| ©Barlow Genealogy 1998-2005 |
By the time Ruth joined her husband in Paris in 1790, the American organizers of the Scioto Company were exposed as profiteering frauds; however, Barlow was officially audited and proven innocent. (The colony, named Gallipolis, survived despite the hardships; but Barlow's reputation with his own countrymen had been seriously damaged.) "Barlow had been in Paris at the fall of the Bastille on July 14 1789. He was a friend of Thomas Paine and other revolutionary sympathizers, English and American. His major tract Advice to the Privileged Orders and verse-satire The Conspiracy of Kings were written in London, where he and Ruth had gone to avoid the Jacobin disorders. The 'Advice' so offended the British government that it banned the book and tried to arrest Barlow, who fled into hiding in Paris. However, his Letter to the National Convention of France (proposals for a new French constitution) so impressed the Assembly delegates that they made him an honorary citizen of the new Republic in 1792, an honor he shared with Washington, Hamilton, Madison and Paine. In the final throes of the Terror, when Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were executed in 1793, Ruth was still safe in London, and Barlow was in the southeast of France helping friends organize the Savoy, newly captured from Italy, as a political division of the new Republic.
"Fluent in French, sympathetic to the new French republic, and successful in business, the Barlows were popular with the reformers, intelligentsia, and such scientific innovators as the balloonist Montgolfier. They were close also to Robert Fulton, who arrived in France in 1797, and worked for some years on the prototypes of his steamboat, torpedo boat, and other engineering projects. Fulton later did the illustrations for a large, handsome, second version of Barlow's epic, heavily revised and retitled The Columbiad, published in Philadelphia in 1807. "In 1796, in Washington's second term, Barlow resolved our first hostage crisis. He was sent to Algiers as consul to help with implementation of our peace treaty with that state and to secure the release of more than 100 American seamen some of whom had been held captive by the Algerian corsairs since 1785. It required great patience and diplomatic skill on his part not to mention payment of substantial sums to local officials, but he succeeded where others had failed. He stayed on as consul for a year after the hostages departed and returned to Paris in 1797. "In 1805,after 18 years abroad, the Barlows returned to America, hoping to spend the rest of their lives at home. Thomas Jefferson wanted Barlow to write an American history. In 1807, at Jefferson's urging, they moved to Washington to a house and small estate Barlow named 'Kalorama,' 'beautiful view' in Greek. However, in 1811 President James Madison appointed Barlow as Minister to France. His task was to negotiate for compensation for French damages to American shipping, and to make a trade treaty. Reluctant, but always desirous of serving his country, Barlow took his wife, his nephew Thomas as secretary, and returned to France in 1811, only to meet with many delays Napoleon was busy making war on almost every nation in Europe. "Finally, the Emperor, engaged in a winter campaign against Russia, summoned Barlow to meet him in Poland, at Wilna (now Vilnius). But the French armies were being utterly defeated by the Russians and the Russian winter. Napoleon fled south, ignoring his appointment. His staff, Barlow, Thomas, and the other diplomats, fled through the freezing weather toward Germany to escape the pursuing Cossacks, missing Napoleon, who hurried straight on toward France. Barlow died of pneumonia in the tiny village of Zarnowiec, between Warsaw and Krakow, on December 24, 1812. (There is disagreement about the date; the existing church tablet in Poland gives it as December 26.) It took his nephew more than two weeks to bring the news of his death to Ruth in Paris, and it was three months before the news reached America. Joel Barlow was mourned widely in France, but President Madison was more distressed by the lack of the treaty than the loss of the man. Perhaps this diplomat, patriot, and man of letters had stayed abroad too long." Photograph of the original plaque and guest
register  Click
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| Extracted from: Colonial and Revolutionary Families
of Pennsylvania Volumes I-III
Joel, born March 24, 1754, first entered Dartmouth College, but was graduated with honors from Yale, class of 1778, a classmate of Noah Webster. He early showed talent of a superior quality. He was an intimate friend of Thomas Paine, who probably at that time had not become imbued with infidelity. He studied law and divinity, and after being licensed as minister of the Congregational church became a chaplain in the Revolutionary army, serving until the close of the war. In 1773 he opened a law office in Hartford and became partner with Elisha Babcock in editing The American Mercury. In 1785 he was chosen by the general association of the Congregational church to revise the Psalmsof Dr. Watts. In 1787 he published his "Vision of Columbus". His most popular poem was "Hasty Pudding", a work in three cantos showing decided poetic genius, written in France in 1793, where he was representing the "Scotia Land Company". In 1795 he was appointed by President Washington consul to Algiers, where he effected a very important treaty, also one with Tripoli. In 1805 he returned to the United States and settled near Washington, D. C., where he purchased beautiful "Kalorama" afterwards the home of his favorite nephew, Thomas Barlow, and his wife, Frances Anica "Preble" Barlow. In 1808 he published his greatest poem "The Columbiad" which was republished in London in 1811. He was engaged in writing a History of the United States in 1812, when he was appointed United States minister to France. While on his way to confer with Emperor Napoleon at Wilna, he was seized with a fatal illness and died at Zarwanica, Poland, October 02, 1812. He married Ruth Baldwin, of New Haven, Connecticut, a sister of Honorable Henry Baldwin, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. |
Joel Barlow US Consul Gen of Algiers ©National Portait Gallery Smithsonian Institution Art Resource NY |
TREATY OF TRIPOLI - 1797
ARTICLE 1. There is a firm and perpetual Peace and friendship between the United States of America and the Bey and subjects of Tripoli of Barbary, made by the free consent of both parties, and guaranteed by the most potent Dey and regency of Algiers. ARTICLE 2. If any goods belonging to any nation with which either of the parties is at war shall be loaded on board of vessels belonging to the other party they shall pass free, and no attempt shall be made to take or detain them ARTICLE 3. If any citizens, subjects or effects belonging to either party shall be found on board a prize vessel taken from an enemy by the other party, such citizens or subjects shall be set at liberty, and the effects restored to the owners. ARTICLE 4. Proper passports are to be given to all vessels of both parties, by which they are to be known. And, considering the distance between the two countries, eighteen months from the date of his treaty shall be allowed for procuring such passports. During this interval the other papers belonging to such vessels shall be sufficient for their protection. