchists 
 of Europe and their agents here have published in the 
 American papers against me. While I perceive with 
 pleasure that their contemptible falsehoods have made 
 no impression on your minds, I flatter myself that you 
 believe with me that they have been hunted up and pro- 
 mulgated with no other view than to destroy my useful- 
 ness in the cause of liberty. They cannot be from per- 
 sonal dislike, for I do not know nor believe that I have 
 a personal enemy in this, or any other country. If I 
 have one, I will labor with all my might to do him good, 
 and hope that he will find his happiness, as I do mine, so 
 connected with that of his fellow-citizens at large that he 
 will no longer wish to separate them. 
 
 " Our country must now be considered as the deposi- 
 tory and guardian of the best interests of mankind — all 
 good men in Europe view it in that light. I hope we shall 
 be duly sensible of the importance of this sacred deposit, 
 and that our patriotism, without diminishing its energy, 
 may at all times partake of the broad and peaceful char- 
 acter of genuine philanthropy." 
 
2o8 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 The poet, however, did not accept the invitation of the 
 legislators of Connecticut to make that state his home. 
 He had probably decided on Washington as his future 
 - residence, before leaving France. That city was the seat 
 of Government ; h'is intimate friends were there ; there 
 representative men from every part of the country were 
 to be met, and there, if anywhere, the pet project of his 
 maturer years must be carried out. This project was more 
 honorable to him than any which his fertile brain had 
 hitherto conceived : it was the founding, and building 
 up under his own personal care, of a great National In- 
 stitution, combining in itself the objects and functions 
 of the Royal Institution of England and the National 
 Institute of France, together with the instruction of 
 youth as pursued by the colleges of the country ; or, in 
 its author's own concise statement, " the advancement of 
 knowledge by associations of scientific minds, and the 
 dissemination of its rudiments by the instruction of 
 youth." As early as 1800, Barlow had conceived the 
 idea of such an institution. In a letter to Senator Bald- 
 win, dated Paris, Sept. 15th, 1800, he says : " I have been 
 writing a long letter to Jefferson on quite another sub- 
 ject. ... It is about learned societies, universities, public 
 instruction, and the advantages you now have for doing 
 something great and good if you will take it up on proper 
 principles. If you will put me at the head of the Institu- 
 tion there proposed, and give it that support which you 
 ought to do, you can't imagine what a garden it would 
 make of the United States : I have great projects, and 
 only want the time and means for carrying them into 
 effect." Jefferson, and most of the leading Republicans, 
 heartily seconded this plan, and almost the first public 
 act of its author after arriving in America was to issue a 
 prospectus, in which he forcibly and eloquently depicted 
 the necessity and the advantages of such an institution. 
 This prospectus provided for a School of Mines ; a School 
 of Roads and Bridges, which was also to include river 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 209 
 
 navigation, canals, and hydraulic architecture ; * a Con- 
 servatory of Arts — the useful arts and trades ; a Museum 
 of Natural History ; a Museum of Arts — the fine arts, 
 painting, statuary, music ; a National Library ; a Mint ; 
 a Military School ; a Prytaneum, or school of general sci- 
 ence ; a School of Medicine ; a Veterinary School ; an 
 Observatory ; and district colleges founded throughout 
 the Union as the necessity for them should arise. 
 
 The prospectus was circulated through the country, 
 and met with so favorable a response that, in 1806, Bar- 
 low drew up a bill for the incorporation of the Institution, 
 which Mr. Logan, of Pennsylvania, introduced in the Sen- 
 ate. It passed to a second reading, was referred to a 
 committee, which never reported, and so was lost. 
 
 The opposition of the schools and colleges already 
 established, and the indifference of the great majority of 
 Congressmen to anything but the material development 
 of the country, were sufficient to defeat it. ^ 
 
 Although the poet had settled on Washington as his 
 future place of residence, nearly two years elapsed before 
 he became a householder there, the intervening time 
 being spent in travel, in visiting friends, and in attend- 
 ance upon his printers in Philadelphia — for the " Colum- 
 biad " had been given to a reputable firm of printers of 
 that city during the first year of the poet's return. His 
 movements during this period are satisfactorily explained 
 by a few letters culled from the mass of his correspond- 
 ence. The most interesting is one from Fulton, who had 
 been left behind in England, to urge on its Government* 
 the importance of his torpedo invention. In September, 
 1806, he was able to write from London : " My arbitration 
 is finished, and I have been allowed the i^ 10,000 which I 
 had received, with 5000^^" salary, total ^15,000, though 
 ;^i6oo which I have received on settling accounts will 
 just square all old debts and expenses in London, and 
 
 *This department was at Fulton's suggestion. 
 14 
 
210 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 leave me about ^^200. My situation now is, my hands 
 are free to burn, sink, and destroy whom I please, and I 
 shall now seriously set about giving liberty to the seas 
 by publishing my system of attack. I have, or will have, 
 when Mr. Parker sends my two thousand pounds, 500 
 sterling a year, with a steam-engine and pictures worth 
 two thousand pounds. Therefore I am not in a state to 
 be pitied. I am now busy winding up everything, and 
 will leave London about the 23d inst. for Falmouth, 
 from whence I shall sail in the packet the first week in 
 October, and be with you, I hope, in November, perhaps 
 about the 14th, my birthday, so you must have a roast 
 goose ready. Do not write me again after receiving this. 
 The packet, being well manned and provided, will be 
 more commodious and safe for an autumn passage, and I 
 think there will be little or no risk ; at least, I prefer tak- 
 ing all the risk there is to idling here a winter. Biit 
 although there is not much risk, yet accidents may hap- 
 pen, and that the produce of my studies and experience 
 may not be lost to my country, I have made out a com- 
 plete set of drawings and descriptions of my whole sys- 
 tem of submarine attack, and another set of drawings 
 with description of the steamboat. These, with my will, 
 I shall put in a tin cylinder, sealed, and leave them in the 
 care of General Lyman, not to be opened unless I am 
 lost. Should such an event happen, I have left you the 
 means to publish these works, with engravings, in a hand- 
 some manner, and to which you will add your own ideas 
 — ^^showing how the liberty of the seas may be gained by 
 such means, and, with such liberty, the immense advan- 
 tages to America and civilization : you will also show 
 the necessity of perfecting and establishing the steam- 
 boat and canals on the inclined plane principle. I have 
 sent you three hundred complete sets of prints for the 
 'Columbiad' by the Orb, directed to Mr. Tolman, New 
 York, value ;^30. As the transport by land to Philadel- 
 phia will not be much, I have sent them by this oppor- 
 
JOEL BARL OW. 211 
 
 tunity, that they may arrive before the law for prohibit- 
 ing such things is in force, and that the shipment and 
 risk may not approach too near to winter. All my pic- 
 tures, prints, and other things I mean to leave here, to be 
 shipped in spring vessels, about April next, when the 
 risk will be inconsiderable. How shall we manage this 
 winter, as you must be in Philadelphia for the printing, 
 and I want to be at New York to build my boat ? I am 
 in excellent health, never better, and good spirits. You 
 know I cannot exist without a project or projects, and I 
 have two or three of the first order of sublimity. As all 
 your prints are soldered up I do not see how I can leave 
 the number you desire with Phillips,* but as I leave the 
 plates with Mr. West the necessary number can be struck 
 off when the sheets arrive. We will talk of this in 
 America. Mr. West has been retouching my pictures : 
 they are charming." 
 
 March 6th, 1807, Mr. Barlow is in Washington, to 
 attend the funeral of his friend and brother, Senator 
 Abraham Baldwin, who had suddenly died at his post 
 in the Senate. In a letter to his wife he thus describes 
 the impressive event : " Were you here to witness the 
 sympathy, interest, and affection manifested on the loss 
 of our excellent brother it would in a great measure 
 lighten your distress. Though he died the day after 
 -Congress closed the session, most of the Senators and 
 many of the other members stayed to attend his funeral. 
 We laid him yesterday by the side of his friend General 
 Jackson,f just one year after he had followed that friend 
 to the same place. It was a dreadfully stormy day, and 
 five miles from the Capitol, yet everybody went that 
 could go, and I never witnessed such solemnity and re- 
 spect. The funeral was ordered by the Senate to be at 
 the public expense. The coffin .... is placed in the 
 ground in a large wooden coffer: it is in a dry, gravelly 
 
 * The London publisher. f Henry Jackson. 
 
212 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 /soil, where it will remain free from wet, so that if we 
 S should have Washington's place I shall propose to have it 
 I brought to our ground, where we can have it always 
 under our eye till we are ready to take our own lodging 
 by his side. . . . He had suffered no pain during his last 
 illness, and his serenity, benignity, even good-humor 
 remained till the last. . . . He talked, as long as he 
 could talk at all, of the affairs of the public, advising 
 Macon, Milledge, and all his old friends, how to conduct 
 them. 'Take care,' says he, 'hold the wagon back; 
 there is more danger of its running too fast than of its 
 going too slow.' Macon says he has not left his equal 
 behind him in the United States. I did not see him till 
 morning — twenty hours after his death. Every senti- 
 ment of conscious dignity and self-approbation seemed 
 painted on his pale and placid face : he seemed to say, 
 ' Here I am ; my work is finished, and have I not done 
 it well ? ' My love, I can say no more to-day. I must 
 finish the story another time. I have to write his life to- 
 night for the paper." 
 
 This letter is almost the only memorial left us of the 
 author of the famous instrument of 1787. May i8th he 
 is back in Philadelphia, and writes to Phillips, afterwards 
 the London publisher of the Columbiad : "I have re- 
 ceived your favor of the 27th of January, and in return 
 for your kind Expressions of friendship I am in hopes of 
 aiding you to procure a work of great consequence, and 
 which may be very profitable to you : it is ' Lewis' Trav- 
 els by the Missouri to the Pacific Ocean,' the drawings 
 and engravings for which are now beginning in this 
 place." The letter then goes on to commend the author 
 and his work very highly, and concludes : " Now for an- 
 other subject. I send you herewith a portfolio contain- 
 ing the twelve engravings made for my poem, with a few 
 sheets of the letter-press, to give you an idea of what the 
 work is to be. The engravings, you know, were executed 
 in London. I have been thinking that it would be worth 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 213 
 
 your while to make an edition in quarto of this poem in 
 London. I will ask nothing for the copy of the text, and 
 I will sell you the prints from the engravings at a reason- 
 able rate, that is, at about the cost. I have a thousand 
 copies of the 12 plates; they have cost me altogether 
 about £\2QO sterling, including the pictures. You shall 
 have 3, 4, 5, or 600 sets of the prints at a guinea the set. 
 You will see they are elegant beyond example ; no such 
 fine engravings have ever been put into a book. The 
 quarto edition here, as we are doing it, will not be sold 
 under 20 dollars. As the prints were engraved and 
 printed in London I suppose they can be entered back 
 in England without duty ; but that will be a trifle. Please 
 say whether these proposals will suit you (the work will 
 not be published here till winter, so I can send you the 
 printed sheets from the press) ; if not, say how many 
 copies of the American edition I shall send ycu to sell 
 for me. I would much rather you would publish it." 
 
 The poem for which such great preparations had been 
 made appeared in the winter of 1807. It was a magnificent 
 quarto volume of 450 pages, furnished with twelve splen- 
 did engravings from paintings by Fulton and Smirke, and 
 cut by the first engravers of London and Paris. The 
 paper was the heaviest and best, the margins wide, the 
 binding elegant ; it was in all respects the finest specimen 
 of bookmaking ever produced by any American press.* 
 Yet the Columbiad was not a great poem : its defects were 
 precisely those pointed out by Mr. Buckminster at its in- 
 ception twenty-five years before. Its scope was too wide, 
 its subjects too many and varied to be introduced without 
 a clear sacrifice of the poetic unities. Besides, most of the 
 events narrated were too recent to admit of poetic or 
 heroic treatment. American historians have succeeded 
 much more admirably in idealizing the men of the Revo- 
 lution than did our earliest poet. They came later : he 
 
 *The publishers were Conrad & Co. ; the printers Fry & Kammerer, all 
 of Philadelphia. 
 
214 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 wrote to men who had enacted the scenes he described. 
 The Columbiad long since passed out of the category of 
 books that are read ; its chief literary interest to us arises 
 from the fact of its having been one of the earliest efforts 
 of the American muse, and from the circumstances under 
 which it was produced. In this connection the reader will 
 perhaps welcome a brief description. We have before said 
 that it was an expansion of his early poem, the Vision of 
 Columbus, and it will be seen that the plan of that work, 
 as sketched at Northampton in 1779, was substantially 
 followed. The poet's design was to give a poetical re- 
 view of the leading events in the discovery and settle- 
 ment of America ; the birth, growth, and splendid future 
 of the Republic, and a glance also at the history of the 
 country before its discovery by Europeans. In form it 
 was a national, patriotic epic. Columbus is the hero, and 
 is discovered lying in his prison at Valladolid, uttering a 
 mournful monologue on the injustice of his king and coun- 
 try. To him, in this state, appears Hesper, the guardian 
 genius of the Western World, and, conducting him to the 
 Mount of Vision, displays before his astonished eyes, in a 
 series of visions, all that had happened, and all that was 
 to happen, in the new land he had discovered ; the ro- 
 mantic, half legendary history of the Aztecs ; their con- 
 quest by Cortez and Pizarro ; the successive steps by 
 which the settlement of North America was effected ; 
 the actions and the actors in the struggle of the Revo- 
 lution ; the republican system in America, and the ben- 
 efits which should arise from it, were first portrayed. 
 Hesper then changes the scene and favors the hero with 
 a universal view of all nations, and the improvement of 
 society in all the arts and sciences when the principles of 
 the new plutocracy should have done their perfect work in 
 leavening the whole mass. 
 
 In his last " vision " the hero beholds a general con- 
 gress of the nations, assembled to provide for the settle- 
 ment of all vexed questions by a Court of Arbitration, 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 21$ 
 
 thus inaugurating a perpetual peace. Him the genius 
 thus addresses : 
 
 ' Here, then,' said Hesper, with a brilliant smile, 
 ' Behold the fruits of thy long years of toil. 
 To you bright borders of Atlantic day, 
 Thy swelling pinions led the trackless way. 
 And taught mankind such useful deeds to dare, 
 To trace new seas and happy nations rear, 
 Till, by fraternal hands their sails unfurled, 
 Have waved at last in union o'er the world. _ 
 
 ' Then let thy steadfast soul no more complain 
 Of dangers braved and griefs endured in vain. 
 Of courts insidious, envy's poisoned stings. 
 The loss of empire, and the frown of kings. 
 While these broad views thy better thoughts compose, 
 To spurn the malice of insulting foes. 
 And all the joys descending ages gain 
 Repay thy labors and remove thy pain.' 
 
 There are many other eloquent and melodious passages, 
 but, as before remarked, the poem contains too many- 
 grave defects to be considered a classic, or to receive that 
 recognition which awaits the work of true genius. We 
 shall again advert to its reception by the reading world : 
 meantime, while awaiting the attacks of critics, its au- 
 thor had provided himself with a home. Washington, we 
 have seen, had been decided on as the place, but the 
 choice of a site was a more difficult matter. For a time - \ 
 
 he seems to have thought seriously of purchasing Mount tA-fV 
 Vernon, but at last he decided on an old mansion lying. ( 
 between Georgetown and the Capitol, on the banks of 
 lovely Rock Creek, probably the identical one described 
 by Jefferson in his letter of 1800. In all the suburbs of 
 Washington there cannot be found a prettier site even 
 now, though the city has approached and girt two sides 
 of its spacious grounds with streets and avenues. From 
 the terraced plateau on which the mansion now stands * 
 
 * Kalorama was used as a hospital during the late war, and was burned 
 toward the close of the conflict. The strong brick walls, however, re- 
 sisted the flames, and are included in the present mansion. 
 
 \ 
 
2i6 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 one looks down on the Potomac, the Capitol, and the 
 wide, beautiful city encircling it. On the west, its grounds 
 slope gently down to the creek, beneath a park of fine 
 old forest trees. On the south and east there is a wider 
 slope with fewer trees, and a driveway winds through 
 its green lawns under beautiful shades, that owe their ex- 
 istence to the poet's own hand. What it was in 1807 we 
 prefer to let its owner tell, as he does in a letter to his 
 nephew, Stephen Barlow, dated Dec. 15, 1807. A prior 
 one, dated *' Belair, Nov. 6th," gives us the time of his 
 taking possession. The letter proceeds : *' I have here 
 a most delightful situation ; it only wants the improve- 
 ments that we contemplate to make it a little paradise. 
 It is a beautiful hill, about one mile from the Potomac 
 and 200 feet in elevation above tidewater, with Wash- 
 ington and Georgetown under my eye and Alexandria 
 eight miles below, still in view, the Potomac reflecting 
 back the sun in a million forms and losing himself among 
 the hills that try on each side to shove him from his 
 course. If you have a plan of the city I can show you 
 my very spot. Look at the stream called Rock Creek, 
 that divides Washington from Georgetown. I am just 
 outside of the city on the Washington side of the Creek, 
 just above where it takes its last bend and begins its 
 straight, short course to the Potomac. My hill is that 
 white, circular spot. I find the name of Belair has been 
 already given to many places in Maryland and Virginia, 
 so by the advice of friends we have changed it for one 
 that is quite new — Calorama, from the Greek, signify- 
 ing * fine view,* and this place presents one of the finest j 
 views in America." From another part of the letter 
 we learn that Calorama contained 30 acres of ground — 
 half woodland, the other half in grass and garden, includ- 
 ing orchard — and that there were roads to be cut and 
 paths to wind through the pleasure-grounds, a barn to 
 move, stables to fit up, two wings to be added to the 
 house, and many other things done for its embellish- 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 217 
 
 ment. But this modest statement does scant justice to 
 the improvements which speedily transformed Kalorama 
 into one of the most elegant country seats of the day. 
 Barlow himself had a cultivated taste and sufficient 
 wealth. Latrobe, the architect, gave his advice. Fulton, 
 who had returned in 1806, lent his genius to the task of 
 embellishing the house and grounds, there being in one 
 of his letters of the period a drawing for a summer-house, 
 which he intends, he writes, " for the grounds of our 
 mansion." Yet no encouragement was given to display 
 or ostentation. The natural parks were left in their 
 simple beauty. Walks and drives, flower-beds, a foun- 
 tain or two, a summer-house, were all that art added to the 
 natural beauty of the grounds. Within, the house was 
 furnished plainly, but comfortably, in accordance with 
 the poet's republican simplicity of taste, a severity, how- 
 ever, relieved by rare paintings, curios, and bric-a-brac, 
 which had been collected in his seventeen years' wander- 
 ings abroad. The library was, however, the chief feature 
 of the mansion. Its collection of books is said to have 
 been the largest and most valuable then existing in this 
 country, and lists of works purchased, to be found in his 
 note-books certainly bear out the assertion.* 
 « This charming retreat became the Holland House of 
 America. The President — Jefferson, and, later,, Madison 
 — was often there for consultation, so that Barlow may be 
 said to have largely moulded the policy of our Gov- 
 ernment toward France through two administrations. 
 Heads of departments, Congressmen, foreign visitors of 
 note, authors, artists, inventors, men of ideas of every 
 calling, frequented its parlors. Jefferson made frequent 
 
 * A curious hint of their character is given- by an account found among 
 his papers, by which it appears that President Madison bought of him, 
 June 9th, 1809, " The French Encyclopede Methodique, loi vols., for 
 ;?448.83; Lejournant, $9; Antonini, #8; Schreveliks, #3 ; McFingal, ^2.50 ; ^ 
 Song of Canaan, $1.50 ; the Die Historique, 9 vols., #27," of all which 
 the poet had duplicates. 
 
hi 
 
 2 1 8 ^^^-^ ^^^ LE TTERS OF 
 
 visits, unconnected with affairs of state, on which occa- 
 sions, as we learn from references in their letters, the two 
 sages discussed philosophy, art, internal improvements, 
 their scheme for a National Institution ; and again, spoke 
 of improved varieties of seeds, agricultural implements, 
 and the experiments they were making on their farms. 
 Fulton, and those other famous pioneers in steam navi- 
 gation, Jonathan and Thomas Law, were also frequent 
 visitors. Fulton is said to have constructed his model of 
 the Clermont at Kalorama, and to have first tested its 
 powers on the waters of Rock Creek. The poet had, 
 too, correspondents in almost every European country, 
 and his house became a sort of common centre for those 
 interested in the news and gossip of the Old World, while 
 artists and men of letters found here that sympathy 
 and appreciation which few Americans of that day were 
 capable of giving. " We are full of visitors " occurs very 
 often in his correspondence of this period as an excuse 
 for epistolary laxness. / 
 
 The first important matter that pressed upon him after 
 being fairly domiciled was the perusal of the mass of 
 letters and reviews which the publication of the Colum- 
 biad had elicited ; for the poem had proved the literary 
 event of the day, and quickly brought its author an ex- 
 tended fame. Old friends wrote to congratulate him, 
 ambitious young poets submitted their verse for criti- 
 cism. The Whig newspapers noticed the work with ful- 
 some praises, while the Federal magazines and journals 
 fell upon it with appetites whetted by full knowledge of 
 all their cause had suffered at its author's hands ; and as 
 most of the scholarship and literary prestige of the na- 
 tion was included in their ranks the author fared ill. He 
 attributed this treatment to partisan rancor and malice, 
 which was no doubt largely the case. A letter which he 
 wrote to his old friend, Josiah Meigs, now President of 
 Georgia University, proves how deeply he felt on the 
 subject. 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 2IQ 
 
 "You have seen, perhaps," he remarks, "the vulgar 
 sneers and low-lived abuse that is cast upon it in the An- 
 thology. You know that in all America no notice has 
 been taken of it that has any pretensions to decency or 
 common-sense. And I am now threatened, as they write 
 me from London, with an overwhelming load of invective 
 in the Edinburgh Review, the hints for which have proba- 
 bly been sent from Boston." 
 
 A small volume might be made of the literature to 
 which the poem gave rise. Thomas Jefferson wrote, com- 
 plimenting the author on the mechanical execution, and 
 adding that he would not do it the injustice of giving it 
 such a reading as his situation in Washington would ad- 
 mit of — a few minutes at a time, and at intervals of many 
 days — but would reserve it for that retirement after which 
 he was panting, and not now very distant, when he might 
 enjoy it in full concert with its kindred scenes, amid those 
 rural delights which join in chorus with the poet, and give 
 to his song all its magic effect. President Wheelock, 
 of Dartmouth College, wrote a complimentary letter, ac- 
 knowledging receipt of a copy of the work for his col- 
 lege library. The National Institute of France, through 
 its secretary, addressed him a letter, of which the follow- 
 ing is a translation : 
 
 National Institute, 
 
 Class of the Fine Arts, 
 Paris, Oct. 15, 1808. 
 The Perpetual Secretary of the Class to Mr. Joel Barlow : 
 Sir : — 
 " The Institute of France has received with the highest 
 interest the beautiful work you have presented it — your 
 poem 'The Columbiad.' All the friends of the human 
 race pray that your country may achieve the high desti- 
 nies to which Providence seems to Call her. The most 
 illustrious minds of France desire that the United States 
 may join to the public and private virtues, of which they 
 have given such fine examples, the culture of letters, 
 
220 J-^P^ ^^D LETTERS OP 
 
 science, and arts, which procure glory for nations and 
 happiness for men. You can, then, be well assured that 
 the National Institute will always applaud with pleasure 
 the success of savants, literar}'' men, or artists, your com- 
 patriots. 
 
 " The edition of your poem proves that typography has 
 made great progress in the United States. It is fortunate 
 that one of the first monuments of this precious art should 
 be a work which honors national genius. Those who 
 have had the advantage of knowing you in Paris will re- 
 joice that you are the author of this work. As to me, sir, 
 I am happy in being the instrument of the Institute of 
 France to offer you its thanks and the expression of its 
 esteem." 
 
 Joachim le Breton, 
 
 Perpetual Secretary, etc. 
 
 Among the rest were two letters from his old friend, 
 Noah Webster, one a somewhat remarkable one, which 
 we present : 
 
 New Haven, Oct. 13, 1808. 
 
 "Sir: — I had intended to give to the public a short 
 review of your ' Columbiad ' before this time, but two 
 causes have prevented me : first, a feeble state of health 
 and much occupation during the summer past, and, 
 secondly, a doubt whether I can execute this purpose in a 
 manner to satisfy you and my own conscience at the same 
 time. Of the poem, as a poem, I can conscientiously say 
 all, perhaps, which you can expect or desire, but I cannot, 
 in a review, omit to pass a severe censure on the atheistical 
 principles it contains. The principles of irreligion which 
 you avow, of which I saw a specimen in a letter you wrote 
 to Royal Flint in 1794 or 1795, form the partition-wall 
 which has separated you from many of your old friends. 
 No man on earth not allied to me by nature or marriage 
 had so large a share in my affections as Joel Barlow until 
 you renounced the religion which you once preached, and 
 which I believe. But with my views of the principles 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 221 
 
 you have introduced into the ' Columbiad * I apprehend 
 my silence will be most agreeable to you, and most expe- 
 dient for your old friend and obedient servant, 
 
 " N. Webster." 
 
 The great lexicographer seems to have been blinded 
 somewhat by religious zeal, for neither in Barlow's pub- 
 lished works nor in the hundreds of letters to his wife and 
 intimate friends which the writer has consulted, is there a 
 sentence which might fairly be construed as proving its 
 author an atheist. In fact, to Gregoire, he confesses him- 
 self a Presbyterian. The critique in the Edinburgh Re- 
 view appeared in due time, but was rather commendatory 
 than otherwise. Fulton writes from New York, July i, 
 1810, on this topic : " Have you seen the Edinburgh re- 
 view of the '■ Columbiad ' ? Their first principle is that 
 polished literature is not to be expected from America 
 more than from Manchester or Birmingham. The second 
 position is, that the day for epic poetry is gone by ; man 
 cannot now take pleasure in poetic fiction ; the mere di- 
 dactic is too dry. They find much fault with compound- 
 ing new words or altering the signification of old. How- 
 ever, they call you a giant compared to modern British 
 bards, though not equal, they think, to Milton." Only 
 one of his critics the poet deigned to answer. That one 
 was his old friend, the Abbe Gregoire, who at once 
 wrote a pamphlet, sharply criticising the Columbiad as 
 tending to cast contempt on the Catholic religion. This 
 letter was widely published, and called from the poet a 
 reply which, as satisfactorily defining his religious status, 
 and as a fine example of his reasoning powers, we append 
 in full : 
 
 " My Dear Good Friend : — I have received your 
 letter, at once complimentary and critical, on the poem I 
 sent you. Our venerable friend. Archbishop Carroll, in- 
 forms me that he has likewise received from you a copy 
 of the same letter, and he has expressed to me in conver- 
 sation, with the same frankness that you have done in 
 
222 I-IPE ^^D LETTERS OF 
 
 writing, his displeasure at the engraving which has 
 offended you. While I assure you that I sincerely 
 mingle my regrets with yours, and with his, on this sub- 
 ject, permit me, my excellent Gregoire, to accompany 
 them with a few observations that I owe to the cause of 
 truth and to my own blameless character. Yes, my 
 friend, I appeal to yourself, to our intimate intercour^^e of 
 near twenty years, when I repeat this claim of character. 
 It cannot be denied me in any country ; and your letter 
 itself, with all its expostulating severity, is a proof of the 
 sentiment in you which justifies my appeal. The en- 
 graving in question has gone forth, and unfortunately can- 
 not be recalled. If I had less delicacy than I really have 
 towards you and the other Catholic Christians whom you 
 consider as insulted by the prostration of their emblems 
 which you therein discover, I might content myself with 
 stating what is the fact : that this engraving, and the 
 picture from which it was taken, were made in England 
 while I was in America, and that I knew nothing of its 
 composition till it was sent over to me not only engraved, 
 but printed and prepared for publication. My portion 
 therefore in the crime, if it is a crime, is only the act of 
 what our lawyers term an accomplice after the fact. But 
 my affectionate regard for an offended brother will not 
 suffer me to meet his complaint with so short an answer. 
 I must discuss the subject, and reply to the whole charge 
 as though it were all my own, premising, as I have al- 
 ready done, that I am sorry there is occasion for it, and 
 regret that the engraving was ever made. How much 
 our religious opinions depend on the place of our birth ! 
 Had you and I been born in the same place there is no 
 doubt but we should have been of the same religion ; 
 had that place been Constantinople we must have been 
 Mussulmen. But now the Mussulmei; call us infidels ; 
 we pity their weakness, and call them infidels in our 
 turn. I was born in a place where Catholic Christians are 
 not known but by report ; and the discipline of our sect 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 223 
 
 taught us to consider them, not indeed as infidels, but as 
 a species of idolaters. It was believed by us, though 
 erroneously, that they worshipped images. We now find 
 that they employed them only as instruments of worship, 
 not as the object. But there is no wonder that, to the 
 vulgar apprehension of our people, it should appear as we 
 were taught to believe ; and that those nations who bow 
 the knee before these emblems of Deity, and address their 
 prayers to them, should be considered as really wor- 
 shipping them. The idea was perhaps corroborated by 
 their prayers being uttered in an unknown tongue. The 
 decalogue of Moses had inspired us with an abhorrence 
 for images, and for those who bow down to them and 
 worship them ; and hence arose our unhappy aversion to 
 the Catholics. We were told that their churches were 
 full of pictures, statues, and other visible representations, 
 not only of the Blessed Virgin, of all the Apostles and 
 many of the saints, but of every person in the Holy 
 Trinity. Our fathers had protested against that great 
 section of the Christian family which calls itself the 
 Mother Church, not merely on account of the sale of 
 indulgences, against which Luther had led the revolt, but 
 likewise on account of its making these pretended images 
 of the inimageable God. The sect of Puritans, in which 
 I was born and educated, and to which I still adhere for 
 the same reason that you adhere to the Catholics — a con- 
 viction that they are right — were the class of reformers 
 who placed themselves at the greatest remove from the 
 Mother Church, and retained the least respect for her 
 emblems and the other ceremonials of her worship. 
 They could suffer no bishops, no mitres, crosiers, cruci- 
 fixes, or censers. They made no processions, carried no 
 lighted candles through the streets at noonday ; neither 
 did they leave them burning in their churches through 
 the night, when no human eye was there to see them ; 
 having entirely lost sight of this part of the institutions 
 of Zoroaster, Isis, and Ceres. They would not allow their 
 
224 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 prayers to be written in any language, not even in Latin, 
 though they did not understand it ; but they chose to 
 utter their supplications extempore, like their other 
 discourses ; to communicate their own ideas, to express 
 their wants and offer their confessions directly to the 
 invisible God : through a mediator indeed, but without 
 holding him in their hand, or having him fixed in effigy 
 on a cross before their eyes. They had no organs in 
 their churches, no instrumental music in their worship, 
 which they held to be always profane. These people 
 made use of no cross, but the mystical one of mortifying 
 their sins ; and if they had been called upon to join in a 
 crusade to the Holy Land they must have marched with- 
 out a standard. They would have fought indeed with as 
 much bravery as Saint Louis or the lion Richard, but 
 when they had reconquered the tomb of Christ they 
 would have trampled on the cross with as fervent a zeal 
 as they would upon the crescent. They were not con- 
 versant with what we call the fine arts ; they spoke to 
 the ear, but not to the eye ; and having no reverence for 
 images or emblems, they despised those that had, though 
 they were doubtless wrong in so doing. I mention 
 these things, my worthy friend, not with the least idea 
 of levity or evasion, but to prove to you how totally you 
 have mistaken my meaning and my motive ; to show by 
 what chain of circumstances, mostly foreign to our own 
 merits or demerits, our habits of opinion, our cast of 
 character are formed ; to show how natural it is that a 
 man of my origin and education, my course of study and 
 the views I must have taken of the morals of nations, 
 their causes and tendencies, should attribute much of the 
 active errors that afflict the human race to the use of 
 emblems, and to the fatal facility with which they are 
 mistaken for realities by the great mass of mankind ; how 
 the best of Christians of one sect may consider the Chris- 
 tian emblems of another sect as prejudices of a dangerous 
 tendency, and honestly wish to see them destroyed : 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 225 
 
 and all this without the least hostility to their funda- 
 mental doctrines, or suspicion of giving offence. I 
 never supposed that those Hollanders who, to obtain 
 leave to carry on commerce in Japan, trampled on the 
 cross, as a proof that they did not belong to the same 
 nation with the Portuguese, who had done so much 
 mischief in that island, really meant to renounce their 
 religion as Christians when they trod upon its Catholic 
 emblem. The act might be reprehensible, as being done 
 for lucre; but it must appear extremely different in the 
 eyes of different sects of Christians. To a Catholic, 
 who identifies the cross with the Gospel, our only 
 hope of salvation, it must appear a horrid crime ; but 
 to a Protestant we may easily conceive it might ap- 
 pear of little moment, and by no means as a renunciation 
 of the Gospel. You have now furnished in your own per- 
 son an additional example, and a most striking one, of 
 identifying the symbol with the substance. In your let- 
 ter to me you treat the cross and the Gospel as the same 
 thing. Had I been sufficiently aware of the force of that 
 habit of combination among the Catholics, especially in a 
 mind of those acute perceptions and strong sensibilities 
 which I know to belong to yours, I should surely have 
 suppressed the engraving. You must perceive by this 
 time that you have mistaken my principles and feelings 
 in another point of view. You suppose I should be 
 greatly offended ' to see the symbols of liberty, so dear 
 to me, trampled under foot before my eyes.' Not at all, 
 my friend. Leave to me and my country the great reali- 
 ties of liberty and I freely give you up its emblems. 
 There was no time in the American Revolution, though 
 I was then young and enthusiastic, when you might not 
 have cut down every liberty pole, and burnt all the red 
 caps in the United States, and I would have looked on 
 with tranquillity, perhaps have thanked you for your 
 trouble. My habits of feeling and reasoning, already ac- 
 counted for, had accustomed me to regard these trap- 
 15 
 
226 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 pings rather as detrimental than advantageous to the 
 cause they are meant to support. These images we 
 never greatly multiplied in this country. I have seen 
 more liberty caps at one sitting of the Jacobin Club in 
 Paris than were ever seen in all America. You will say, 
 perhaps, that it is the difference of national character 
 which makes the distinction. This is doubtless true ; 
 but what has been the cause of this difference in the 
 character of our two nations? Has not the universal use 
 of emblems in one, and the almost universal disuse of 
 them in the other, had as great, if not a greater effect 
 than all other causes in producing such difference ? I do 
 not say that our national character is better than yours , 
 far from it. I speak frankly. I think you undervalue the 
 French character. I have a high esteem for that nation. 
 They are an amiable, intelligent, generous, hospitable, 
 unsuspicious people. I say nothing of their government, 
 whether regal, revolutionary, or imperial. In private 
 friendship they are as disinterested and unshaken, at least, 
 as any people I have seen. Of this I could cite numer- 
 ous examples, both within my own experience and that 
 of others ; though it would establish my position in my 
 own mind if I were able to mention none but you. It 
 would indeed be paying too high a compliment to any 
 nation on earth to cite Gregoire as a sample of its moral 
 and social character. If all Catholics had been like you, 
 the world at this day would all be Catholics. And I may 
 say, I hope without offence, that if all Pagans had been 
 like you, the world had all been Pagans; there might 
 have been no need of Catholics, no pretext for the sect of 
 Puritans. This is an amiable discussion between you and 
 me. The suavity of your manner does honor to the 
 fortitude with which you defend your principles ; though 
 it is not easy to perceive against what opponent you are 
 defending them. Your letter expatiates in a wide field, 
 and embraces many subjects. But really, my friend, the 
 greater part of it has nothing more to do with me than 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 227 
 
 one of Cicero's letters to Atticus. You begin by suppos- 
 ing that I have renounced Christianity myself, and that I 
 attempt to overturn the system by ridicule and insult, 
 neither of which is true ; for neither of which have you 
 the least color of proof. No, my honest accuser, the 
 proof is not in the book. Review the work with all the 
 acumen of your discernment, and you must, you will, re- 
 call the hasty accusation. I defy you and all the critics 
 of the English language to point out a passage, if taken 
 in its natural, unavoidable meaning, which militates 
 against the genuine principles, practice, faith, and hope 
 of the Christian system, as inculcated in the Gospels and 
 explained by the Apostles, whose writings accompany the 
 Gospel, in the volume of the New Testament. On the 
 contrary, I believe, and you have compelled me on this 
 occasion to express my belief, that the Columbiad, 
 taken in all its parts of text and notes and preface, is more 
 favorable to sound and rigid morals, more friendly to 
 virtue, more clear and unequivocal in pointing out the 
 road to national dignity and individual happiness, more 
 energetic in its denunciations of tyranny and oppression 
 in every shape, injustice and wickedness in all their forms, 
 and consequently more consonant to what you acknowl- 
 edge to be the spirit of the Gospel, than all the writings 
 of all that list of Christian authors of the last three 
 ages whom you have cited as the glory of Christendom, 
 and strung them on the alphabet, from Addison 
 down to Winkleman. Understand me right, my just 
 and generous friend, I judge not my poem as a work 
 of genius. I cannot judge it, nor class it, nor compare it 
 in that respect, because it is my own. But I know it as a 
 moral work ; I can judge and dare pronounce upon its 
 tendency, its beneficial effect upon every candid mind ; 
 and I am confident you will yet join me in opinion. But 
 let me repeat my prayer that you will not mistake the 
 spirit of this observation. It is not from vanity that I 
 speak ; my book is not a work of genius ; the maxims in 
 
228 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 it are not my own ; they are yours, they are those of good 
 men that have gone before us both ; they are drawn from 
 the Gospel, from history, from the unlettered volume of 
 moral nature, from the experience and inexperience of 
 unhappy man in his various struggles after happiness ; 
 from all his errors and all his objects in the social state. 
 My only merit lies in putting them together with fidelity. 
 My work is only a transcript of the tablet of my mind 
 impressed with these images as they pass before it. You 
 will see that I have nothing to do with the unbelievers 
 who have attacked the Christian system, either before the 
 French Revolution, or during, or since that monumental 
 period. I am not one of them. You say I resemble 
 them not in anything else ; you will now add that I re- 
 semble them not in this. So far as you have discovered 
 a cause of the failure of that resolution in the renuncia- 
 tion of the Christian faith by those who held, in stormy, 
 quick succession, the reins of your government, I thank 
 you for the discovery. I was in want of more causes 
 than I had yet perceived to account for the unhappy 
 catastrophe of that gigantic struggle of all the virtues 
 against all the vices that political society has known. 
 You have discovered a cause ; but there is such a thing 
 in logic as the cause of a cause. I have thought, but per- 
 haps it is an error, that the reason why the minds of the 
 French people took the turn they did, on the breaking 
 out of the revolution, was to be found in the complicated 
 ceremonials of their worship, and what you yourself would 
 term the non-essentials of their religion. The reasonable 
 limits of a letter will not allow me to do justice to this 
 idea. To give it the proper development would require 
 five times the volume that I shall give to the present com- 
 munication. The innumerable varieties of pomp and cir- 
 cumstance which the discipline of the church had incul- 
 cated and enjoined became so incorporated with the vital 
 principles of faith and practice, and these exteriors were 
 overloaded with abuses to such a degree, that to discrim- 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 220 
 
 inate and take them down without injuring the system 
 required a nicer eye than the people can possess, a stead- 
 ier hand than can comport with the hurried movement of 
 a great revolution. The scaffolding of your church, per- 
 mit me to say it, had so enclosed, perforated, overlooked, 
 and underpropped the building, that we could not be sur- 
 prised, though sorely grieved, to see the reformer lay his 
 hand, like a blind Samson, to the great, substantial pil- 
 lars, heave and overturn the whole encumbered edifice 
 together, and bury himself in the ruins. Why did they 
 make a goddess of Reason ? Why erect a statue of Lib- 
 erty, a mass of dead matter for a living, energetic princi- 
 ple ? Have the courage, my good friend, to answer these 
 questions. You know it was for the same cause that 
 the people of Moses made their golden calf. The calf 
 Apis had from time immemorial been a god in Egypt. 
 The people were in the habit of seeing their divine pro- 
 tector in that substantial boval form, with two horns, four 
 legs, and a tail ; and this habit was as interwoven in the 
 texture of their mind as to become a part of the intellect- 
 ual man. The privations incident to a whole moving na- 
 tion subjected them to many calamities. No human 
 hand could relieve them ; they felt a necessity of seeking 
 aid from a supernatural agent, but no satisfaction in pray- 
 ing to an invisible God. They had never thought of such 
 a being ; and they could not bring themselves at once to 
 the habit of forming conceptions of him with sufficient 
 clearness and confidence to make him an object of adora- 
 tion, to which they could address their supplications in 
 the day of great affliction. Forty years of migration 
 were judged necessary to suppress the habit of using 
 idols in their worship, during which time their contin- 
 ual marches would render it at once inconvenient for the 
 people to move their heavy gods, and to conceal them in 
 their baggage, while the severity of military discipline 
 must expose their tents and their effects to the frequent 
 inspection of their officers. Shall I apply this principle 
 
230 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 to the French nation in her revolution ? No, my friend, 
 it is too delicate a task for a foreigner who has received 
 her hospitality ; I will leave it to your own compassionate 
 and philanthropic mind. You will recollect how often I 
 partook of your grief during that scene of moral degrada- 
 tion. No sooner did you and the other virtuous leaders 
 in the revolution begin to speak of august liberty, holy, 
 reason, and the divine rights of man, than the artizans 
 took up the hammer, the chisel, and the plaster-of-Paris. 
 They must reduce these gods to form before they could 
 present them to the people with any chance of their be- 
 ing understood ; they must create before they could 
 adore. Trace this principle through five years of your 
 history, and you will find why the Catholic religion was 
 overturned, morality laid asleep, and the object of the 
 revolution irretrievably lost, at least for our day. My 
 dear Gregoire, I am glad you have written me this let- 
 ter, though at first it gave me pain. I was sorry to find 
 myself so entirely misconceived by a friend so highly 
 valued ; but I see your attack is easily repelled, a thing 
 which I know will give you pleasure, and it furnishes 
 me an occasion at the same time to render a piece of 
 justice to myself in relation to my fellow-citizens. 
 You must know I have enemies in this country — not 
 personal ones ; I never had a personal enemy, to my 
 knowledge, in any country. But they are political ene- 
 mies, the enemies of republican liberty, and a few of. 
 their followers who never read my writings ; that is, my 
 writings that I wrote, but only those that I did not 
 write ; such as were forged and published for me in my 
 absence, many of which I never have seen, and some of 
 which I did not hear of till ten years after they had been 
 printed in the American Gazette. It has even been said 
 and published by these Christian editors (I never heard 
 of it till lately) that I went to the bar of your Convention, 
 when it was the fashion so to do, and made a solemn 
 recantation of my Christian faith, declaring myself an 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 23 1 
 
 atheist or deist, or some other anti-Christian apostate ; 
 I know not what, for I never yet have seen the piece. 
 Now, as an active member of that Convention, a steady 
 attendant at their sittings, and my most intimate friend, 
 you know that such a thing could not be done without 
 your knowledge ; you know therefore that it was not 
 done ; you know I never went but once to the bar of that 
 Convention, which was on the occasion to which you al- 
 lude in the letter now before me, to present an address 
 from the Constitutional Society in London, of which I 
 was a member. You know I always sympathized in your 
 grief and partook of all your resentment while such hor- 
 rors and blasphemies were passing, of which these typo- 
 graphical cannibals of reputation have made me a par- 
 ticipant. These calumnies, you see, could not be re- 
 futed by me while I did not know of their existence. 
 But there is another reason which you will not conceive 
 of till I inform you. The editors of newspapers, you 
 know, ought to be considered as exercising a sacred func- 
 tion ; they are the high-priests of public opinion, which is 
 the high court of character, the guardian of public mor- 
 als. Now I am ashamed to inform you that there are 
 editors in this country who will publish the grossest cal- 
 umny against a citizen, and refuse to publish its refuta- 
 tion. This is immorality unknown in France since the 
 death of Marat. A private letter of mine, written from 
 Paris, was mutilated in this country, made to say things 
 that I never wrote nor thought, and published in all our 
 anti-republican papers. I saw it a year after the date and 
 immediately wrote an explanatory letter, which re-estab- 
 lished my first intention. This last I then published in 
 Paris, London, and Philadelphia. Not one editor who 
 printed the original mutilated letter has, to this day, 
 printed my answer ; though it was published in all those 
 places ten years ago. And perhaps not one person in 
 twenty who read the first has ever seen the second, or yet 
 knows of its existence, except those editors who refused 
 
232 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 to publish it. You must not suppose from this statement 
 of facts that I am angry with these people. On the 
 contrary, I pity and forgive them. And there is no great 
 merit in this, for they are not my enemies. They only 
 do the work they are set about by their patrons and sup- 
 porters, the monarchists of America. Their object is 
 not to injure me, but to destroy the effect of my repub- 
 lican writings. They now publish your letter with great 
 avidity because they think it will tend to decry my poem. 
 It may have this effect in a small degree ; but I still 
 thank them for multiplying your publication. There is 
 no work of yours that I do not wish to see universally 
 read in America ; and I hope soon to find in our lan- 
 guage and in the hands of all our readers your last very 
 curious and interesting treatise De la Litt&ature des N^- 
 gres. It is a work of indefatigable research, and brings 
 to* light many facts unknown in this country, where the 
 cause of humanity is most interested in propagating that 
 species of knowledge. I hope the manuscript copy of Mr. 
 Warden's translation is not lost ; or if it is, that he will be 
 able to furnish our booksellers with another. If I had re- 
 nounced Christianity, as your letter seems to suppose, 
 that letter and my reflections on your life and conversa- 
 tion would certainly bring me back, for you judge me right 
 when you say I am not ashamed to own myself possibly 
 in the wrong, or, in other words, to confess myself a man. 
 The Gospel has surely done great good in the world, and 
 if, as you imagine, I am indebted in any measure to that 
 for the many excellent qualities of my wife, I owe it 
 much indeed. I must now terminate my letter, or I 
 shall be obliged to turn from you to the public with an 
 apology for making it so long ; since I must offer it to 
 the public in my country, and trust to your sense of jus- 
 tice to do the same in yours, and in your language, in or- 
 der to give it a chance of meeting your letter in the hands 
 of all its readers. If, thus united, they serve no other 
 purpose, they will at least be a short-lived monument of 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 233 
 
 our friendship, and furnish one example of the calmness 
 and candor with which a dispute may be conducted, even 
 on the subject of religion." '^ 
 
 Your affectionate friend, 
 
 Joel Barlow. 
 
 Kalorama, \ith Septe7nber, 1809. 
 
 Aside from the annoyance caused by attacks on his 
 poems, the days spent at Kalorama must have been of 
 unalloyed pleasure and interest. 
 
 There was the farm, to which he had looked forward 
 in Paris, his wife, his books, troops of friends, with whom 
 he could discuss scientific and philosophical questions, 
 and, for his leisure moments, the preparation of a noble 
 and useful work — a history of the United States, Here, 
 too, he witnessed the success of the steamboat, the tri- 
 umph of the project which for seven years he had so 
 tenderly nursed in Paris. '^^i*^ A**' 
 
 We can imagine with what pleasure he read, in the 
 spring of 1807, this letter from Fulton: 
 
 " My steamboat voyage to Albany has turned out 
 rather more favorably than I had calculated. The dis- 
 tance from New York to Albany is one hundred and 
 fifty miles. I ran it up in thirty-two hours, and down in 
 thirty. I had a light breeze against me the whole way, 
 both going and coming, and the voyage has been per- 
 formed wholly by the power of steam. I overtook many 
 sloops and schooners beating to windward and parted 
 with them as if they had been at anchor. The power 
 of propelling boats by steam is now fully proved. The 
 morning I left New York there were not, perhaps, thirty 
 persons in the city who believed that the boat would 
 ever move one mile an hour, or be of the least utility, 
 and while we were putting off from the wharf, which was 
 
 *This letter was followed by a second from Abbe Gregoire, in which he 
 indignantly denied the calumny that his friend had appeared before the bar 
 of the Convention and ma^e a public recantation of the Christian religion. 
 
234 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 crowded with spectators, I heard a number of sarcastic 
 remarks. This is the way in which ignorant men com- 
 pliment what they call philosophy and its projectors. 
 
 '' Having employed much time, money, and zeal in ac- 
 complishing this work, it gives me, as it will you, great 
 pleasure to see it fully answer my expectations. It will 
 give a cheap and quick conveyance to the merchants on 
 the Mississippi, the Missouri, and other great rivers which 
 are now laying open their treasures to the enterprise of 
 our country ; and although the prospect of personal 
 emolument has been some inducement to me, yet I feel 
 infinitely more pleasure in reflecting on the numerous 
 advantages that my country will derive from the inven- 
 tion." 
 
 This period was not devoid of literary and civic honors. 
 He was elected a member of the United States Military 
 Philosophical Society in 1807, and of the American Phi- 
 losophical Society in 1809. The same year the Univer- 
 sity of Georgia conferred on him the degree of LL.D. 
 j He was also made a director of the Bank of Washing- 
 ton, and was frequently called upon to preside at public 
 meetings.. He delivered an oration on the Fourth of 
 July, 1809, at Washington, which was an able effort and 
 was afterwards printed in pamphlet form. He seems to 
 have made no effort during this period to secure public 
 office for himself, and only on two occasions for his 
 friends : he secured the office of postmaster at Nauga- 
 tuck, Ct., for his nephew, Stephen Barlow, and that at 
 Lancaster, Pa., for the mathematician and astronomer 
 Andrew Ellicott. His appeal in behalf of the latter to 
 Gideon Granger, Postmaster-General, it is safe to say, 
 no other public man of his day was capable of writing : 
 it championed a class rarely recognized by Government, 
 and it administered a stinging rebuke to what was then, 
 and is now, the besetting sin of our country. The letter 
 speaks for itself : 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 235 
 
 Kalorama, May 3, 1809. 
 
 " Dear Sir : — Henry Baldwin .... informs me that 
 the postmaster at Lancaster is dead or dying, and wishes 
 to have the place given to his father Ellicott. He says 
 he has written to you on the subject, and has probably 
 stated to you the pretensions of the applicant. But as 
 I happen to be acquainted with Mr. Ellicott (though prob- 
 ably not better than you are) he thought my note might 
 have some effect. I have certainly a great esteem for Mr 
 Ellicott as a mathematician and astronomer, and would 
 suggest that in all our country there is evidently too 
 little attention paid to men of science, as well as to men 
 of literature. It is really discouraging to all liberal pur- 
 suits, and proves that the Government is accessory to the 
 great national sin of our country, which I fear will over- 
 turn its liberties : I mean the inordinate and universal 
 pursuit of wealth as a means of distinction. For example, 
 if I find that writing the Columbiad, with all the moral 
 qualities, literature, and science which that work supposes, 
 will not place me on a footing with John Taylor, who is 
 rich, why, then, I'll be rich too ; I'll despise my literary 
 labors, which tend to build up our system of free govern- 
 ment, and I'll boast of my bank shares, which tend to 
 pull it down, because these, and not those, procure me 
 the distinction which we all desire. I will teach my 
 nephews by precept, and all the rising generation by 
 example, that merit consists in oppressing mankind 
 and not in serving them. Excuse, my dear sir, this dull 
 sermon and make Andrew Ellicott postmaster of Lan- 
 caster." 
 
 One other letter written by him during this period we 
 introduce for its intrinsic interest. In July, 1809, James 
 Cheetham, editor of the American Citizen, a scurrilous 
 political sheet of New York, addressed to Mr. Barlow the 
 following letter : 
 
 " Sir : — Not having the honor of a personal acquaint- 
 ance with you the trouble this note will occasion will re- 
 
236 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 quire some apology, and the only one I can offer regards 
 the subject of it, and the readiness with which, your char- 
 acter persuades me, you will furnish me the information 
 required as soon as you have leisure to do so. 
 
 " I am preparing to write the life of Thomas Paine, 
 author of ' Common Sense,' etc. As you were acquaint- 
 ed with him in Paris, and he mentioned you in his ' Age 
 of Reason,' your opinion of his manners and habits, the 
 company he kept, etc., would be very acceptable. 
 
 "He was a great drunkard here, and Mr. M , a 
 
 merchant of this city, who lived with him when he was 
 arrested by order of Robespierre, tells me he was intox- 
 icated when that event happened. 
 
 " Did Paine ever take an oath of allegiance to France ? 
 In his letter to the French people in 1792 he thanks them 
 for electing him a member of the Convention, and for the 
 additional honor of making him a French citizen. In 
 his speech on the trial of the king he speaks, he says, as 
 a citizen of France. There is some difference between 
 being a member of a Convention to make a constitution 
 and a member of the same body to try the king and 
 transact other business. I should imagine that in the 
 latter capacities an oath of allegiance would be necessary. 
 
 " Any other information you would be pleased to com- 
 municate, which in your judgment would be useful in 
 illustrating his. character, will be gratefully received and 
 used as you may direct." 
 
 I am, etc., 
 
 James Cheetham. 
 
 To which Mr. Barlow replied : 
 
 YiKLO^kWK, Aug. II, 1809. 
 
 "■ To James Cheetham, Sir : 
 
 " I have received your letter calling for informa- 
 tion relative to the life of Thomas Paine. It appears 
 to me that this is not the moment to publish the life 
 
 7 
 
 '/ 
 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 237 
 
 of that man in this country. His own writings are his 
 best life, and these are not read at present. 
 
 " The greater part of readers in the United States 
 will not be persuaded, as long as their present feelings 
 last, to consider him in any other light than as a drunkard 
 and a deist. The writer of his life who should dwell on 
 these topics, to the exclusion of the great and estimable 
 traits of his real character, might indeed please the rabble 
 of the age, who do not know him ; the book might sell, 
 but it would only tend to render the truth more obscure 
 for the future biographer than it was before. 
 
 " But if the present writer should give us Thomas Paine 
 complete, in all his character, as one of the most benevolent 
 and disinterested of mankind, endowed with the clearest 
 perception, an uncommon share of original genius, and the 
 greatest breadth of thought ; if this piece of biography 
 should analyze his literary labors and rank him, as he ought 
 to be ranked, among the brightest and most undeviating 
 luminaries of the age in which he has lived, yet with a 
 mind assailable by flattery, and receiving through that 
 weak side a tincture of vanity which he was too proud to 
 conceal ; with a mind, though strong enough to bear him 
 up and to rise elastic under the heaviest hand of oppression, 
 yet unable to endure the contempt of his former friends 
 and fellow-laborers, the rulers of the country that had 
 received his first and greatest services ; a mind incapable 
 of looking down with serene compassion, as it ought, on 
 the rude scoffs of their imitators, a new generation that 
 knows him not ; a mind that shrinks from their society, 
 and unhappily seeks refuge in low company, or looks for 
 consolation in the sordid, solitary bottle, till it sinks at 
 last so far below its native elevation as to lose all respect 
 for itself and to forfeit that of his best friends, disposing 
 these friends almost to join with his enemies, and wish, 
 though from different motives, that he would hasten to 
 hide himself in the grave — if you are disposed and pre- 
 pared to write his life thus entire, to fill up the picture 
 
238 ^^^^ ^^^ LETTERS OF 
 
 to which these hasty strokes of outHne give but a rude 
 sketch with great vacuities, your book may be a useful 
 one for another age, but it will not be relished, nor scarce- 
 ly tolerated, in this. 
 
 " The biographer of Thomas Paine should not forget his 
 mathematical acquirements and his mechanical genius : 
 his invention of the iron bridge, which led him to Europe 
 in the year 1787, and which has procured him a great rep- 
 utation in that branch of science in France and England, 
 in both which countries his bridge has been adopted in 
 many instances, and is now much in use. 
 
 " You ask whether he took the oath of allegiance to 
 
 France. Doubtless the qualification to be a member of 
 
 \. the Convention required an oath of fidelity to that coun- 
 
 \ try, but involved in it no abjuration of his fidelity to this. 
 
 [ ^ He was made a French citizen by the same decree with 
 
 i v*^ WashingtonyHamiltofi, Priestly, and Sir James Mackintosh. 
 
 I \^ " What Mr. M has told you relative to the circum- 
 
 \ stances of his arrestation by order of Robespierre is 
 
 ^ erroneous, at least in one point. Paine did not lodge at 
 
 V the house where he was arrested, but had been dining 
 
 there with some Americans, of whom Mr. M may 
 
 have been one. I never heard before that Paine was 
 
 *»^ Si intoxicated that night. Indeed, the officers brought him 
 
 J., 'ii directly to my home, which was two miles from his lodg- 
 
 *» ings and about as much from the place where he had been 
 
 dining. He was not intoxicated when they came to me. 
 
 Their object was to get me to go and assist them to 
 
 examine Paine's papers. It employed us the rest of that 
 
 night and the whole of the next day at Paine's lodgings, 
 
 and he was not committed to prison till the next evening. 
 
 " You ask what company he kept. He always frequented 
 
 the best, both in England and France, till he became the 
 
 object of calumny in certain American papers (echoes of 
 
 the English court papers) for his adherence to what he 
 
 thought the cause of liberty in France — till he conceived 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 239 
 
 himself neglected and despised by his former friends in 
 the United States. From that moment he gave himself 
 very much to drink, and, consequently, to companions less 
 worthy of his better days. 
 
 " It is said he was always a peevish ingrate. This is 
 possible. So was Lawrence Sterne, so was Torquato Tasso, 
 so was J. J. Rousseau. But Thomas Paine, as a visiting 
 acquaintance and as a literary friend, the only points of 
 view from which I knew him, was one of the most instruct- 
 ive men I have ever known. He had a surprising memory 
 and a brilliant fancy ; his mind was a storehouse of facts 
 and useful observations ; he was full of lively anecdote 
 and ingenious, original, pertinent remarks upon almost 
 every subject. 
 
 " He was always charitable to the poor beyond his 
 means, a sure protector and friend to all Americans in 
 distress that he found in foreign countries. And he had 
 frequent occasions to exert his influence in protecting 
 them during the revolution in France. His writings will 
 answer for his patriotism, and his entire devotion to what 
 he conceived to be the best interest and happiness of 
 mankind. 
 
 " This, sir, is all I have to remark on the subject you 
 mention. Now I have only one request to make, and 
 that would doubtless seem impertinent were you not the 
 editor of a newspaper; it is, that you will not publish 
 this letter, nor permit a copy of it to be taken." 
 
 Joel Barlow. 
 
 Cheetham, however, disregarded the injunction, and 
 published the letter in full in his Life of Paine. 
 
 An interesting correspondence was also kept up with 
 Jefferson during this period. Jefferson's letters to Bar- 
 low were carefully preserved, and give interesting details 
 of the character and pursuits of two great men. Several 
 of the most important are here presented. The first was 
 written shortly before his retirement from the Presidency. 
 
240 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 MONTICELLO, July 25, 1808. £ 
 " Dear Sir : — Having been tempted by a cloudy day to 
 leave Washington a day sooner than I intended, among 
 other things which I omitted to do was the furnishing you 
 an itinerary of the route to this place : it is as follows from 
 Georgetown Ferry: 
 
 Miles. Cents. 
 To Wren's 6 38 
 
 * " Fairfax Court House.. 8 65 
 
 *" Centerville, about 7 50 Mitchell's is the best house. 
 
 * " Red House, about .... 10 Mrs. Hereford's best ; Bronaugh's 
 
 next. 
 
 * " Fanquier C. House. . . 20 Norris' best, indeed a superlatively 
 
 good one. 
 
 - " Jefferson 9 80 Kuhn's, but even that a wretched 
 
 place. 
 
 * " Culpepper C. House. . 13 77 Capt. Shackleford. 
 
 * " Orange C. House 19 83 
 
 " Mr. Madison's 4 17 
 
 * " Gordon 8 75 
 
 * " Walton's Tavern 13 58 
 
 " Monticello 7 58 
 
 129 $6.01 
 
 *' The houses marked thus * are pretty good, compara- 
 tively ; — means bad. You asked me the best time of 
 taking the journey, and I observed as well soon as late, 
 but I found Mrs. Randolph in the straw, having increased 
 her family on the i6th. Of course she will not be with us 
 till a month from that, and for her sake as well as Mrs. 
 Barlow's the visit will be doubly pleasing if so timed as 
 that she should be here. In the hope that nothing may 
 intervene to deprive us of the pleasure of possessing Mrs. 
 Barlow and yourself here, after presenting her my respects, 
 I salute you with friendship and great consideration." 
 
 Th. Jefferson. 
 
 To Mr. Barlow. 
 
 Washington, Dec. 25, 1808. 
 " Dear Sir : — I return you Dr. Maese's letter, which a 
 pressure of business has occasioned me to keep too long. 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 24I 
 
 I think an account of the manufactures of Philadelphia 
 would be really useful, and that the manufactures of other 
 places should be added from time to time, as information 
 of them should be received. To give a perfect view of 
 the whole would require a report from every county or 
 township of the United States. Perhaps the present 
 moment would be premature, as they are in truth but 
 just now in preparation. The Government could not aid 
 the publication by the subscription suggested by Dr. 
 Maese without a special law for it. All the purposes for 
 which they can pay a single dollar are specified by law. 
 
 " The advantages of the veterinary institution proposed 
 may perhaps be doubted. If it be problematical whether 
 physicians prevent death, where the disease, unaided, 
 would have terminated fatally, oftener than they produce 
 it, where order would have been restored to the system 
 by the process, if uninterrupted, provided by nature — and 
 in the case of man who can describe the seat of his dis- 
 ease, its character, progress, and often its cause — what 
 might we expect in the case of the horse, mute and yield- 
 ing no sensible and certain indications of his disease ? 
 They have long had these institutions in Europe. Has 
 the world as yet received one iota of valuable information 
 from them ? If it has, it is unknown to me. At any rate, 
 it may be doubted whether, where so many institutions 
 of obvious utility are yet wanting, we should select this 
 one to take the lead. — I return you Gibbon with thanks. 
 I send you also, for your shelf of pamphlets, one which 
 gives really a good historical view of our funding system, 
 and of Federal transactions generally, from an early day 
 to the present time. 
 
 " I salute you with friendship and respect." 
 
 Th. Jefferson. 
 
 To Mr. Barlow. 
 
 MONTICELLO, Oct. 8, 1809. 
 
 " Dear Sir : — It is long since I ought to have acknowl- 
 edged the receipt of your most excellent oration on the 
 16 
 
242 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 4th of July. I was doubting what you could say equal to 
 your own reputation on so hackneyed a subject, but you 
 have really risen out of it with lustre, and pointed to others 
 a field of great expansion. A day or two after I received 
 your letter to Bishop Gregoire, a copy of his diatribe to 
 you came to hand from France. I had not before heard 
 of it. He must have been eagle-eyed in quest of offence 
 to have discovered ground for it among the rubbish 
 massed together on the point he animadverts on. You 
 have done right in giving him a sugary answer, but he 
 did not deserve it ; for, notwithstanding a compliment to 
 you now and then, he constantly returns to the identifi- 
 cation of your sentiments with the extravagances of the 
 revolutionary zealots. I believe him a very good man, 
 with imagination enough to declaim eloquently, but with- 
 out judgment to decide. He wrote to me also on the 
 doubts I had expressed five or six and twenty years ago, 
 in the '■ Notes on Virginia,' as to the grade of understand- 
 ing of the negroes, and sent me his book on the literature 
 of the negroes. His credulity has made him gather up 
 every story he could find of men of color (without dis- 
 tinguishing whether black, or of what degree of mixture) 
 however slight the mention or light the authority on 
 which they are quoted. The whole does not amount in 
 evidence to what we know ourselves of Banneker. We 
 know he had spherical trigonometry enough to make al- 
 manacs, but not without the suspicion of aid from Elliot, 
 who was his neighbor and friend, and never missed an 
 opportunity of praising him. I have a long letter from 
 Banneker, which shows him to have had a mind of very 
 common stature indeed. As to Bishop Gregoire, I wrote 
 him, as you have done, a very soft answer. It was im- 
 possible for doubt to have been more tenderly or hesitat- 
 ingly expressed than that was in the * Notes of Virginia,' 
 and nothing was, or is, farther from my intentions than 
 to enlist myself as the champion of a fixed opinion where 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 
 
 243 
 
 I have only expressed a doubt. St. Domingo will in 
 time throw light on the question. 
 
 " I intended ere this to have sent you the papers I had 
 promised you, but I have taken up Marshall's fifth vol- 
 ume, and mean to read it carefully to correct what is 
 wrong in it, and commit to writing such facts and anno- 
 tations as the reading that work will bring into my rec- 
 ollection, and which have not yet been put on paper. 
 In this I shall be much aided by my memorandums and 
 letters, and will send you both the old and the new; but 
 I go on very slowly. In truth, during the pleasant sea- 
 son I am always out of doors employed, not passing more 
 time at my writing-table than will despatch my current 
 business ; but when the weather becomes cold I shall 
 go out but little. I hope, therefore, to get through this 
 volume during the ensuing winter, but should you want 
 the papers sooner they shall be sent at a moment's warn- 
 ing. The ride from Washington to Monticello in the 
 stage or in a gig is so easy that I had hoped you would 
 have taken a flight here during the season of good roads. 
 Whenever Mrs. Barlow is well enough to join you in such 
 a visit it must be taken more at ease. It will give us real 
 pleasure whenever it may take place. I pray you to pre- 
 sent me to her respectfully, and I salute you affection- 
 ately." 
 
 Th. Jefferson. 
 
 Monticello, Dec. 31, 1809. 
 " Dear Sir : — In removing my effects from Washington 
 I had the misfortune of having a trunk stolen, which, be- 
 sides papers of irretrievable value, contained other things 
 highly prized, and among them nothing more so than a 
 dynamometer I had just received from France. The Ag- 
 ricultural Society of the Seine bad sent me one of Guil- 
 laume's ploughs, which by that instrument was proved to 
 require but half the force of their best ploughs, and they 
 asked from me a plough with my mould-board. It was 
 my wish, while doing this, to make a plough which might 
 
244 ^^^^ ^^^ LETTERS OF 
 
 compete with theirs, and, I am confident, excel it. I 
 therefore imported their dynamometer in order to prove 
 mine with Guillaume's. I am now engaged in this work,, 
 but have lost my dynamometer. I think you have one. 
 Could you do me the favor to lend it to me for this ex- 
 periment, as well as to aid me in the construction of other 
 articles for my farms, which now engross all my atten- 
 tion. It shall be carefully preserved and safely returned. 
 
 " Mr. Carr, a nephew of mine, will be going on in some 
 days to Washington, where he will make a short stay. 
 He will bring it on by the stage under his own particular 
 care. As you have also the spirit of farming, perhaps if 
 I succeed in my plough you would think one of them 
 worthy of acceptance. In the mean time, be assured of 
 my constant friendship and respect." 
 
 Th. Jefferson. 
 
 To Joel Barlow, Esq. 
 
 Could Barlow's history of the men and events of his 
 day, for which such great preparations were made, have 
 been written, doubtless its author's fame would have 
 shone with brighter lustre, and an entirely different com- 
 plexion been given the early history of the American 
 people. During this period the poet also conducted a 
 correspondence with Noah Webster, of considerable lit- 
 erary interest. The letters, it will be observed, antedate 
 the one of Oct. 13, 1808, in regard to the Columbiad, 
 which Barlow never answered. 
 
 New Haven, Oct. 19, 1807. 
 " Dear Sir : — Your favor of the 12th has given me much 
 pleasure ; not merely on the score of former friendship, but 
 because it informs me of your favorable opinion of my 
 Dictionary and of my further designs. The approbation 
 of classical scholars is the most flattering reward that I can 
 receive. By classical scholars I do not mean the conductors 
 of some periodical publications in our country, whose in- 
 quiries have been bounded by the perusal of a few mod- 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 245 
 
 ern elegant writers, but men who have drunk deep of 
 the Pierian spring. A few gentlemen of this character, 
 like yourself, duly appreciate the merit of my labors, 
 but the number is small ; my hope and expectations are 
 that it will increase. You will recollect that Judge 
 Trumbull and yourself were the only friends who^ in 1783, 
 ventured to encourage me to publish my Spelling Book. 
 The attempt to correct English books was thought a rash 
 undertaking, yet more than 200,000 copies now sell 
 annually. My Grammar had its run, but has been super- 
 seded by Murray's. Both are wrong. I have lately 
 published one on Home Tooke's plan, which President 
 Smith, of Princeton, pronounces the best analysis of the 
 language ever published. If I can, I will send you a 
 copy. I have published three books of ' Elements of 
 Useful Knowledge,' containing a brief history and geo- 
 graphical view of America and the Eastern Continent. 
 This is getting into use extensively with us, and if I can 
 give it circulation in the Middle and Southern States the 
 profits will enable me to bear the expenses of my great 
 work. This is to me very interesting. I believe these 
 volumes are in Philadelphia, at David Hogan's, in Third 
 Street. I wish you would take a look at them. I have 
 in the press an abridgment of my Complete Dictionary 
 for common schools, omitting obsolete and technical 
 terms, and reducing it to a dollar book. With the profits 
 of these I hope to be able to finish my Complete Dic- 
 tionary. If I could get two or three hundred subscribers 
 to advance the price of it this would be all I should 
 want ; but I have no expectation of such patronage, 
 though I am confident there would be no hazard to the 
 subscribers except that of my life. It will require the 
 incessant labor of from three to five years. My views 
 comprehended a whole system, intended to lay the founda- 
 tion of a more correct practice of writing and speaking, 
 as well as a general system of instruction in other 
 branches. It is time for us to begin to think for our- 
 
246 LIF^ ^^D LETTERS OF 
 
 selves. Great Britain is probably in her wane, and I look 
 forward to the time when her descendants will reflect 
 some light back on the parent nation. But immense 
 hosts of prejudices are to be subdued. I agree with you 
 that we ought to correspond and understand each other. 
 Dr. Mitchell often suggests this union as important. I 
 will cheerfully accord with any scheme of this kind that 
 shall be deemed prudent and advantageous. I have sug- 
 gested in brief my proposed reformation of orthography, 
 confining my views chiefly to the reducing to unifor- 
 mity such classes of words as error, favor, candor, and 
 so forth ; public, music, and so forth ; theater, luster, 
 and so forth ; and, secondly, to review the original or- 
 thography of feather, tether, controller, and so forth, 
 which have been corrupted. The Legislature of this 
 state has adopted the latter, and in our laws we write 
 controller. My plan is to correct rather than to inno- 
 vate, for this is a subject of extreme difificulty. I, how- 
 ever, will be accommodating. I endeavor to unite other 
 opinions with my own on many points, and shall be 
 happy to take the advice of my friends. The proof-sheet 
 copy of an appendix to the notes to the Columbiad was 
 not enclosed in your letter, I suppose by mistake. I 
 shall be happy to see it. I am looking with impatience 
 for the Columbiad, as I have heard much of the elegance 
 of the work, and I have no doubt you have improved the 
 poem. I shall be happy to receive your opinion on any 
 subject favorable to American literature, and to be of 
 any service to you in the pursuit. On the particular 
 points of neology, and so forth, I will write you more fully 
 after adjournment of the Legislature. Assure Mrs. Bar- 
 low of my respect, and accept the same from your old 
 
 friend." 
 
 N. Webster. 
 
 The following letter would apply with equal force to 
 our day and generation : 
 
joel barlow. 24/ 
 
 New Haven, Nov. 12, 1807. 
 " The subject of your letter to me I deemed of too 
 much consequence to be passed with a slight answer, and 
 therefore postponed a detail of my opinion till I could be 
 more at leisure than at the time I received it. Indeed, I 
 have so much to say that I shall not be able to write all I 
 wish, but will compress my ideas into as small a compass 
 as possible. For more than twenty years, since I have 
 looked into philology, and considered the connection be- 
 tween language and knowledge, and the influence of a 
 national language on national opinions, I have had it in 
 view to detach this country as much as possible from its 
 dependence on the parent country. It appears to me not 
 only derogatory to us as a nation to look to Great Britain 
 for opinions and practice on this subject, but I consider this 
 species of dependence as extremely prejudicial, as it re- 
 gards our political interest in a variety of ways which I 
 need not write, because you doubtless think of the sub- 
 ject in all its bearings. But there is another evil resulting 
 from this dependence which is little considered ; this is, 
 that it checks improvement. Not one man in a thousand 
 — not even of the violent political opposers of Great Brit- 
 ain — reflects upon this influence. Our people look to Eng- 
 lish books as the standard of truth on all subjects, and 
 this confidence in English opinions puts an end to inquiry. 
 Our gentlemen, even in the colleges and professions, 
 rarely question facts and opinions that come from Eng- 
 lish authors of reputation ; hence we have no spirit of in- 
 vestigation; and numerous errors are daily propagated 
 from English presses which become current in this coun- 
 try. I make not these remarks from prejudice against 
 Great Britain. The fact would be the same if our people 
 could all read French, or Spanish, and should read none 
 but French or Spanish books. All nations have their in- 
 terests and prejudices, which influence more or less all 
 their popular writings. I have discovered many popular 
 errors on other subjects thus propagated in the United 
 
248 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 States from our reliance on English books. But to con- 
 fine myself to the language which I best understand. I 
 can affirm that the standard English books abound with 
 errors which nothing could have kept in countenance in 
 this country but a blind veneration for English authori- 
 ties. Our literary men investigate so little that they do 
 not judge correctly of the talents and erudition of Eng- 
 lish writers, many of whom are not half so learned as 
 our people suppose. My new Grammar and the letter to 
 Dr. Murray will show you what I think, and what I have 
 proved, upon a small scale, in regard to the most popular 
 works on philology. In truth, we shall always be in lead- 
 ing strings till we resort to original writers and original 
 principles instead of taking upon trust what English 
 writers please to give us. But I need not enlarge upon 
 this subject. You must certainly understand it better 
 than I do ; you know the manner in which book-7naking 
 is carried on in England, and how, with a due portion of 
 puffing from the reviewers, almost anything may obtain 
 currency in this country. Leaving therefore a considera- 
 tion of the cause of the evil let us attend to the remedy. 
 On this subject I want your opinion. In the mean time, 
 accept a short review of what I have done, without making 
 much noise respecting my ultimate. My plan has been 
 to furnish our schools with a tolerably complete system 
 of elementary knowledge in books of my own, gradu- 
 ally substituting American books for English, and wean- 
 ing our people from their prejudices and from their con- 
 fidence in English authority. For this purpose I have 
 endeavored to make, in the first place, my spelling book 
 as perfect as possible. To this end I have done what is 
 not done in any other book of the kind. I have col- 
 lected and classed all the more difficult and irregular 
 words, so that after leading the child through tables of 
 easy words I present him, in short tables, all the varieties 
 of anomaly ; and when he has mastered this little book 
 he has overcome the chief difficulties in learning the Ian- 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 249 
 
 guage ; and as our books should have special reference 
 to the local knowledge most necessary for us, I have in- 
 troduced the names of places in this country. No Eng- 
 lish compilation can answer our purpose for want of such 
 tables. Murray's Quaker friends are taking great pains to 
 introduce his spelling book, which wants the best and 
 most necessary part of such a work, and in which the di- 
 vision of syllables in old Dilworth is preserved and vindi- 
 cated. This scheme, I trust, will fail. As books for read- 
 ing, I have published a selection of essays which has been 
 in use with many others of a like mind. It is so easy to 
 make books of this sort, and so difficult to make one bet- 
 ter than others, that I expect nothing from this compila- 
 tion. But my ' Elements of Useful Knowledge ' I think 
 a v/ork of more consequence. In the two first volumes I 
 have given a brief but correct account of the settlement 
 and history of the United States. The historical part 
 was collected from original documents, or the best histo- 
 ries. These volumes contain what all our children ought 
 to learn ; for, in addition to the history and geography 
 of the country, the work contains an abridgment of the 
 Constitution of the United States, and of the Constitu- 
 tions of all the states, with an American chronological 
 table, which I made with ease. 
 
 " The third volume contains a geographical view of the 
 other parts of the Globe, from the latest discoveries. 
 These three volumes are so divided into sections that 
 they may be read in classes, and. intended either as read- 
 ing books or for committing to memory. In our schools 
 the children learn many whole chapters by heart. I 
 have a volume on natural history — or, rather, zoology — 
 nearly finished, and shall add one or two others on 
 other subjects. I deem it very important that these 
 works should be known, and, if practicable, introduced 
 into schools in all the states, as not only appropriately 
 useful in themselves, but as auxiliary to the main design. 
 Next comes my * Philosophical and Practical Grammar,' 
 
250 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 lately published, in which I have developed what appear 
 to be the real structure and idioms of our language. I 
 have left Louk and Johnson, and mounted to the origi- 
 nal writers, as far back as the first Saxon laws and annals. 
 The result is, that many of the principles of grammar as 
 taught in Louk formerly, and now in Murray (whose book 
 is nothing but Louk's altered and enlarged), prove to 
 be totally false ; and I affirm that those grammars now 
 taught introduce more errors than they correct. It is be- 
 lieved to be extremely important that this subject should 
 be immediately laid before the public. Murray is a dili- 
 gent, neat compiler, but utterly destitute of that mind 
 of erudition necessary to enable a man to adjust princi- 
 ples of language. Next follow my dictionaries. One of 
 them is in your hands. An abridgment of that is nearly 
 through the press. This is intended for common English 
 schools — containing about 30,000 words — all, indeed, that 
 a mere English farmer or mechanic can want ; technical 
 words are omitted. This will be sold at a dollar. Lastly 
 will come my ' Complete Dictionary,' which, I trust, will 
 contain all that is valuable in any and all the English 
 books of this kind and supersede the use of them all. 
 This is a work of vast labor, and in the execution of it I 
 want all the advice and assistance that my friends can af- 
 ford. My plan is, if possible, to condense the whole into 
 half the size of Johnson in quarto, and to publish one 
 large 4to or two large imperial 8vos. Our men of letters 
 are not generally men of property, and I wish to accom- 
 modate this work to their circumstances. To do this 
 I must very much abridge Johnson's exemplifications. 
 Indeed, on a careful examination, I am satisfied that a 
 large proportion of them are useless, throwing not the 
 least light on his definitions. My improvement will con- 
 sist in adding all the legitimate words which are now 
 used, and which are not in the English dictionaries ; 2d. 
 In rendering the definitions far more precise, and in ex- 
 hibiting what may be called the specific differences of 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 2Ci 
 
 signification, a thing not yet done in any language, as far 
 as my knowledge extends ; 3d. In developing the origin 
 and history of numerous /^m/zVj- of words, which, spring- 
 ing from a common root or element, have ramified into 
 many modern languages. In this part of the work much 
 new and valuable light is to be diffused over a very curi- 
 ous and obscure subject ; 4th. To settle the orthography 
 of words ; when doubtful, recourse will be had to the 
 primitive word, and the true etymology. The changes 
 of orthography will not be numerous, and these all war- 
 ranted by the original spelling and by principles of strict 
 analogy. A few other improvements of minor import- 
 ance I need not specify; such as the scheme I have 
 lain for rendering our citizens more and more indepen- 
 dent. The outline was drawn more than twenty years 
 ago, but my circumstances compelled me to suspend the 
 execution of it, for the purpose of getting bread by 
 other business, until within a few years last past. Even 
 now my resources are inadequate to the work ; my in- 
 come barely supports my family, and I want five hun- 
 dred dollars' worth of books from Europe which I cannot 
 obtain here, and which I cannot afford to purchase. I 
 have made my wishes known to men of letters by a cir- 
 cular accompanied by certificates, and have issued a sub- 
 scription paper, but I have not any encouragement that 
 one cent will be advanced by all the wealthy citizens of 
 my country. I must therefore drudge on under all the 
 embarrassments which have usually attended like under- 
 takings. It is important that the friends of this species 
 of improvement should be united, and aid each other. 
 We have to oppose us the publishers of most of the pop- 
 ular periodical works in our large towns. The Gazette 
 of the United States and Portfolio in Philadelphia, the 
 Evening Post in New York, the Anthology in Boston, 
 are all arrayed against me and my designs. Perhaps an 
 apology may be found for the publishers in their utter 
 ignorance of the subject, or of my views. The gentle- 
 
252 
 
 LIFE AA'D LETTERS OF 
 
 n 
 
 men are among those who repose impHcit confidence in 
 Johnson's opinions, never having examined the subject 
 enough to question their justness. This opposition may 
 be weakened immediately, and ultimately overthrown ; 
 but it requires some address, for I believe they are sup- 
 ported by the weight of public opinion — all founded on 
 that confidence in English authorities before mentioned. 
 In my favor is President Smith, of Princeton, and the 
 faculties of most of the Northern colleges — Dr. Mitchell, 
 Dr. Morse, and so forth. Indeed, the men of education 
 generally in the country towns, if not favorable, are at 
 least unprejudiced. The large towns are more thor- 
 oughly English in this respect than the country. I hope 
 my letter to Dr. Ramsay will have some effect in remov- 
 ing the veil of blindness ; but I want some active friends; 
 such I have not hitherto found. Let me suggest the 
 expediency of consulting men at the head of affairs on 
 the general topics here mentioned, — and would not a 
 general view of this subject from the leading public prints 
 be useful, accompanied perhaps by a candid review of my 
 books ? The public, especially in the Middle and South- 
 ern States, have never had their attention called to the 
 subject. If you think with me on these subjects I will 
 thank you for your thoughts and advice ; and, if you 
 wish, I will send you a copy of such of my books as you 
 have not. ' 
 
 N. Webster. 
 
 Another phase of the poet's character is shown in a 
 series of letters written to his nephew and prot^g6, 
 Thomas Barlow, the orphan son of his favorite brother, 
 Col. Aaron Barlow. He placed the lad at school, first, 
 at Fairfield,' Ct., then at Colchester, and, on his being 
 fitted, entered him at Yale. His letters to the lad, and 
 to the lad's brother, Stephen Barlow, contain maxims that 
 might well be heeded by all parents and guardians. 
 
 " I am surprised at what you tell me of the progress of 
 the boy," he writes Stephen Barlow. " Encourage him ; 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 253 
 
 tell him I rejoice to hear his praise, and that he shall not 
 want for the means of obtaining a good education if he 
 will do his best. But though you must not suffer him to 
 neglect his books, you must see that he does not bend over 
 them too much. Keep him in habits of bodily exercise 
 for the preservation of health, which is the first of all ob- 
 jects, and ought to be so considered in every plan of edu- 
 cation ; after. this, take care of his manners, his mode of 
 speaking; let his language in conversation be grammatical, 
 his utterance clear, elegant, and graceful. It is as easy at 
 his age to form good habits as bad ones, to acquire such 
 as will be ornamental and useful, as well as those that 
 must be unlearned with infinite difficulty, or else stay by 
 him all his days, and make him awkward and forbidding, 
 painful to himself and disagreeable to his friends." 
 Again : " Tell him that by next year at this time he must 
 be master of Homer, so as to explain it well to me ; Ho- 
 mer is my Magnus Apollo, and Thomas must be my little 
 priest to go between me and the god and expound to me 
 his oracles." In the fall of 1807 he is at doubt whether 
 to remove the lad from Fairfield. " You seem to think he 
 is doing well," he writes, "but one thing must be wanting 
 to him there — a chance for emulation. I suppose there 
 are few, if any, boys to class with him. I think I under- 
 stood there were none pursuing the same studies, or, at 
 least, so far advanced as he : if so, it is a strong motive 
 for removing him to Colchester, which, I have understood, 
 was a good school, and numerous in students farther ad- 
 vanced. . . . We must enjoin it upon your wife to watch 
 over the boy's manners, dress, and behavior; to make him 
 keep clean his hands, face, teeth, and linen. See that 
 he sits and acts well at table, walks, speaks, moves, and 
 even thinks with propriety, and approaching to elegance. 
 The letter for him I leave open for you to read if 
 you like. It is best to seal before you send them to him, 
 to teach him method and order." Again : " I don't know 
 whether his ambition wants winding up now and then 
 
254 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 like a clock ; if it does, you and your wife must do it. I 
 must insist on his being a superior scholar ; and not only 
 that, but a gentleman in his manners, and sentiments, and 
 language." 
 
 At last the boy was ready for college, and was furnished 
 by his uncle " with several introductory letters to friends 
 in New Haven." " His letters to Wolcott and Silliman," 
 he adds, " I look upon as most essential. Those men 
 may be of great use to him. Wolcott, I believe, is in the 
 senior class, and a good scholar. Mr. Silliman I treated 
 with particular politeness in London, for which he was 
 thankful at the time, and I am sure he has not forgot it. 
 He is an amiable man, and an able chemist." The Presi- 
 dent he does not like ; " but it is not best," he adds, " to 
 give Tom any unfavorable ideas of him. It may be best 
 that he should respect him, for on some accounts he is 
 doubtless respectable. . . . You must have a watchful 
 eye upon Thomas at New Haven. Though the advant- 
 ages there are greater than at minor schools, yet the 
 temptations to idleness and extravagance are greater also. 
 But few have the courage to resist these temptations. 
 One of the best preservatives against the vices incident 
 to such situations is a certain poorness of purse — not abso- 
 lute poverty, but bordering upon it. It will not be diffi- 
 cult to guage him properly in this respect, then keep up 
 his ambition. Let him never forget that he has got 
 nothing but his own merit to depend upon — which is, 
 and must be, the fact." 
 
 Several letters which passed between uncle and ward 
 have also been preserved. The boy's related largely to 
 the subjects of the studies he was pursuing. Barlow's 
 in reply were models of elegance and force, directing, 
 criticising, commending the lad's efforts. In a letter 
 commending a dissertation on the life of Cicero which 
 the latter had written occurs this characteristic passage : 
 " Middleton is a very judicious writer and has employed 
 his talents on a most important subject. Perhaps no 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 255 
 
 great man has had his Hfe so well written as Cicero, and 
 very few have so well deserved it. Middleton's only- 
 fault, if it is a fault, is a little partiality to the moral 
 qualities of his hero. But Cicero, as a friend of liberty, 
 and a strenuous advocate of public justice, is such a 
 favorite with me, that I scarcely think of his vanity, or 
 any other of his weaknesses. They are the weaknesses 
 of human nature in its very noblest specimen. Had I 
 written his life I should have been more partial to him 
 than Middleton has been, that is, I should have been 
 more enthusiastic in his praise — but it would have been 
 a fault." 
 
256 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 1811-1813. 
 
 In the year 181 1 American relations with both France 
 and England were of the gravest character. The two 
 powers, engaged in the life-and-death struggle, were seiz- 
 ing and destroying everything that came in their way. 
 There was scarcely a right of neutrals they had not out- 
 raged. England had opened the attack by issuing her 
 "Orders in Council," declaring all French ports and 
 rivers from the Elbe in Germany to Brest in France in 
 a state of blockade, and Bonaparte had retaliated by his 
 famous " Berlin Decree," declaring the British Islands 
 blockaded, and that all intercourse with them by neutral 
 vessels must cease — a decree, it may be said, directly con- 
 trary to the terms of the treaty then existing between 
 the United States and France. 
 
 Seizure of American vessels in the English trade by 
 French cruisers soon followed, and at the same time vig- 
 orous restrictions were placed on American commerce in 
 French ports. 
 
 American products were heavily taxed. American ves- 
 sels were compelled to receive for return cargoes certain 
 specified goods, chiefly silks : they were subject to tedious 
 investigations in unusual forms, and, when seized, their 
 release could be obtained, if at all, only after great ex- 
 pense and delay. The repeated protests of the Ameri- 
 can minister against these enormities were disregarded. 
 It seemed that to protect her commerce the young nation 
 must take up the gage thrown down by the conqueror of 
 Europe. Yet it was resolved by Madison and his advis- 
 ers to make one last attempt at negotiation : it was also 
 clearly seen that the success of the mission must depend 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 257 
 
 largely on the ambassador entrusted with it. Napoleon 
 was France : he, therefore, was the person to be acted 
 upon. He was known to be crafty, imperious, dictatorial, 
 changeable, but approachable by flattery, by his desire 
 of being thought a patron of Poetry and the Arts, and by 
 former service — for instance, by a man who had once 
 addressed the National Convention, and who had been 
 made a French citizen for his services in expelling the 
 Bourbons. Instinctively the eyes of Madison and his 
 Cabinet turned on Joel Barlow as the man most available 
 for this mission. It was much easier to fix upon him, 
 however, than to induce him to accept. He had reached 
 the age when travel becomes a burden, and he knew too 
 well the difficulties and vexations which would attend 
 the mission ; besides, he was deeply engrossed in literary 
 pursuits. His History of the United States, under Jef- 
 ferson's watchful care and encouragement, was fast assum- 
 ing form, while another literary project of importance — 
 the publication of his works in a series — -had not even as- 
 sumed shape. Yet at the demand of his country he con- 
 sented to forego all and accept the mission. His selec- 
 tion seems to have been applauded by the respectable 
 men of all parties, although Barlow at the outset had 
 a disagreeable feeling that he would not have the hearty 
 support of all his countrymen in his mission.* 
 
 * We adduce the following letter from that staunch Federalist, Judge 
 Henry Baldwin, of the Supreme Court : "You have been much vilified in 
 the Federal papers, but it is not the opinion of the party that you ought not 
 to be the Minister to France. On the contrary, such men as Ross, and 
 others of the most influential Federalists, do not hesitate to give their decided 
 opinion that you are the fittest man that could be sent. Those only abuse 
 you who would abuse everybody appointed by Mr. Madison, and every- 
 thing he does. The opinion of such a man as Ross is of more weight than 
 that of fifty printers, and is more clearly indicative of the real sentiments of 
 the party. The country in general approves of your appointment, and 
 there never could be a finer opportunity presented of giving yourself a solid 
 and permanent standing. For as nothing could be effected by Armstrong 
 (the retiring minister), and as little is to be expected from the faith of the 
 French Government, every amelioration in our situation with France will 
 17 
 
258 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 Kalorama was in a sad state of confusion during the 
 months of May and June, 1811. The estate was leased, 
 not sold, for the poet hoped, though he had forebod- 
 ings, to return and finish his days there. A package was 
 made of his published works and sent to Fulton, with 
 the request that he would publish them in order, and 
 do justice to his friend's memory in the event of that 
 friend's not returning. Thomas Barlow was called from 
 his class in Yale College to accompany his uncle to 
 France, and there complete his studies. Miss Clara Bald- 
 win, Mrs. Barlow's half-sister, the poet's especial favorite, 
 who had been for some years a member of the family at 
 Kalorama, was also invited to accompany them. 
 
 Early in July the arrangements had been perfected, 
 and the ambassador only awaited his papers and instruc- 
 tions from the State Department before beginning his 
 journey. On the 26th of July they were received — a com- 
 mission and letter of credence, a letter of instructions, and 
 other documents necessary to further the object of his 
 mission. Mr. Monroe's letter of instructions very fully 
 informed the ambassador what he was expected to ac- 
 complish. " The United States have claims on France," 
 it said, " which it is expected her Government will satisfy 
 to their full extent, and without delay. These are 
 founded partly on the late arrangement, by which the 
 non-importation law of the 1st May, 18 10, was carried 
 into effect against Great Britain, and partly on the in- 
 juries to their commerce committed on the high seas, 
 and in French ports. To form a just estimate of the 
 claims of the first class it is necessary to examine mi- 
 be attributed to your personal influence and exertion. Be assured that the 
 rant o£ the papers on either side is not the voice of the country. I have 
 touched on this subject lest you might think that because the great leading 
 presses publish every calumny against you, and the little silly copyists re- 
 peat it, that one half of the country is in array against you. You go on 
 your mission with as much of the public confidence as any other man could 
 possess in these times, and with a great prospect of securing additional 
 fame. " 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 259 
 
 nutely their nature and extent. The present is a proper 
 time to make this examination, and to press a com- 
 pliance with the arrangement in every circumstance, on 
 its just principles, on the Government of France. The 
 President, conscious that the United States have per- 
 formed every act that was stipulated on their part with 
 the most perfect good faith, expects a like performance 
 on the part of France. He considers it pecuharly in- 
 cumbent on him to request such explanations from her 
 Government as will dissipate all doubt of what he may 
 expect from it in future on this and every other ques- 
 tion depending between the two nations. By the act of 
 May I, 1 8 10, it was declared that in case Great Brit- 
 ain or France should, before the 3d day of March, 181 1, 
 so revoke or modify her edicts as that they should 
 cease to violate the neutral commerce of the United 
 States, which fact the President should declare by proc- 
 lamation ; and if the other nation should not, within 
 three months thereafter, revoke or modify its edicts in 
 like manner, then the 3d, 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, loth, and 
 i8th sections of the act entitled, 'An act to interdict the 
 commercial intercourse between the United States and 
 Great Britain and France,' should, from and after the 
 expiration of three months from the date of the proc- 
 lamation aforesaid, be revived and have full force and 
 effect, so far as relates to the dominions, colonies, and 
 dependencies of the nation thus refusing or neglecting 
 to revoke or modify its edicts in the manner aforesaid. 
 This act, having been promulgated and made known to 
 the Governments of Great Britain and France, the min- 
 ister of the latter, by note bearing date on the 5th Au- 
 gust, 1 8 10, addressed to the Minister Plenipotentiary of 
 the United States at Paris, declared that the decrees of 
 Berlin and Milan were revoked, the revocation to take 
 effect on the ist day of November following, but that 
 this measure was in compliance with the law of ist May, 
 1 8 10, to take advantage of the condition contained in it, 
 
26o LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 and in full confidence that that condition would be en- 
 forced against Great Britain if she did not revoke her 
 Orders in Council, and renounce the new principles of 
 blockade. This declaration of the Emperor of France 
 was considered a sufficient ground for the President to 
 act on. It was explicit as to its object, and equally so 
 as to its import. The decrees of Berlin and Milan, which 
 had violated our neutral rights, were said to be repealed, 
 to take effect at a subsequent day, at no distant period ; 
 the interval was apparently intended to allow full time 
 for the communication of the measure to this Govern- 
 ment. The declaration had, too, all the formality which 
 such an act could admit of, being through the official 
 organ on both sides — from the French Minister of For- 
 eign Affairs to the Minister Plenipotentiary of the 
 United States at Paris. In consequence of this note 
 from the French Minister of Foreign Affairs of the 5th 
 August, 1 8 10, the President proceeded on the 2d Novem- 
 ber following, to issue the proclamation enjoined by the 
 act of May ist of the same year, to declare that all the 
 restrictions imposed by it should cease, and be discon- 
 tinued in relation to France and her dependencies. 
 And in confirmation of the proclamation of the President, 
 Congress did, on the 2d March, 181 1, pass an act 
 whereby the non-importation system provided for by the 
 3d, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th, loth, and i8th sections 
 of the act entitled, 'An act to interdict the commercial 
 intercourse between the United States and Great Britain 
 and France, and their dependencies,' was declared to be 
 in force against Great Britain, her colonies, and depen- 
 dencies, with a provision in favor of such vessels or 
 merchandises as might be seized before it was known 
 that Great Britain had revoked or modified her edicts 
 within the time and in the manner required by the said 
 act, if such should be the case ; and with a provision also 
 in favor of any ships or cargoes owned wholly by citizens 
 of the United States, which had cleared out for the 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 261 
 
 Cape of Good Hope, or for any other port beyond the 
 same, prior to the 2d day of November, 18 10. Both 
 of these provisions were, in strict justice and good faith, 
 due to the parties to be affected by the law. They were 
 also conformable to the spirit of the arrangement to ex- 
 ecute which the law was passed. As Great Britain did 
 not revoke or modify her edicts in the manner proposed 
 the first provision had no effect. 
 
 " I will now inquire whether France has performed her 
 part of this arrangement. 
 
 " It is understood that the blockade of the British Isles 
 is revoked. The revocation having been officially de- 
 clared, and no vessel trading to them having been con- 
 demned or taken on the high seas that we know of, it is 
 fair to conclude that the measure is relinquished. It ap- 
 pears that no American vessel has been condemned in 
 France for having been visited at sea by an English 
 ship, or for having been searched or carried into Eng- 
 land, or subjected to impositions there. On the sea, 
 therefore, France is understood to have changed her sys- 
 tem. Although such is the light in which the conduct 
 of France is viewed in regard to the neutral commerce of 
 the United States since the 1st of November last, it 
 will, nevertheless, be proper for you to investigate fully 
 the whole subject, and to see that nothing has been, or 
 shall be, omitted on her part, in future, which the 
 United States have a right to claim. 
 
 " Your early and particular attention will be drawn to 
 the great subject of the commercial relation which is to 
 subsist in future between the United States and France. 
 The President expects that the commerce of the United 
 States will be placed in the ports of France on such a 
 footing as to afford to it a fair market, and to the in- 
 dustry and enterprise of their people a reasonable en- 
 couragement. An arrangement to this effect was looked 
 for immediately after the revocation of the decrees, but 
 it appears from the papers in this department that that 
 
262 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 was not the case ; on the contrary, that our commerce 
 has been subjected to the greatest discouragement, or 
 rather to the most oppressive restraints ; that the vessels 
 which carried coffee, sugar, etc., though sailing directly 
 from the United States to a French port, were held in a 
 state of sequestration, on the principle that the trade 
 was prohibited, and that the importation, of those articles 
 was not only unlawful, but criminal-, that even the ves- 
 sels which carried the unquestionable productions of the 
 United States were exposed to great and expensive de- 
 lays, to tedious investigations in unusual forms, and to 
 exorbitant duties ; in short, that the ordinary usages of 
 commerce between friendly nations were abandoned. 
 When it was announced that the decrees of Berlin and 
 Milan v/ere revoked, the revocation to take effect on the 
 1st November last, it was natural for our merchants to 
 rush into the ports of France, to take advantage of a 
 market to which they thought they were invited. All 
 these restraints, therefore, have been unjust in regard to 
 the parties who suffered by them ; nor can they be rec- 
 onciled to the respect which was due this Government. 
 If France had wished to exclude the American com- 
 merce from her ports she ought to have declared it to 
 this Government in explicit terms ; in which case due 
 notice would have been given of it to the American 
 merchants, who would either have avoided her ports or 
 gone there at their own hazard. But to suffer them 
 to enter her ports under such circumstances, and to 
 detain them there under any pretext whatever, cannot 
 be justified. It is not known to what extent the injuries 
 resulting from these delays have been carried. It is 
 evident, however, that for every injury thus sustained 
 the parties are entitled to reparation. If the ports of 
 France and her allies are not opened to the commerce of 
 the United States on a liberal scale, and on fair condi- 
 tions, of what avail to them, it may be asked, will be the 
 revocation of the British Orders in Council. In contend- 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 263 
 
 ing for the revocation of those Orders, so far as it was 
 an object of interest, the United States had in view a 
 trade with the continent. It was a fair and legitimate 
 , object, and worth contending for, while France encour- 
 aged it. But if she shuts her ports on our commerce, 
 or burdens it with heavy duties, that motive is at an 
 end. 
 
 " That France has a right to impose such restraints is 
 admitted ; but she ought to be aware of the conse- 
 quences to which they necessarily lead. The least that 
 ought to be expected to follow would be such counter- 
 vailing restrictions on the French commerce as must 
 destroy the value of the intercourse between the two 
 countries, and leave to the United States no motive of 
 interest to maintain their right to that intercourse by a 
 sacrifice of any other branch of their commerce. Ade- 
 quate motives to such a sacrifice could only be found in 
 considerations distinct from any reasonable pretensions 
 on the part of France. To the admission of every article, 
 the product of the United States, no objection is antici- 
 pated, nor does there appear to be just cause for any to 
 the admission of colonial produce. A supply of that 
 produce will be annually wanted in France, and other 
 countries connected with her, and the United States 
 alone can furnish her during the war. It will doubtless 
 be to the interest of France and her allies to avail her- 
 self of the industry and capital of the American mer- 
 chants, in furnishing those articles by which the wants of 
 her people will be supplied, and their revenue increased. 
 Several of the colonies belonged to France and may 
 again belong to her. Great Britain, by securing to her 
 own colonies the monopoly of the home market, lessens 
 the value of the produce of. the conquered colonies. 
 France cannot be indifferent to the distresses of her late 
 colonies, nor ought she to abandon, because she cannot 
 protect them. In pressing this important object on the 
 Government of France, it will not escape your attention 
 
264 Z/i^^ AND LETTERS OF 
 
 that several important articles in the list of colonial pro- 
 ductions are raised in Louisiana, and will, of course, be 
 comprised among those of the United States. 
 
 *' You will see the injustice, and endeavor to prevent the 
 necessity of bringing in return for American cargoes sold 
 in France an equal amount in the produce or manufact- 
 ures of that country. No such obligation is imposed 
 on French merchants trading to the United States. 
 They enjoy the liberty of selling their cargoes for cash, 
 and taking back what they please from this country in 
 return, and the right ought to be reciprocal. It is in- 
 dispensable that the trade be free; that all American 
 citizens engaged in it be placed on the same footing: 
 and with this view, that the system of carrying it on 
 by licenses granted by French agents, be immediately 
 annulled. You must make it distinctly understood by 
 the French Government, that the United States cannot 
 submit to that system, as it tends to sacrifice one part of 
 the community to another, and to give a corrupt influ- 
 ence to the agents of a foreign power in our towns, 
 which is, in every view, incompatible with the principles 
 of our Government. It was presumed that this system 
 had been abandoned some time since, as a letter from 
 
 the Duke of Cadore, of , to Mr. Russell gave assurance 
 
 of it. Should it, however, be still maintained, you will 
 not fail to bring the subject without delay before the 
 French Government, and to urge its immediate abandon- 
 ment. The President having long since expressed his 
 strongest disapprobation of it, and requested that the 
 consuls would discontinue it, it is probable, if they still 
 disregard his injunction, that he may find it necessary to 
 revoke their exequators. I mention this that you may 
 be able to explain the motive to such a measure should 
 it take place, which, without such explanation, might 
 probably be viewed in a mistaken light by the French 
 Government. 
 
 " It is important that the rate of duties imposed on our 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 265 
 
 commerce, iri every article, should be made as low as pos- 
 sible. If they are not, they may produce the effect of a 
 prohibition. They will be sure to depress the article, 
 and discourage the trade. 
 
 " You will be able to ascertain the various other claims 
 which the United States have on France for injuries done 
 to their citizens under decrees of a subsequent date to 
 those of Berlin and Milan, and you will likewise use 
 your best exertions to obtain an indemnity for them. 
 It is presumed that the French Government will be 
 disposed to do justice for all these injuries. 
 
 " In looking to the future, the past ought to be fairly 
 and honorably adjusted. If that is not done, much dis- 
 satisfaction will remain here, which cannot fail to pro- 
 duce a very unfavorable effect on the relations which are 
 to subsist in future between the two countries. The 
 first of these latter decrees bears date at Bayonne, on the 
 17th of March, 1808, by which many American vessels 
 and their cargoes were seized and carried into France ; 
 and others, which had entered her ports in the fair course 
 of trade, were seized and sequestered or confiscated by 
 her Government. 
 
 " It was pretended, in vindication of this measure, that 
 as, under our embargo law, no American vessel could nav- 
 igate the ocean, all those who were found on it were 
 trading on British account, and therefore lawful prizes. 
 The fact, however, was otherwise. At the time the 
 embargo was laid a great number of our vessels were at 
 sea, engaged in their usual commerce, many of them on 
 distant voyages. Their absence, especially as no previ- 
 ous notice could be given them, was strictly justifiable 
 under the law ; and as no obligation was imposed on 
 them by the law to return, they committed no offence by 
 remaining abroad. Other vessels, inconsiderable in num- 
 ber, left the United States in violation of law ; the latter 
 committed an offence against their country, but none 
 against foreign powers. They were not disfranchised 
 
266 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 by the act. They were entitled to the protection of 
 their Government, and it had a right to inflict on them 
 the penalty which their conduct had exposed them to. 
 The Government of France could withdraw them from 
 neither of these claims. The absence of none of these 
 vessels was a proof that they were trading on British 
 account. The cargoes which they carried with them, the 
 value of which was much enhanced by the embargo, 
 were alone an ample capital to trade on. As the pretext 
 under which these vessels were taken is no justification 
 of the act, you will claim an indemnity to our citizens for 
 every species of injury arising from it. 
 
 " The Rambouillet Decree was a still more unjustifiable 
 aggression on the rights of the United States and invasion 
 of the property of their citizens. It bears date on the 
 23d March, 18 10, and made a sweep of all American prop- 
 erty within the reach of French power. It was also 
 retrospective, extending back to the 20th May, 1809. 
 By this decree every American vessel and cargo, even 
 those which had been delivered up to the owners, by 
 compromise with the captors, were seized and sold. 
 
 " The law of March i, 1809, commonly called the non- 
 intercourse law, was the pretext for this measure, which 
 was intended as an act of reprisal. 
 
 " It requires no reasoning to show the injustice of this 
 pretension. Our law regulated the trade of the United 
 States with other powers, particularly with France and 
 Great Britain, and was such a law as every nation has a 
 right to adopt. It was duly promulgated, and reasonable 
 notice given of it to other powers. It was also impartial 
 as related to the belligerents. The condemnation of such 
 vessels of France and England as came into the ports of 
 the United States in breach of this law was strictly 
 proper, and could afford no cause of complaint to either 
 power. The seizure of so vast a property as was laid 
 hold of, under that pretext, by the French Government 
 places the transaction in a very fair light. If an indemnity 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 267 
 
 had been sought for an imputed injury, the measure of the 
 injury should have been ascertained, and the indemnity 
 proportioned to it. But, in this case, no injury had been 
 sustained on principle. A trifling loss only had been in- 
 curred, and for that loss all the American property which 
 could be found was seized, involving in indiscriminate 
 ruin innocent merchants who had entered the ports of 
 France in the fair course of trade. It is proper that you 
 should make it distinctly known to the French Govern- 
 ment that the claim to a just reparation for these spolia- 
 tions cannot be relinquished, and that a delay in making 
 it will produce very high dissatisfaction with the Govern- 
 ment and people of the United States. 
 
 " It has been intimated that the French Government 
 would be willing to make this reparation, provided the 
 United States would make one in return for the vessels 
 and property condemned under, and in breach of, our non- 
 intercourse law. Although the proposition was objec- 
 tionable in many views, yet this Government consented 
 to it, to save so great a mass of the property of our citi- 
 zens. An instruction for this purpose was given to your 
 predecessor, which you are authorized to carry into effect. 
 The influence of France has been exerted to the injury 
 lof the United States in all the countries to which her 
 power has extended. In Spain, Holland, and Naples it 
 has been sensibly felt. In each of these countries the 
 vessels and cargoes of American merchants were seized 
 and confiscated under various decrees, founded on dif- 
 ferent pretexts, none of which had even the semblance of 
 right to protect them. As the United States never in- 
 jured France, that plea must fail ; and that they had 
 injured either of those powers was not pretended. You 
 will be furnished with the documents which relate to 
 these aggressions, and you will claim of the French Gov- 
 ernment an indemnity for them. The United States 
 have also just cause of complaint against France for 
 many injuries that were committed by persons acting 
 
268 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 under her authority. Of these, the most distinguished 
 and least justifiable are the examples which have occurred 
 of burning the vessels of our citizens at sea. Their atro- 
 city forbids the imputation of them to the Government. 
 To it, however, the United States must look for repara- 
 tion, which you will accordingly claim. It is possible 
 that in this enumeration I may have omitted many inju- 
 ries of which no account has yei been transmitted to this 
 department. You will have it in your power to acquire 
 a more comprehensive knowledge of them at Paris, which 
 it is expected you will do, and full confidence is reposed 
 in your exertions to obtain of the French Government 
 the just measure of redress. France, it is presumed, has 
 changed her policy towards the United States. The 
 revocation of her decrees is an indication of that change, 
 and some recent acts more favorable to the commercial 
 intercourse with her ports, the evidence of which will be 
 
 found in the copy of a letter from her minister here of 
 
 strengthens the presumption. But much is yet to be 
 done by her to satisfy the just claims of this country. 
 To revoke blockades of boundless extent, in the present 
 state of her marine, was making no sacrifice. She must 
 indemnify us for past injuries, and open her ports to our 
 commerce on a fair and liberal scale. If she wishes the 
 profit of neutral commerce she must become the advocate 
 of neutral rights, as well by her practice as her theory. 
 The United States, standing on their own ground, will be 
 able to support those rights with effect ; and they will 
 certainly fail in nothing which they owe to their character 
 or interest. The papers relative to the Impetuetix , the 
 Revanch de Cerf, and the French privateer seized at New 
 Orleans will be delivered to you. They will, it is pre- 
 sumed, enable you to satisfy the French Government of 
 the strict propriety of the conduct of the United States 
 in all those occurrences." 
 
 Such were the vexed questions which the ambassador 
 was expected to settle agreeably to the best interests of 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 269 
 
 both countries. The historic frigate Constitution, com- 7^ 
 manded by Captain Hull, had been ordered to "Annapolis 
 to transport him to France, and thither he repaired with 
 his party on the 1st of August. Many friends had as- 
 sembled to bid them God speed, and when the last good- 
 byes were said the gallant vessel spread her sails, and 
 gay with bunting, and responding heartily to the salutes 
 of the forts oil shore, swept down the bay. To know 
 the poet's reflections on beginning this his second exile 
 would be interesting, and fortunately we have them in a 
 letter to Fulton, dated Hampton Roads, Aug. 2, 181 1. 
 " Here we are," he wrote, " 24 hours from Annapolis — 
 a most delightful passage down the Chesapeake. We 
 are just coming to anchor to give Captain Hull time to 
 receive 100 men from the Essex, lying at Norfolk. I 
 shall go on shore and stay the night. My wife is in ex- 
 cellent spirits, the captain and all the officers very amia- 
 ble, the most perfect harmony, discipline, cleanliness, and 
 comfort prevails. Never was a fairer prospect of a good 
 passage ; but my heart is heavy. I have left my coun- 
 try, possibly — and why not probably ? — forever. But if 
 such should be the result it will not be my fault ; that 
 is, the fault of my inclination or wishes. I go with an 
 ardent wish, but without much hope, of doing good, and 
 with the full intention, though with a feeble hope, of liv- 
 ing to return." 
 
 The Constitution reached Cherbourg on the 8th of 
 September, whence the ambassador proceeded directly to 
 Paris. He arrived at a most inauspicious moment for a 
 hearing. Napoleon, foiled by Russia in his designs on 
 the German principalities, was making ready for his inva- 
 sion of that powerful country. Maps, plans, military re- 
 ports, the organization of an army of a million of men, 
 and the intrigues of a score of courts, occupied his atten- 
 tion, to the exclusion of the affairs of the little republic 
 three thousand miles away. The business, which might 
 have been concluded in a few days, occupied months and 
 
270 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 years. Barlow's correspondence with the French Em- 
 peror and his ministers during this period would fill a 
 volume ; it shows him making desperate efforts to hold 
 them to something definite, and they in turn making the 
 smoothest promises, but never reaching the decisive 
 point — which was the signing of a treaty practically con- 
 ceding all that the United States asked. Many things 
 he accomplished, such as the release of American vessels 
 unjustly seized and held, and the abrogation of many of 
 the restrictions on American commerce ; but the Em- 
 peror seemed to have a strange reluctance to signing the 
 treaty, although assenting individually to its conditions. 
 
 It was not until the nth of October, 18 12, that Bas- 
 sano, the Minister of Foreign Relations, could be made 
 to appoint a definite time and place for the signing of the 
 treaty. On that date he wrote from Wilna — Napoleon 
 then being engaged in his disastrous invasion of Russia 
 — this letter : 
 
 " Sir : — I have had the honor to make known to you 
 how much I regretted, in the negotiation commenced be- 
 tween the United States and France, the delays which 
 inevitably attend a correspondence carried on at so great 
 a distance. Your Government has desired to see the 
 epoch of this arrangement draw near. His Majesty is 
 animated by the same dispositions, and willing to assure 
 to the negotiation a result the most prompt, he has 
 thought that it would be expedient to suppress the inter- 
 mediaries, and to transfer the conference to Wilna. His 
 Majesty has, in consequence, authorized me, sir, to treat 
 directly with you, and if you will come to this town I 
 dare hope that, with the desire which animates us both 
 to conciliate such important interests, we will immedi- 
 ately be enabled to remove all the difiliculties which un- 
 til now have appeared to impede the progress of the ne- 
 gotiation. I have apprised the Duke of Dalberg that his 
 mission was thus terminated, and I have laid before his 
 Majesty the actual state of the negotiation, to the end 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 27 1 
 
 that when you arrive at Wilna, the different questions 
 being already illustrated, either by your judicious obser- 
 vations, or by the instructions I shall have received, we 
 may, sir, conclude an arrangement so desirable, and so 
 conformable to the mutually amicable views of our two 
 Governments." 
 Accept, sir, etc. 
 
 The Duke of Bassano. 
 
 To this note Mr. Barlow replied : 
 
 Paris, October 25, 18 12. 
 " Sir : — In consequence of the letter you did me the 
 honor to write me on the nth of this month, I accept 
 your invitation, and leave Paris to-morrow for Wilna, 
 where I hope to arrive in fifteen or eighteen days from 
 this date. The negotiation on which you have done me 
 the honor to invite me at Wilna is so completely prepared 
 in all its parts between the Duke of Dalberg and myself, 
 and, as I understand, sent on to you for your approbation 
 about the i8th of the present month, that I am per- 
 suaded, if it could have arrived before the date of your 
 letter, the necessity of this meeting would not have ex- 
 isted, as I am confident his Majesty would have found 
 the project reasonable and acceptable in all its parts, and 
 would have ordered that minister to conclude and sign 
 both the treaty of commerce, and the convention of in- 
 demnities." 
 
 Joel Barlow. 
 
 A year of anxious, unwearied labor had been spent in 
 bringing the treaty thus far : now in the little Polish 
 town where Napoleon was directing the march of his le- 
 gions into Russia the most gratifying success seemed 
 awaiting him. He at once began preparations for the 
 journey; but before detailing its hardships and tragic 
 ending, it is proper to return and fill out the bare outlines 
 of the poet's third residence in Paris with a few touches 
 of color. On arriving in the city, after seven years' ab- 
 
2/2 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 sence, they found their old house in the Rue de Vaugi- 
 rard empty, and at once installed themselves in it. Old 
 friends were there to welcome them, and their old ser- 
 vants hastened to tender their fealty. 
 
 " We have been here about a week," Mr. Barlow wrote 
 Alexander Wolcott, Sept. 26th, ''and the reception we 
 have had from our old friends is affectionate and affect- 
 ing. Our ancient servants are pressing around us with 
 tears of gratitude and attachment, and even the old 
 coach horses, which we gave to a friend in the country on 
 condition that they should be kept on his farm as long 
 as they should live, would certainly try to come back to 
 us if they were not dead. But they, with some other of 
 our friends, have died of old age." And again, in No- 
 vember, a letter containing this passage : " We have 
 moved into our comfortable, airy, handsome, well-situated 
 house, which is really one of the best in Paris. The gar- 
 den, planted with my own hand, is doubly interesting 
 from our absence of seven years, especially as the trees 
 and shrubs are grown up into thickets. Our old French 
 friends, too, are very affectionate, and we find more of 
 them than we expected. How much more cordial and 
 friendly my reception is here than it was in any part of 
 our own country (except at your house and one or two 
 others)." In a letter to Stephen Barlow he introduces 
 an old acquaintance : " Tom is as happy as a prince. He 
 is sucking the milk and honey from three colleges, all at 
 once. He takes chemistry from one, natural philosophy 
 from another, and astronomy from a third ; and I had like 
 to have forgotten, that at the fourth — that is, where he 
 lives — he takes his mathematics, his fencing, dancing, 
 drawing, and French language. All this business is done 
 at once, while he grows fat under it, and comes to dine 
 with us every Sunday." The poets, philosophers, and 
 other men of ideas, also soon found their way back to the 
 Rue Vaugirard. Helen Marie Williams and her coterie of 
 literary people were still there to welcome him. Volney, 
 
JOEL BARLOW. '273 
 
 from his quiet retreat at Saville, often invited him out to 
 dine, and as often visited him in town. Letters from 
 various members of the family show that they mingled 
 much in the gay society of the capital during this period. 
 " Our girls will write you about courts, and fashions, and 
 finery," wrote the poet to Mrs. Madison, soon after his 
 arrival. " My tour of duty is over. I am now initiated 
 in the mysteries." Mrs. Barlow wrote to the same lady, 
 with whom she regularly corresponded while abroad : 
 '' Mr. Brooks has given us many little (as well as great) 
 anecdotes respecting Washington and our friends there. 
 We had an account of the French and English ministers' 
 balls, with all the little etcs., the sleighing parties and the 
 general gayety which reigned there." In the same letter 
 she invites Mrs. Washington, Mrs. Madison's sister, to 
 spend the next winter with them in Paris. " I want to 
 send you some pretty things in embroidery which are 
 the high style here," she continues ; " gold and silver with 
 silk done on mull. Mr. Lee has sent you so much of 
 every kind of dress, and it is so difficult to send to the 
 port, and then to get any one to take charge of valuable 
 things, that I shall send nothing." Poor lady ! something 
 far different from visits, dress, and pretty things the 
 coming winter was to bring her. Through the bright 
 days of October the ambassador was employed, as we 
 have seen, in preparing for the journey into the Polish 
 wastes. It was to be performed in his own carriage, and 
 Thomas Barlow was to accompany him as his secretary 
 and travelling companion. " His journey will be long 
 and cold, 650 leagues, half the way through a country of 
 bad roads and almost destitute of everything," wrote Mrs. 
 Barlow to Mrs. Madison a few days after his departure. 
 "He set off, however," she acjds, "with great courage 
 and high-raised expectations (which he thought well 
 founded) of succeeding to his wish, and to the satisfac- 
 tion of our Government." It appears, from letters writ- 
 ten by Thomas Barlow, that the course of the travellers 
 18 
 
274 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 was through the provinces of Champaign, Lorraine, and 
 the old ^principality of Massau to Frankfort-on-the. 
 Main, where they arrived Oct. 30th. They reached Ber- 
 lin Nov. 5th, having passed directly over the battle-field 
 of Jena, where, six years before, Napoleon had put an 
 end to the power of the Prussian monarchy. 
 
 "A monument," the letter writer observes, " is erected 
 on the spot where the Duke of Brunswick was mortally ^ 
 wounded." They arrived at Koenigsberg on Nov. nth, 
 after *' riding all day along the banks of the Baltic." 
 " Uncle is perfectly well," the secretary adds, " and 
 though we have rode for the greater part of the time 
 since we left Paris, day and night, I believe neither of 
 us are more fatigued than when we first stepped into the 
 carriage. There has been scarcely a day without rain 
 since that time, which has made the roads very bad, and 
 the nights dark and unpleasant. The weather has been 
 very moderate, and we have had no ice or frost but once 
 — the night after we left Frankfort. But they tell us 
 here they have had no frost this season, which is very 
 remarkable." Mr. Barlow, in a letter to Miss Baldwin 
 from Koenigsberg, dated Nov. 12th, gives a more pictur- 
 esque account of the journey. From its importance we 
 insert it entire : " I know of no good reason why I should 
 not write you a letter unless I promised to do it, and no 
 great man ought to keep his word. But I will break 
 over this rule, because no man can be very great in the 
 view of his intimate friends, who see his weaknesses. It is 
 better in his own house to be good than great. If it had 
 not been for my uncommon health and spirits this would 
 have been a dreary journey. My patriotism created a 
 great anxiety to get on fast, and that anxiety gave out a 
 constant supply of animal spirits, which, when tempered 
 with a due care of the organic frame of the man, is a 
 great contributor to his health. Thus you see the love 
 of country has some substantial benefits — when it con- 
 tributes to the health and comfort of the individual. 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 2/5 
 
 These roads have probably never been so cut up since 
 the wars of Wittikind and Charlemagne,* and you could 
 not make a set of darker nights, or call out of heaven 
 With all your prayers a more unceasing succession of 
 rain. Eight of these nights we have been on the road, 
 four in succession at one time, and three at another. 
 Three other nights we stopped after midnight, and were 
 going again as soon as day broke. The worst of it was, 
 that the universality and great preponderance of the mud 
 prevented me from getting out of the carriage to walk 
 up hill or down hill. Even the inside of the post-houses, 
 where I got myself hoisted in once a day to eat my 
 boiled milk, was often too muddy for my nice, clean, 
 boots, whose habitual position on the long wool of my 
 sheepskin on the floor of the carriage rendered it highly 
 proper that they should be kept clean. Thus my posi- 
 tion within my nice, strong, comfortable carriage (not a 
 pin's head of which has started to this day, over these 
 eleven hundred miles of racking, rending, slumping, 
 slouching, rocks and mud) was monotonous but toler- 
 able. Tom was all the while sucking in ideas like a calf ; 
 his soul seemed to fatten. I have given him a great 
 many lessons on life and manners, history and politics, 
 science and literature. Among the rest I am teaching 
 him the German language, which he shall have well 
 before he gets back ; in return, he has read to me the 
 whole of Robertson's ' Charles the Fifth/ from beginning 
 to end : and from here to Wilna I believe he must read 
 the same book backwards, from end to beginning, for we 
 have little else to read, except the ' Columbiad 'and 'Iliad/ 
 and those are too sacred to be mangled and chopped up 
 by unhallowed lips and untuneful tones of voice. I 
 hope Tom has given you and sister some account of the 
 instructive part of our travels, such as tombs, temples, 
 
 * Napoleon's Russian army of invasion had passed over them a short 
 time before. 
 
2/6 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 and monuments, especially those moving monuments of 
 the wisdom of war — the hundreds of wagon loads of in- 
 valid soldiers returning from Russia, covered with glory, 
 rags, and mud." Nov. 20th, Thomas Barlow wrote 
 from Wilna : "We arrived on the i8th, three weeks 
 from Paris. ... I wrote you from Koenigsberg that we 
 had had no cold weather, but the evening after, the 
 weather suddenly changed, and next morning when we 
 started the ground was frozen hard enough to bear our 
 carriage. The cold continued very severe for several 
 days, and froze over all the rivers ; but it is now moder- 
 ated, and we have had a little snow. The first day 
 after the frost the roads were very rough, but soon be- 
 came smoother on account of the great number of 
 wagons passing to and from the army, and have now 
 become much better than before the cold weather. . . . 
 Our road, after leaving Koenigsberg, ran along the 
 river Praegel, which we crossed four or five times. We 
 passed through Gambiner, a place where the Emperor 
 stayed a day or two and issued several orders. Soon 
 after leaving this place we came into Poland, that part 
 which belongs to the King of Saxony, and here we begin 
 to perceive a difference in the appearance and manners 
 of the people. They generally live in log huts, and 
 have the appearance of the greatest poverty; but the 
 scarcity of provisions on the way was not as great as we 
 expected, as we found everything necessary to eat and 
 drink. So far, we have always found beds where we have 
 stayed, but they now begin to be unfashionable, so we 
 are obliged to make our beds of straw, when we are so 
 lucky as to find it. We crossed the Niemen on the 
 morning of the 17th at Kowno. We arrived on the 
 bridge in the night, and found the gates shut, so we were 
 obliged to sleep irk our carriage on the bridge. This 
 bridge is new, built of wood, and has been finished but 
 two weeks. Kowno is the first town we came to in Rus- 
 sia, or what belonged to Russia before the present war. 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 277 
 
 It is full of soldiers, and, besides those stationed there, we 
 met a great number of sick and wounded men retreating 
 from the army. After crossing the river, from Kowno to 
 Wilna, the country is everywhere devastated and many 
 of the houses destroyed. The people have the appear- 
 ance of the greatest poverty and distress, for their log 
 huts are so open as to expose them to the snow and rain. 
 The country is not cultivated, and part is covered with 
 fir trees and pines. The horses are as much to be pitied 
 as the people, for their appearance is much worse, and 
 we saw hundreds lying dead in the roads. As we 
 approached Wilna we saw the road, sometimes a mile in 
 length, crowded with wagons loaded with clothing and 
 provisions for the army. As we came near the entrance 
 to the town the crowd became still greater, and after 
 entering the gate, the streets were so crowded with 
 wagons loaded with baggage, together with sick and 
 wounded soldiers, that we were an hour or two getting 
 to the place where we lodge. . . , Wilna contains about 
 37,000 inhabitants, and some parts are well built, but it 
 is scarcely possible to get the conveniences of life. The 
 Emperor is expected here in a few days, and it is prob- 
 able that this will be the headquarters during the 
 winter." 
 
 On the 22d he writes again: "The Poles appear to 
 be a very gay and lively people, but have no idea how to 
 live, nor are the log huts they live in much better than 
 those of our Western savages. They generally wear 
 their hair and beard long, dress in sheepskins, and 
 have a kind of fur cap which is difficult to describe. 
 .... Kowno is a considerable town, but the inhabit- 
 ants appear very poor and miserable, and together 
 with the sick and wounded soldiers, with which the town 
 is filled, present awretched sight. This, however, was 
 but the beginning of the scene, for after this we saw 
 such sights of misery and distress that even the de- 
 scription of it would sicken you. The country is every- 
 
278 LIP^ ^^^ LETTERS OF 
 
 where devastated, many of the houses burned, others half 
 unroofed, and the miserable inhabitants left exposed to 
 the snow and rain : but this was nothing when we looked 
 at the scenes the sick, dying, and dead soldiers presented 
 on the way. Every few rods we found dead horses in 
 the road, and some just dropped down and dying. To 
 see poor soldiers, half naked, crawling into houses, and 
 asking for a shelter to die under, that they may not be 
 left in the street, is a shocking sight, but is Avhat hap- 
 pens every day on the road, and, I am told, even in this 
 town. I never knew what misery and distress was 
 before. . . . You know, I suppose, that the Emperor 
 has evacuated Moscow, and is on his way to Wilna. 
 The Russians have an army on each side of him, and are 
 trying to cut off his retreat, though it is thought he will 
 drive them back ; but at present all communication be- 
 tween him and this place is cut off." 
 
 Nov. 29th he continues the narrative: "We are in a 
 hotel which has been reserved for foreign ministers, and 
 where several are lodged. The Danish minister, who is 
 a very pleasant man, is on the same floor with us, and 
 we eat at the same table. Wilna is a much larger and 
 finer town than I expected. The houses are mostly 
 built of stone, and some of the churches are very fine. 
 The town is situated in a valley, and just out of the 
 gates, in the faubourgs, runs the Wilia, a small, rapid 
 river, which furnishes excellent fish. The hills on every 
 side are very high, and some are crowned, the ruins of 
 old towers or fortifications presenting a scene truly 
 romantic. From the tops of some of these hills are the 
 finest prospects I ever saw, presenting a view of the 
 whole city and all the neighboring country. . . . Yester- 
 day a courier arrived here from the Emperor, which is 
 the first that has passed for about two weeks. We have 
 news that he has had a skirmish with the Russians, and 
 drove them back a little ; but we have not the particu- 
 lars, though it is supposed that he has opened his way so 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 27 Q 
 
 that he may arrive here in the course of the week. The 
 town is already filled with troops, so I cannot see what 
 they will do for lodging when the headquarters are 
 established. The crowd is now so great that I can 
 scarcely walk through the streets without being run 
 over, but it must be much greater in a few days. This 
 is said to be the most destructive war known in modern 
 times, and I could give you some accounts which would 
 confirm this. It is not very cold here, but everything is 
 covered with snow, and looks like a Connecticut winter. 
 The roads, I believe, are now very good, and I hope that 
 before they become bad again we shall be ready to 
 return." 
 
 Six days longer the ambassador lingered, hoping that 
 his restless, uncertain antagonist might retreat on Wilna 
 and make that his depot for the winter, in which case 
 there would be a chance of saving the treaty. But on 
 the 4th of December a weary, half-frozen courier dashed 
 into the town with despatches for Bassano. Napoleon 
 was at length heard from. The bloody battle of Beresina 
 had been fought, the French defeated, the army not in 
 retreat but in disgraceful flight, and the Emperor riding 
 post-haste for France. He had retired from the battle- 
 field in a square battalion, which defended him from the 
 attacks of the Cossacks, who dashed upon it repeatedly, 
 crying out, " King of France, surrender yourself." Get- 
 ting out of the immediate vortex he had cowardly aban- 
 doned his army, and now, in a close carriage on sleigh 
 runners, and under an assumed name, was hastening on 
 to Paris. The courier bore an order to the Duke to meet 
 him for consultation two leagues to the eastward of 
 Wilna. Manifestly the treaty was lost : furthermore, it 
 was a matter of the gravest importance to leave the 
 town "before the flying army with its savage pursuers 
 should reach it, and involve all in their ruin. Prepara- 
 tions were therefore made for immediate departure ; 
 but for details of the retreat we must again have recourse 
 
28o L^P^ ^^^ LETTERS OF 
 
 to our young chronicler. Under date of December 13th, 
 1812, he writes his aunt: "The distance on the road that 
 
 we were obliged to take is about 380 miles The 
 
 Emperor arrived at Wilna on the 6th, the day after, we 
 left. He is now on his way to Paris, where, I suppose, 
 he will arrive before this letter, as he travels night and 
 day without guards. He passed us on the road, and 
 stayed at Warsaw but four hours. It is well we stayed 
 no longer at Wilna, for the report is that the Russians 
 are already there, and the road between here and that 
 place is no longer safe. The second night after we left 
 Wilna was the coldest I ever knew, and we rode all 
 night without getting out of the carriage ; Fahrenheit's 
 thermometer stood at 13° or 14° below zero, or 45 or 46 
 below freezing point. I never felt air that stung like this : 
 it continued so for two days, but it is now more moder- 
 ate. The roads are now very good, as they are covered 
 with snow and worn smooth. We crossed the Niemen, 
 this time at Grodno, about 150 miles this side of Wilna, 
 and as the bridge had been broken down we were 
 obliged to cross on the ice." 
 
 He continues, on the i/th, in a letter to Miss Clara: 
 " I suppose you already know that we have arrived at 
 Warsaw, and I can now tell you when we shall leave it 
 for Paris : that will be to-morrow morning at 4 o'clock. 
 We shall go by the way of Cracow, Vienna, and Munich. 
 It is a little farther than the northern route by Dresden, 
 but the roads are much better, and the country more 
 interesting, if, indeed, there is anything interesting in a 
 temperature of 12° or 14° below zero, the points that my 
 thermometer has marked for many days. I think we 
 shall risk losing our noses if we put them out of the car- 
 riage to look at the country as we pass. M. Petry, who 
 is now here, will accompany us. . . . But instead of tell- 
 ing you what we are going to see 1 had better tell you 
 what we have seen. ... I have found by experience 
 that it is best, when travelling in Poland, to have a light 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 28 1 
 
 carriage, for their post-horses, particularly in Lithuania, 
 are not much larger than rats, so it requires a consider- 
 able number of them to draw a carriage. To verify this 
 I will tell you what happened to us and the Danish min- 
 ister the day we left Wilna. We were to start together at 
 9 o'clock in the morning, and ordered horses for that 
 hour, eight for his carriage and six for ours, as his was 
 the heaviest. The Danish minister started, and in a few 
 minutes we tried to follow him, but our six horses could 
 not draw us out of the town : they fell down in the 
 streets, and our postilion ran off. We were till 3 o'clock 
 in the streets of Wilna before we could procure horses 
 strong enough to draw the carriage. At length the gov- 
 ernor of the town ordered 6 good horses for us from the 
 artillery, and then we went on very well. At 5 o'clock, 
 about 10 miles from Wilna, we found the Danish min- 
 ister at the foot of a small hill, with 13 horses to his car- 
 riage, and could get no farther. We lent him 3 more, 
 which made 16. He then managed to get up the hill, 
 and as there was no more rising ground before com- 
 ing to the next post he got along very well. . . . Prince 
 Poniotowski is now here, wounded. He first commanded 
 74,000 men, the whole of the Polish army, of which it is 
 said about 1000 are alive. We see many colonels return 
 without a man of their regiments left. The late battles 
 near the Beresina have been very bloody: nothing to 
 equal them in modern wars. They have lost nearly all 
 of their horses, and most of them have been eaten by the 
 army. The soldiers were very glad to find dead horses, 
 those which had perhaps starved to death, that they 
 might eat them. The officers fared no better. I heard 
 an officer say that he had seen soldiers cut pieces out of 
 live horses to eat, and without killing them." 
 
 On the 1 8th of December the party left Warsaw in 
 their close carriage. It consisted of Mr. Barlow, Thomas, 
 the secretary, and M. Petry, an official of the French 
 Government, and an old friend of the former in Paris. 
 
282 LI^'^ ^^^ LETTERS OF 
 
 The weather continued as cold, the privations of the 
 journey quite as severe. The buoyant hope and " patri- 
 otism " which had borne the ambassador up on his out- 
 ward journey had given place to the bitterness of de- 
 feat : before the first stage of the journey was past it 
 became evident to his companions that he was seriously 
 ill. At Zarnowiec,* a little village on the farther side of 
 Cracow, his disorder had so far developed that it was 
 found necessary to stop there and call in medical assist- 
 ance ; but it was too late ; the disease rapidly devel- 
 oped into acute inflammation of the lungs, and in five 
 days resulted in his death. He died December 24, 1S12. 
 Very full and affecting particulars of the event are given 
 in the following letter, written from Paris by Miss Clara 
 Baldwin to Mrs. President Madison, on behalf of her sis- 
 ter. 
 
 Paris, \Q>th February, 181 3. 
 " Death has entered our happy family and torn from it 
 its head, its support, its all, and left us a prey to sorrow 
 and unavailing regret. My poor sister is overwhelmed 
 M'ith anguish, and the melancholy task of writing to 
 those friends who best knew and loved the dear departed 
 devolves ow me ; and after our family, you, our much 
 esteemed friend, will most sensibly feel this cruel be- 
 reavement. The death of Mr. Barlow is attended with 
 almost every circumstance of aggravation which can be 
 combined. He undertook the journey to Wilna with a 
 reluctance he could not conquer ; before he yielded he 
 was assailed by all the great men here with every argu- 
 ment likely to shake his firmness ; and con\'inced at last 
 that his duty to his country required it, and that his Gov- 
 ernment Avould blame him if he did not go, he could say 
 no more. Patriotism alone could have induced him to 
 have undertaken at that season such a long, fatiguing 
 journey, over the worst roads ever travelled, into those 
 
 * The name is variously spelled. The above is that given by Thomas 
 Barlow in his letter. 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 283 
 
 frozen, inhospitable regions devastated by war, where the 
 common necessaries of life were difficult to procure, and 
 a little clean straw for a bed, without any covering, a 
 luxury every traveller was not so fortunate as to procure. 
 All hardships, inconveniences, and deprivations he disre- 
 garded and travelled with astonishing rapidity, never 
 stopping night or day unless storms and darkness ren- 
 dered it dangerous to proceed. The unexpected, un- 
 fortunate turn of affairs in the north rendered his jour- 
 ney as useless to his country as it was fatal to himself- 
 and at the very moment, too, when complete success 
 seemed ready to crown his labors. 
 
 " His sufferings after he left Wilna, from the intense 
 cold, vast quantity of snow, and for want even of a 
 hovel to shelter under at night, obliged to travel con- 
 stantly and eat during that time frozen bread and drink 
 frozen wine, — the limits of a letter will not allow me to 
 describe, and few constitutions, however robust, could 
 bear with impunity. Illness compelled him to stop at 
 Zarnowitch, near Cracow, in Poland, and here, for the first 
 time from his leaving Warsaw, he found a good house, 
 good bed, a kind, attentive family, and every comfort 
 which his situation demanded, for want of which he had 
 been obliged to travel when he was unable : but it was 
 too late ; the disorder proved an inflammation on the 
 lungs, which had been long time seated, and after a few 
 days' suffering terminated his useful life. It was the wish 
 and intention of Thomas Barlow, who was with him, to 
 have had the body embalmed and transported to Amer- 
 ica by Dantzic, or to bring it away with him ; but fate 
 seemed to have decreed otherwise. The Cossacks were 
 in possession of the neighboring country, which they were 
 ravaging with fire and sword, sparing neither age, sex, 
 nor condition, and every moment he expected them, so 
 that his life would have been the sacrifice of his remain- 
 ing any longer, and the mountains of snow rendered it 
 impossible to bring away the body with him, as it was 
 
284 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 with the utmost danger and difficulty that he and his 
 servant escaped. 
 
 " This circumstance adds double poignancy to our 
 anguish, especially to my poor sister's : it harrows up her 
 soul to think his precious remains lie buried in such a 
 distant, savage land, and that in a few months there will 
 be an impassable distance between her and them. It 
 would be a melancholy consolation to her if they were de- 
 posited at Kalorama, or indeed in any part of the coun- 
 try he loved so well, and in whose service he expired. 
 I hope his countrymen will do justice to his worth and 
 his virtues, and that his memory will live forever. There 
 probably never was a death which created such an uni- 
 versal sensation, or one more lamented by all classes of 
 society, than Mr. Barlow's. He may justly be considered 
 as another of (Napoleon's) victims. From the conscious- 
 ness of this, and the desire of the Government to conceal 
 as much and as long as possible the disasters of this fatal 
 campaign, which has filled every family with mourning 
 and desolation, or from some political motive with re- 
 gard to England (which seems most probable), may be 
 imputed the extraordinary circumstance of Mr. B.'s 
 death not having been mentioned in any of the papers 
 here ; hence it is hardly known out of Paris, and even 
 many in it to whom notices have been sent, doubt it. 
 
 " The Americans all wear mourning, with the excep- 
 tion of W , and have sent an address to my sister, 
 
 signed by every one but him." 
 
 News of the death of her minister did not reach the 
 United States until the succeeding March. The Con- 
 necticut Courant (Hartford) announced the sa4 news in 
 its issue for March 9, 1813, as follows: "The schooner 
 Thetis has arrived at Philadelphia. Captain Bolton 
 has despatches for Government, announcing the death of 
 Mr. Barlow, our minister at the court of France. He died 
 on the road between Dresden and Paris of a fever brought 
 on by the fatigues of his journey to and from Wilna." 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 285 
 
 Mr. Madison, in his second inaugural, thus referred to 
 the deceased minister: '* The sudden death of the distin- 
 guished citizen who represented the United States in 
 France, without any special arrangements by him for 
 such a conclusion, has kept us without the expected se- 
 quel to his last communications: nor has the French 
 Government taken any measures for bringing the de- 
 pending negotiations to a conclusion through its repre- 
 sentative in the United States." 
 
 The Republican journals received the news of his 
 death with every expression of regret, and published for- 
 mal eulogiums on his life and character; the Federalists 
 merely announced the fact of his death. In France, the 
 poet's demise excited, perhaps, a more general feeling of 
 regret than in his own country. 
 
 On the receipt of the news in Paris, the Americans 
 resident there called a public meeting, at which resolu- 
 tions of sorrow at the untimely decease of the states- 
 man, as well as formal eulogiums on his talents and worth, 
 were passed. A letter of condolence was also voted 
 and sent to Mrs. Barlow, who all through the terrible 
 journey had been waiting and suffering in Paris, and 
 was now bearing as best she might the bitter sorrows of 
 widowhood. The letter of condolence is rather a tame 
 affair, but that of Mrs. Barlow in reply, for brevity, sim- 
 plicity, and a mournful eloquence, has rarely been ex- 
 celled. This is the letter : 
 
 " Gentlemen : — With sentiments of grateful acknowl- 
 edgment I receive the assurances of esteem and regard 
 which my resident countrymen in Paris bore my dear 
 departed husband. He left his peaceful retreat with 
 no other motive than a desire to be useful to his country. 
 To that ardent desire he sacrificed his life, and devoted 
 me to unceasing sorrow. Yet it will be most soothing to 
 my afflicted heart to know that my countrymen do him 
 justice, and will permit his memory to live in their re- 
 membrance. Ruth Barlow." 
 
286 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 His death was referred to in terms of sorrow and re- 
 gret by the leading French journals, and at the annual 
 meeting of the Society for the Encouragement of National 
 Industry, with which Barlow had been identified, held 
 in the succeeding March, the Duke de Nemours deliv- 
 ered a glowing eulogium on his life and character, which 
 was reported in full in the Paris Mercury for the i8tk 
 of April, 1813. The same year Oelsners published at 
 Paris a sketch of his life and writings in quarto form, ac- 
 companied by one canto of the " Columbiad," translated 
 into French heroic verse. If the reader is curious to 
 know what action the American republic took toward 
 perpetuating the memory of her martyred servant the 
 answer is — Nothing: she accepted his services, but left his 
 bones to moulder, unmarked, on the bleak Polish wastes 
 where he fell. Wifely love, however, supplied the omis- 
 sion and erected a monument above his grave, to which 
 a French savant contributed an elegant Latin epitaph, 
 and which his friend, Helen Marie Williams, dedicated 
 in these lines — 
 
 " When o'er the Polish desert's trackless way 
 Relentless Whiter rules with savage sway, 
 When the shrill polar storms, as wild they blow, 
 Seem to repeat some plaint of mortal woe, 
 Far in the cheerless space the traveller's eye 
 Shall this recording pillar long descry, 
 And give the sod a tear where Bailow lies — 
 He who was simply great and nobly wise. 
 Here, led by patriot zeal, he met his doom, 
 And found amid the frozen wastes a tomb. 
 Far from his native soil the poet fell. 
 Far from that western world he sang so well. 
 Nor she, so long beloved, nor she was nigh 
 To catch the dying look, the parting sigh ; 
 She who, the hopeless anguishto beguile. 
 In fond memorial rears this funeral pile. 
 Whose widowed bosom on Columbia's shore 
 Shall mourn the moments that return no more, 
 While bending o'er the wide Atlantic wave 
 Sad fancy hovers on the distant grave." 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 28/ 
 
 Late in the autumn of 1813 Mrs. Barlow and her 
 sister, accompanied by Thomas Barlow and the young 
 French lady he had married, returned to America, and 
 took up their residence at Kalorama. Here, in quiet 
 and seclusion, the bereaved lady spent the remaining 
 years of her eventful life, and died in 1818, greatly re- 
 vered for her amiable character and deeds of charity. 
 The old seat. of Kalorama still remains intact, although 
 the capital city in its onward march is fast approaching its 
 gates. In the south-west corner of the grounds, on the 
 banks of a little rivulet shaded by fine old forest trees, 
 stands the ruinous brick tomb in which her remains, with 
 those of the Senator and the Judge, her brothers, and 
 others of her family repose. Two marble slabs, set into 
 the brickwork on either side of the door, bear these in- 
 scriptions : 
 
 " Sacred to the repose of the dead and the meditation of 
 
 the living. 
 Joel Barlow. 
 Patriot, Poet, Statesman, and Philosopher, lies buried in 
 Zarniwica, in Poland, where he died 24th December, 
 1812, ^t. 58 years and 9 months. 
 
 Ruth Baldwin Barlow, 
 His wife, died 29th May, 1818, M\.. 62 years. 
 
 Abraham Baldwin, 
 
 Her brother, died a Senator in Congress from Georgia, 
 
 4th March, 1807, Mt. 52 years. 
 
 'His memory needs no marble ; 
 His country is his monument, 
 Her Constitution his greatest work.' 
 
 George Bomford, 
 
 Colonel of the Ordnance of the United States, died 25th 
 
 March, 1848, yEt. 66 years. 
 
 Henry Baldwin Bomford, 
 His son, Sept. 9th. 1845. 
 
288 l^p^ ^^d letters of 
 
 Henry Baldwin, 
 Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United 
 States, died April 21st, 1844, ^t. 64 years." * 
 
 *The writer visited Kalorama in February, 1881. He is informed that the 
 tomb has since been removed. 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 289 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 PERSONAL. 
 
 The critic, after a careful analysis of the character of 
 Joel Barlow, would probably rank him, first, as philan- 
 thropist ; second, as statesman ; third, as philosopher; and 
 fourth, as poet. His philanthropy crops out in every line 
 of his writings, in every act of his life. His letters to 
 Washington, to the citizens of the United States, to 
 Monroe, while abroad on the French mission, and his 
 Fourth of July oration at Washington, give evidence of 
 broad and liberal statesmanship. His philosophical turn 
 was most apparent in his private letters and intercourse 
 with familiar friends. As a poet he was certainly re- 
 spectable. His "Hasty-Pudding" would be an addition 
 to any literature, and in all his poems are passages that 
 show the inspiration of the true poet. It is as the pio- 
 neer of American poetry, however, that he is worthy of 
 the highest honor. He was not a voluminous writer, the 
 following being, it is believed, a complete list of his pub- 
 lished works : 
 
 ^ I. " The Prospect of Peace," a political composition, de- 
 livered in Yale College at the examination of the candi- 
 dates for the degree of Bachelor of Arts, July 23, 1778. 
 i2mo, pp. 12. New Haven, 1778. 
 
 H. '' Elegy on the late Titus Hosmer." 8vo. Hart- 
 ford, 1780. 
 
 HI. " A Poem spoken at Yale College," 1781. 
 > IV. Imitation of the Psalms of David, translated by 
 Dr. Isaac Watts, corrected and enlarged by Joel Bariow. 
 To which is added a collection of hymns. The whole 
 applied to the state of the Christian Church and religion 
 19 
 
2Q0 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 in general. i2mo, pp. 384. Index and tables. Glasgow, 
 1786. 
 
 V. " An Oration delivered at the North Church, Hart- 
 ford, at the meeting of the Connecticut Society of the 
 Cincinnati, July 4, 1787, in commemoration of the Inde- 
 pendence of the United States." Quarto, pp. 20. Hart- 
 ford, 1787. 
 
 VI. " The Vision of Columbus," a poem in nine books, 
 i2mo, pp. 264. London, 1787. 
 
 VII. "A Letter to the National Convention of France 
 on the defence of the Constitution of 1791, and the ex- 
 tent of the amendment which ought to be made." 8vo, 
 pp. 70. London, 1792. 
 
 VIII. " Advice to the Privileged Orders in the several 
 States of Europe. Resulting from the necessity and pro- 
 priety of a general revolution in the principles of Gov- 
 ernments." i2mo, pp. 128 and 88. London, 1792. 
 
 IX. "The Conspiracy of Kings, a poem addressed to 
 the inhabitants of Europe from another quarter of the 
 Globe." 4to, pp. 20. London, 1792. 
 
 X. Preface and Notes to the fifth edition of Trumbull's 
 " McFingall." London, 1792. 
 
 XI. " The Anarchiad," a satirical, political poem writ- 
 ten by Barlow, Trumbull, Alsop, Humphreys, and Hop- 
 kins ; first published in a New Haven newspaper from 
 1786 to 1793. 
 
 XII. "A Letter addressed to the people of Piedmont 
 on the advantages of the French Revolution, and the 
 necessity of adopting its principles in Italy. Translated 
 from the French by the author." i2mo, pp. 45. New 
 York, 1793. 
 
 XIII. "■ Letter from Paris to the citizens of the United 
 States on the subject of the fallacy heretofore pursued 
 by their Government relative to the commercial inter- 
 course with England and France." 8vo, pp. 100. Lon- 
 don, 1800. 
 
 XIV. ''View of the Public Debt, Receipts and Expen- 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 
 
 291 
 
 A- 
 
 ditures of the United States." 8vo, pp. 6"]. London, 
 1800. 
 
 XV. Second Letter to his fellow-citizens of the United 
 States on certain political measures proposed to their 
 consideration, 8vo, pp. 40. New York, 1801. 
 
 XVL " The Columbiad," a poem. 4to, pp. 470. Por- 
 trait and ten splendid steel plates. Philadelphia, 1807. 
 The same with an index. Royal 8vo. London, 1809. . 
 
 XVn. Letter to Henry Gregoire, Count of Capri and 
 Member of the Institute of France, in reply to his let- 
 ter on the " Columbiad." 8vo, pp. 14. Washington, 
 1802. 
 
 XVIIL " The Hasty-Pudding," a poem in three can- 
 tos, written in Chambery, in Savoy, January, 1793. 8vo, 
 pp. 22. 
 
 XIX. The excellency of the British Constitution, etc., 
 consisting of certain extracts from the writings of Joel 
 Barlow, 8vo, pp. 8. London (no date). 
 
 XX. " Ruins of Empire," translated from the French 
 of Volney. 
 
 XXI. Proposition for a National Academy.* 
 
 " In private life," says one of his contemporaries, " Mr. 
 Barlow was highly esteemed for his amiable temperament 
 and many social excellences. His manners were gener- 
 ally grave and dignified, and he possessed but little facil- 
 ity for general conversation: but with his intimate friends 
 he was easy and familiar, and upon topics which deeply 
 interested him he conversed with much animation." 
 Another writer thus refers to his domestic relations : 
 
 " The affection of Mr. Barlow for his lovely wife was 
 unusually strong, and on her part it was fully recipro- 
 cated. She cheerfully in early life cast in her lot with 
 his ' for better or for worse '—and sometimes the worse, 
 so far as their pecuniary prospects were concerned, 
 seemed to be in the ascendant. In their darkest days — 
 
 * Dates as given do not in all cases refer to the first edition. 
 
292 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 and some of them were very dark — Barlow ever found 
 light and encouragement at home in the smiles, sym- 
 pathy, and counsel of his prudent, faithful wife. No 
 matter how black and portentous the cloud that brooded 
 over them might be, she always contrived to give it a 
 silver lining, and his subsequent success in life he always 
 attributed more to her influence over him than to any- 
 thing else." The above was written without knowledge 
 of the letters to his wife which have been spread, many 
 of them, before the reader. In point of fact the mutual 
 love, trust, and confidence between the happily mated 
 pair has not been strongly enough stated. " Never did 
 two souls love as we have loved," the husband wrote at 
 forty-five ; indeed, the fervor and devotion seen in their 
 letters has not been equalled since those of Abelard and 
 Heloise, and amid all the intrigue and gallantry of the 
 society in which a large part of their married life was 
 spent, not a doubt or a suspicion of one another's con- 
 stancy is apparent. They had a pretty custom of observ- 
 ing every anniversary of their wedding day ; and the 
 husband further commemorated it by anniversary verses. 
 Four only of these little tributes have been preserved, 
 but they will serve to show the character of the rest. 
 The first was written at Chambery, Jan. 26, 1793, and is 
 as follows : 
 
 " Blest Hymen, hail that memorable day 
 
 Whose twelfth return my constant bosom warms. 
 Whose morning rose with promised pleasure gay, 
 
 Whose faithful evening gave me Delia's charms — 
 Those charms that still, with ever new delight. 
 
 Assuage and feed the flames of young desire. 
 Whose magic powers can temper and unite 
 
 The husband's friendship with the lover's fire. 
 
 " Say, gentle god, if e'er thy torch before 
 Illum'ed the altar for so pure a pair ? 
 If e'er approached thy consecrated bower 
 A swain so grateful, so divine a fair ? 
 
 " Love, the delusive Power who often flies 
 Submissive souls that yield to thy decree, 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 203 
 
 Charmed with our lasting flame, approves the ties, 
 
 Folds his white wings, and shares his throne with thee. 
 
 " United Sovereigns ! hear my fervent prayer, 
 
 Extend through life your undivided sway, 
 
 In love and union bless your suppliant pair 
 
 With many a sweet return of this delightful day." 
 
 Another was inscribed, '' To my wife, on the anniver- 
 sary of our wedding, 26th January, 1800." 
 
 " If nineteen years of marriage ties 
 Can make me love so strong. 
 Pray tell how high the flame will rise 
 "When nourished twice as long. 
 
 " For nourishment, like what you give, 
 So sweet, so wholesome too, 
 Will bid the torch forever live, 
 And live alone for you." 
 
 In 1 801 
 
 " My foolish rhymes on wedding days 
 I thought would make you vain. 
 Or Love would sicken of his lays 
 And ask them back again. 
 
 " But little prospect now appears 
 That aught our souls can sever, 
 Since after Hymen's twenty years 
 I love you more than ever." 
 
 For 1802 
 
 " If seven long years of laboring life 
 Old Jacob served to gain a wife, 
 She doubtless must have been the best. 
 The rarest beauty of the East — 
 For sure the sire of Jews had strove 
 To have his pennyworth even in love. 
 • But thrice seven suns have passed the line 
 Since I have laboring been for mine. 
 And I'm expert at bargains too — 
 A Yankee blade, though not a Jew — 
 Which proves, unless I judge amiss, 
 My wife is thrice as good as his. 
 One thing I cei-fainly can tell, 
 I always love her thrice as well." 
 
294 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 However dignified and severe the poet may have ap- 
 peared to strangers, there was a rich fund of humor and 
 satire in his composition. Many passages in his letters 
 might be cited in proof of this. The following is one of 
 his epigrams, found among his papers : 
 
 " The ruffian of England with equal remorse 
 Cuts the head from his king and the tail from his horse ; 
 The Frenchman, more polished, lets nature prevail, 
 Lets the king wear his head and the horse wear his tail." 
 
 On another occasion, while returning from England, 
 Mrs. Barlow and Fulton being at Paris, he imagines the 
 following poetical dialogue "between Wife and Toot." 
 
 Wife. — Ah, Where's my dear Hubby, whom Fate, in its malice, 
 Snatched away long ago. 
 
 Toot. — Now, I'll bet he's at Calais. 
 
 Wife. — I'll bet he's not, though. But, Tooty, my dear. 
 Suppose him at Calais, when think he'll be here? 
 
 Toot. — Be here ! let us count. This is Thursday you say, 
 His passport and baggage will take the whole day .; 
 Then other vexations fall in by the hundred — 
 Surrounded, examined, palavered, and plundered. 
 But he'll set off to-morrow, and then, I divine, 
 We shall have him next Sunday between us to dine ; 
 For he'll whirl along rapidly through the relays, 
 Cheek by jowl with Machere, and in Parker's post-chaise. 
 
 Wife. — All that's but a fancy. I'll bet what you dare 
 He's not here on Sunday, nor is he now there. 
 
 Toot. — I'll hold you ten guineas, and sixpence to boot. 
 
 Wife. — Done. 
 
 Toot. — Done, here's my hand for't. 
 
 Hub. — I'll go halves with Toot. 
 
 Unlike some great men, he was punctilious In small 
 things. Neatness of apparel, attention to the ameni- 
 ties of life he insisted upon. Withal, he was a sturdy 
 Republican, with a deep hatred for everything tending to 
 degrade the man, and especially for the acquisition of 
 great estates with the consequent creation of a horde 
 of flunkeys and dependents. His interest in the indus- 
 trial progress of his country was very great ; new varieties 
 of seeds, improved agricultural implements, new meth- 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 2Q5 
 
 ods of farming, improved breeds of sheep and cattle, the 
 newest machines in manufacturing, were topics that en- 
 gaged much of his thought. In one of his first letters to 
 Mrs, Madison he sends a root of the sugar beet, then un- 
 known in this country. He was interested, with other 
 gentlemen in Redding, in a mill for the kiln-drying of 
 corn for export to the West Indies. He aided his 
 brother, Aaron Barlow, in building a foundry in Weston, 
 and he was interested with Alexander Wolcott in a large 
 manufactory of woollen, and perhaps cotton, goods in 
 Middletown, improved machinery for which he secured 
 while abroad. He was also engaged with the latter 
 gentleman in the importation of merino sheep into 
 America. 
 
 But no description, however skilfully done, can give 
 the reader so vivid an idea of his character as does a 
 letter written by him to his wife while he was absent in 
 Algiers, in mortal danger from the plague, and which 
 was to be delivered her only in case of his death. 
 
 It is a unique production in its way ; some of its ex- 
 pressions, coming from a youthful Benedict, might be 
 deemed extravagant, but after fifteen years of married 
 life were creditable to both husband and wife. The 
 following is the letter : 
 
 Algiers, Zth/uly, 1796. 
 To Mrs. Barlow in Paris : 
 
 " My dearest Life, and only Love : — I run no risk of 
 alarming your extreme sensibility by writing this letter, 
 since it is not my intention that it shall come into your 
 hands unless and until, through some other channel, you 
 shall have been informed of the event which it antici- 
 pates as possible. For our happy union to be dissolved 
 by death, is indeed at every moment possible ; but at this 
 time there is an uncommon degree of danger that you 
 may lose a life which I know you value more than you 
 do your own. I say I kfiow this, because I have long 
 been taught, from our perfect sympathy of affection, to 
 
296 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 judge your heart by mine ; and I can say solemnly and 
 truly, as far as I know myself, that I have no other value 
 for my own life than as a means of continuing a conjugal 
 union with the best of women — the wife of my soul — my 
 first, my last, my only love. 
 
 " I have told you in my current lette-rs that the plague 
 is raging with considerable violence in this place. I 
 must tell you in this, if it should be your fortune to see 
 it, that a pressing dutyof humanity requires me to expose 
 myself more than other considerations would justify, in 
 endeavoring to save as many of our unhappy citizens as 
 possible from falling a sacrifice, and to embark them at 
 this cruel moment for their country. 
 
 ''Though they are dying very fast, yet it is possible 
 my exertions may be the means of saving a number who 
 otherwise would perish. If this should be the case, and 
 / should fall instead of them, my tender, generous friend 
 must not upbraid my memory by ever thinking I did too 
 much. But she cannot help it — I know she cannot. 
 Yet, my dearest love, give me leave, since I must antici- 
 pate your affliction, to lay before you some reflections, 
 which would occur to you at last, but which ought to 
 strike your mind at first, to mingle with and assuage 
 your first emotions of grief. 
 
 *' You cannot judge, at your distance, of the risk I am 
 taking, nor of the necessity of taking it ; and I am con- 
 vinced that, were you in my place, you would do more 
 than I shall do ; for your kind, intrepid spirit has more 
 courage than mine, and always had. 
 
 " Another consideration: many of these persons have 
 wives at home as well as I, from whom they have been 
 much longer separated, under more affecting circum- 
 stances, — having been held in a merciless and despond- 
 ing slavery. If their wives love them as mine does me 
 (a thing I cannot believe, but have no right to deny) 
 ask these lately disconsolate, and now joyous, families 
 whether I have done too much ? 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 207 
 
 " Since I write this as if it were the last poor demon- 
 stration of my affection to my lovely friend, I have much 
 to say ; and it is with difficulty that I can steal an hour 
 from the fatigue of business to devote to the grateful, 
 painful task. But tell me (you cannot tell me), where 
 shall I begin ? where shall I end ? how shall I put an 
 eternal period to a correspondence which has given me 
 so much comfort ? with what expression of regret shall 
 I take leave of my happiness ? with what words of ten- 
 derness, of gratitude, of counsel, of consolation, shall I 
 pay you for what I am robbing you of, — the husband 
 whom you cherish, the friend who is all your own ? 
 
 " But I am giving vent to more weakness than I in- 
 tended. This, my dear, is a letter of business, not of love, 
 and I wonder I cannot enter upon it, and keep to my 
 subject. 
 
 '' Enclosed is my last will, made in conformity to the 
 one I left in the hands of Dr. Hopkins of Hartford, as 
 you may remember. The greater part of our property 
 now lying in Paris, I thought proper to renew this instru- 
 ment, that you might enter immediately upon the settle- 
 ment of your affairs, without waiting to send to America 
 for the other paper. 
 
 " You will likewise find enclosed a schedule of our prop- 
 erty, debts, and demands, with explanations, as nearly 
 just as I can make it from memory in the absence of my 
 papers. If the French Republic is consolidated and her 
 funds rise to par, or near it, as I believe they will do 
 soon after the war, the effects noted in this schedule may 
 amount to a capital of about $120,000, besides paying my 
 debts ; — which sum, vested in the American funds, or 
 mortgages equally solid, would produce something more 
 than $7000 a year perpetual income. 
 
 " If the French should fund their debt anew at one half 
 its nominal value (which is possible), so that the part of 
 your property now vested in those funds should diminish 
 in proportion, still, taking the whole together, it will not 
 
2q8 life and letters of 
 
 ( 
 
 make a difference of more than one third ; and the an- 
 nual income may still be near $5000. Events unfore- 
 seen by me may, however, reduce it considerably lower. 
 But whatever the value may be of what I leave, it is 
 bequeathed simply and wholly to you. 
 
 " Perhaps some of my relations may think it strange 
 that I have not mentioned them in this final disposition 
 of my effects, especially if they should prove to be as 
 considerable as I hope they may. But, my dearest love, 
 I will tell you my reasons, and I hope you will approve 
 them. For if I can excuse myself to you in a point in 
 which your generous delicacy would be more likely to 
 question the propriety of my conduct than in most 
 others, I am sure my arguments will be convincing to 
 those whose objections may arise from their interest. 
 
 '■'■First. In a view of justice and equity, whatever we 
 possess at this moment is a joint property between our- 
 selves, and ought to remain to the survivor. When you 
 gave me your blessed self you know I was destitute of 
 every other possession, as of every other enjoyment. I 
 was rich only in the fund of your affectionate economy, 
 and the sweet consolation of your society. In our vari- 
 ous struggles and disappointments, while trying to ob- 
 tain a moderate competency for the quiet enjoyment of 
 what we used to call the remainder of our lives, I have 
 often been rendered happy by misfortunes ; for the heav- 
 iest we have met with were turned into blessings by the 
 opportunities they gave me to discover new virtues in 
 you, who taught me how to bear them. 
 
 " I have often told you since the year 1791, the period 
 of our deepest difificulties (and even during that period), 
 that I had never been so easy and contented before. 
 And I have certainly been happier in you during the 
 latter years of our union than I was in the former 
 years ; — not that I have loved you more ardently, or 
 more exclusively, for that was impossible ; but I have 
 loved you better; my heart has been more full of your 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 299 
 
 excellence, and less agitated with objects of ambition, 
 which used to devour me too much. 
 
 ''I recall these things to your mind to convince you of 
 my full belief, that the acquisition of the competency 
 which we seem at last to have secured is owing more to 
 your energy than my own ; I mean the energy of your 
 virtues, which gave me consolation, and even happiness, 
 under circumstances wherein, if I had been alone, or with 
 a partner no better than myself, I should have sunk. 
 
 "■ These fruits of our joint exertions you expected to 
 enjoy with nie ; else I know you would not have wished 
 for them. But if by my death you are to be deprived of 
 the greater part of the comfort you expected, it would 
 surely be unjust and cruel to deprive you of the remain- 
 der, or any portion of it, by giving even a part of this 
 property to others. It is yours in the truest sense in 
 which property can be considered ; and I should have no 
 right, if I were disposed, to take it from you. 
 
 " Secondly. Of my relations, I have some thirty or forty, 
 nephews and nieces and their children, the greater part 
 of whom I have never seen, and from whom I have had 
 no news for seven or eight years ; among them there may 
 be some necessitous ones who would be proper objects 
 of particular legacies, yet it would be impossible for me 
 at this moment to know which they are. It was my in- 
 tention, and still is, if I live to go to America, to make 
 discriminations among them according to their wants, 
 and to give them such relief as might be in my power, 
 without waiting to do it by legacy. Now, my lovely 
 wife, if this task, and the means of performing it, should 
 devolve on you, I need not recommend it; our joint 
 liberality would have been less extensive, and less grate- 
 ful to the receivers, than yours will be alone. 
 
 " Your own relations in the same degrees of affinity are 
 few in number. I hope I need not tell you that in my 
 affections I know no difference between yours and mine. 
 I include them all in the same recommendation, without 
 
300 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 any other distinction than what may arise from their 
 wants and your abihty to do them good. 
 
 " If Colonel B and his wife (or either of them 
 
 being left by the other) should be in a situation other- 
 wise than comfortable, I wish my generous friend to rem- 
 edy it so far as may be in her power. We may have 
 had more powerful friends than they, but never any more 
 sincere. He has the most frank and loyal spirit in the 
 world ; and she is possessed of many amiable and almost 
 heroic virtues^ 
 
 " Mary , poor girl ! you know her worth, her vir- 
 tues, and her talents ; and I am sure you will not fail to 
 keep yourself informed of her circumstances. She has 
 friends, or at least had tKem, more able than you will be 
 to yield her assistance in case of need. But they may 
 forsake her for reasons which, to your enlightened and 
 \ benevolent mind, would rather be an additional induce- 
 ment to contribute to her happiness. 
 
 " Excuse me, my dearest life, for my being so particu- 
 lar on a subject which, considering to whom it is ad- 
 dressed, may appear superfluous ; but I do it rather to 
 show that I agree with you in these sentiments, than to 
 pretend that they originate on my part. With this view 
 I must pursue them a little farther. 
 
 " One of the principal gratifications in which I in- 
 tended, and still intend to indulge myself, if I should live 
 to enjoy with you the means of doing it, is to succor the 
 unfortunate of every description as far as possible, — to 
 encourage merit where I find it, — and try to create it 
 where it does not exist. This has long been a favorite 
 project with me ; but having been always destitute of the 
 means of carrying it into effect to any considerable 
 degree, I have not conversed with you upon it as much 
 as I wish I had. Though I can say nothing that will be 
 new to you on the pleasure of employing one's atten- 
 tion and resources in this way, yet some useful hints 
 might be given on the means of multiplying good ac- 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 3OI 
 
 tions from small resources ; for I would not confine 
 my pleasure to the simple duties of charity, in the beg- 
 gar's sense of the word. 
 
 "First. Much may be done by advising with poor per- 
 sons, — contriving for them, — and pointing out the ob- 
 jects on which they can employ their own industry. 
 
 " Secondly. Many persons and families, in a crisis of dif- 
 ficulty, might be extricated, and set up in the world, by 
 little loans of money, for which they might give good se- 
 curity, and refund within a year; and the same fund 
 might then go to relieve a second, and a third ; and thus 
 a dozen families might be set on the independent footing 
 of their own industry, in the course of a dozen years, by 
 the help of fifty dollars, and the owner lose nothing but 
 the interest. Some judgment would be necessary in 
 these operations, as well as care and attention^ in finding 
 out the proper objects. How many of these are to be 
 found in prisons, — thrown in and confined for years, for 
 small debts, which their industry and their liberty would 
 enable them to discharge in a short time ! 
 
 " Imprisonment for debt still exists as a stain upon our 
 country, as most others. France indeed has set us the 
 example of abolishing it ; but I am apprehensive she will 
 relapse from this, as I see she is inclined to do from many 
 other good things which she began in her magnanimous 
 struggle for the renovation of society. 
 
 " Thirdly. With your benevolence, your character, and 
 connections, you may put in motion a much greater fund 
 of charity than you will yourself possess. It is by search- 
 ing out the objects of distress, or misfortune, and recom- 
 mending them to their wealthy neighbors in such a man- 
 ner as to excite their attention. I have often remarked 
 to you (I forget whether you agree with me in it or not) 
 that there is more goodness at the bottom of the human 
 heart than the world will generally allow. Men are as 
 often hindered from doing a generous thing by an indo- 
 lencCj either of thought or action, as by a selfish principle. 
 
302 
 
 LIFE AND LETTERS OF 
 
 If they knew what the action was, when and where It was 
 to be done, and how to do it, their obstacles would be 
 overcome. In this manner one may bring the resources 
 of others into contribution, and with such a grace as to 
 obtain the thanks both of the givers and receivers. 
 
 ^'■Fourthly. The example of one beneficent person, like 
 yourself, in a neighborhood or a town, would go a great 
 way. It would doubtless be imitated by others, extend 
 far, and benefit thousands whom you might never hear of. 
 
 " I certainly hope to escape from this place, and return 
 to your beloved arms. No man has stronger induce- 
 ments to wish to live than I have. I have no quarrel 
 with the world ; it has used me as well as could be ex- 
 pected. I have valuable friends in every country where 
 I have put my foot, not excepting this abominable sink 
 of wickedness, pestilence, and folly, — the city of Algiers. 
 I have a pretty extensive and dear-bought knowledge of 
 mankind ; a most valuable collection of books ; a pure 
 and undivided taste for domestic tranquillity ; the social 
 intercourse of friends ; study ; and the exercise of charity. 
 I have a moderate but sufficient income ; perfect health ; 
 an unimpaired constitution ; and to give the relish to all 
 enjoyments, and smooth away the asperities that might 
 arise from unforeseen calamities, I have the wife that my 
 youth chose, and my advancing age has cherished, — the 
 pattern of excellence, — the example of every virtue, — 
 from whom all my joys have risen, in whom all my hopes 
 are centred. 
 
 " I will use every precaution for my safety, as well for 
 your sake as mine. But if you should see me no more, 
 my dearest friend, you will not forget I loved you. As 
 you have valued my love, and as you believe this letter 
 is written with an intention to promote your happiness 
 at a time when it will be forever out of my power to con- 
 tribute to it in any other way, I beg you will kindly 
 receive the last advice I can give you, with which I 
 am going to close our endearing intercourse. . . . Sub- 
 
JOEL BARLOW. 303 
 
 mitting with patience to a destiny that is unavoidable, 
 let your tenderness for me soon cease to agitate that 
 lovely bosom ; banish it to the house of darkness and 
 dust with the object that can no longer be benefited by 
 it, and transfer your affections to some worthy person 
 who shall supply my place in the relation I have borne 
 to you. It is for the living, not the dead, to be rendered 
 happy by the sweetness of your temper, the purity of 
 your heart, your exalted sentiments, your cultivated 
 spirit, your undivided love. Happy man of your choice ! 
 should he know and prize the treasure of such a wife ! 
 O treat her tenderly, my dear sir ; she is used to nothing 
 but kindness, unbounded love and confidence. She is all 
 that any reasonable man can desire. She is more than I 
 have merited, or perhaps than you can merit. My re- 
 signing her to your charge, though but the result of un- 
 controllable necessity, is done with a degree of cheer- 
 fulness, — a cheerfulness inspired by the hope that her 
 happiness will be the object of your care, and the long 
 continued fruit of your affection. 
 
 " Farewell, my wife ; and though I am not used to 
 subscribe my letters addressed to you, your familiarity 
 with my writing having always rendered it unnecessary, 
 yet it seems proper that the last characters which this 
 hand shall trace for your perusal should compose the 
 name of your most faithful, most affectionate, and most 
 
 grateful husband." 
 
 Joel Barlow. 
 
 Here ends our record of the lite of one who was a poet, 
 philosopher, patriot, and martyr. Singularly enough, we 
 believe the present volume to be the only work of a histori- 
 cal character in which the talents and public services of 
 Joel Barlow have received recognition. In the many and 
 bulky volumes devoted to American history he is almost 
 entirely ignored. 
 
 To this statement there is, however, one exception. 
 
204 ^^P^ ^^^ LETTERS OF JOEL BARLOW. 
 
 On page 399 of Vol. II. of McMaster's " History of the 
 People of the United States," we find this passage : 
 
 "This Barlow is memorable as the only one of our 
 countrymen who has been guilty of the folly of attempt- 
 ing to produce an American epic poem. But a better 
 title to immortality is the infamous part he bore in en- 
 ticing innocent Frenchmen to buy and settle the lands 
 of the Scioto Company on the Ohio. Towards Amer- 
 ica Barlow felt the same contempt which any man who 
 admires poetry must feel toward the scribbler who de- 
 filed the English language by writing the ' Columbiad ' ; 
 and, when he heard that John Adams was chosen Presi- 
 dent he poured out his thoughts on the position in a let- 
 ter to Abraham Baldwin, a brother-in-law and a Member 
 of Congress. The letter abounded in obscure passages, 
 but the one selected by the prosecutors of Lyon con- 
 tained an expression of surprise that the answer of the 
 House to the President's speech of April 5, 1797, had 
 not been an order to send him to a madhouse." 
 
 In his account of the founding of Gallipolis and the 
 wrongs of the French emigrants Mr. McMaster is equally 
 violent and unjust. To Barlow's biographer these at- 
 tacks did not seem worthy of notice, since their bitter- 
 ness, and evident animus destroyed their effect. They 
 are inserted here as curious instances of the survival in 
 our day of the campaign literature of 1 799-1 800, and in 
 proof of the proposition advanced in our preface, that it 
 is simply impossible for the historian of Federal proclivi- 
 ties and environment to do justice to the great leaders of 
 Republicanism in America. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Adams, John, on Barlow's letter, 
 
 i6i. 
 Advice to the Privileged Orders, 89. 
 Algiers, description of, 121. 
 Algerine piracies, 115. 
 Andre, Major, execution of, 35. 
 Anarchiad, the, 51. 
 
 B. 
 
 Barlow, Joel, birth and parentage, 
 1-3 ; early days, 4-7 ; graduates at 
 Yale College, 7-8 ; chaplain in 
 Continental army, 28 ; marriage, 
 30 ; writes the Vision of Columbus, 
 39 ; visits Philadelphia, 42 ; leaves 
 army and settles at Hartford, 46 ; 
 founds the American Mercury and 
 studies law, 46; admitted to bar 
 at Fairfield, 47 ; revises Dr. Watts' 
 version of Psalms, 48 ; and helps 
 with the Anarchiad, 51 ; publishes 
 the Vision of Columbus, 53 ; agent 
 abroad of the Scioto Land Com- 
 pany, 63 ; arrives in Europe, 68 ; 
 iDegins his mission in Paris, 68 ; re- 
 ceived by Jefferson, 70 ; sends a 
 company of emigrants to America, 
 70; failure of the Scioto Company, 
 72-3 ; diary in France, 73; in Eng- 
 land, 75; journey through France, 
 81-2 ; settles in Paris, life there, 
 85-8; removes to London and 
 writes Conspiracy of Kings and 
 Address to the Privileged Orders, 
 89 ; returns to Paris, 92 •, in Lon- 
 don again, 93 ; sets out to join La- 
 fayette at Metz, 94 ; fails, and re- 
 turns to London, 96 ; made citizen 
 of France, 97 ; goes to Savoy and 
 writes Hasty-Pudding, 98-9 ; the 
 poem, 99-108; returns- to Paris, 
 1 10 ; joined by his wife, 1 1 1 ; Amer- 
 ican correspondents, iii; Euro- 
 pean, 112; accepts mission to Al- 
 giers, 117; letters from, 1 19-148; 
 return to Paris, 151 ; translates Vol- 1 
 ney's " Ruins," 152 ; writes a letter | 
 
 to Washington, 1 56 ; comments on 
 it of John Adams and the Boston 
 Centinel, 161-3 ; Barlow's reply, 
 166; its effect, 174; aids Fulton 
 with the steamboat, 177-203; re- 
 turns to America, 204; reception, 
 204-8; advocates a National Uni- 
 versity, 208-9; publishes the Co- 
 lumbiad, 213 ; settles at Kalorama, 
 215; critics attack the Columbiad, 
 218; reply to Abbe Gregoire's strict- 
 ures on, 221 ; civic honors, 234 ; 
 estimate of Thomas Paine, 236; 
 Jefferson's letters to, 240 ; Noah 
 Webster's, 244 ; letters to his 
 nephew, Thomas Barlow, 252 ; ap- 
 pointed Ambassador to France, 
 256; instructions of Monroe, 258; 
 delays at court, 269 ; Napoleon ap- 
 points a conference at Wilna, 270 ; 
 Barlow sets out, 273 ; letters de- 
 scribing the journey, 274-7; arrives 
 at Wilna, 277 ; fails to meet the 
 Emperor, 279 ; return, sufferings, 
 and death by the way, 280-2 ; his 
 death, how received at home, 284 ; 
 in France, 286 ; bibliography and 
 personal details, 289. 
 
 Baldwin, Abraham, tutor, 4; chap- 
 lain, 22 ; urges chaplaincy on Bar- 
 low, 24; advises concerning the 
 poem, 25 ; and the chaplaincy, 28 ; 
 visits Barlow, 39 ; takes attorney's 
 oath, 45; senator, 63; death, 211. 
 
 Baldwin, Ruth, parentage, 5 ; en- 
 gaged to Joel Barlow, 6 ; Barlow's 
 letters to, 21 ; marriage, 30; joins 
 her husband in Paris, 92 ; letter 
 to Mrs. Dr. Dwight, 92-93 ; to Mrs. 
 Madison, 273 ; on her husband's 
 death, 285; Barlow's verses to, 
 292 ; death, 287. 
 
 Buckminster, Joseph, tutor, 4 ; let- 
 ters to Barlow, 9, 10. 
 
 C. 
 
 Carey, Matthew, printer, 63. 
 Columbiad published, 213. 
 Conspiracy of Kings, 89. 
 
3o6 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Constitution, frigate, 269. 
 Copley, J. S., 93. 
 Craigie, Andrew, 59-60. 
 Cutler, Rev. Manasseh, 56. 
 
 D. 
 
 Dey of Algiers, description of, 124. 
 Duer, William, 57, 59, 70-72. 
 Dwight, Timothy, Dr., 29, 49. 
 
 Fulton, Robert, resides with Barlow 
 in Paris, 177 ; experiments in steam 
 and submarine navigation, 177- 
 203 ; letter to Barlow from Eng- 
 land, 209 ; on a review of the Co- 
 lumbiad, 221 ; announcing success- 
 ful voyage of the Clermont, 232. 
 
 G. 
 
 Greene, Nathaniel, Gen., references 
 
 to, 25, 32, 35. 
 Gregoire, Abbe, Barlow's reply to, 
 
 221. 
 
 H. 
 
 Hasty-Pudding, poem, 99. 
 
 Hopkins, Lemuel, Dr., 50 ; letter to 
 Barlow, 112. 
 
 Humphreys, David, Col., 28, 29 ; 
 sketch of, 50 ; minister to Portu- 
 gal, 115. 
 
 J. 
 
 Jefferson, Thomas, 70, 82, 89, 11 1 ; 
 letters to Barlow, 240. 
 
 K. 
 
 Kalorama, description of, 216. 
 Kosciusko, 199. 
 
 L. 
 
 Lafayette, references to, 82, 94, 185. 
 
 Livingstone, William, interested with 
 Fulton and Barlow in the steam- 
 boat in Paris, 185, 190, 193, 195, 
 197. 
 
 M. 
 
 Madison, James, 257, 285. 
 Madison, James, Mrs., 273, 282. 
 Meigs, Josiah, 8, 22, 218. 
 
 N. 
 
 Napoleon, references to, 269, 270, 
 
 271, 279, 2S0, 284. 
 New London, Barlow's description 
 
 of. Zl- 
 
 O. 
 
 Ohio Land Company, 55, 63. 
 P. 
 
 Paine, Thomas, 200, 236. 
 Philadelphia, Barlow's description 
 of, 43- 
 
 Sargeant, Winthrop, 58, 59, 60, 61, 
 
 62. 
 Scioto Land Company, 55 ; its failure, 
 
 72. 
 
 T. 
 
 Tooke, Home, 93. 
 
 Trumbull, John, 44, 45 ; sketch of, 
 
 5°- 
 Trumbull, John (painter), 80, 93. 
 
 V. 
 
 Vision of Columbus, draft, 15; pub- 
 lished, 53. 
 Volney, 69, 152, 272. 
 
 W. 
 
 Washington, 25, 39; letter to, 156. 
 
 Webster, Noah, 8, 9 ; Barlow's letter 
 to, 18, 22; letter to, on spelling 
 book, 41 ; other letters, 220, 244. 
 
 Wolcott, Oliver, 8, iii, 112. 
 
 Wolcott, Alexander, 272. 
 
 West, Benjamin, 93, 203. 
 
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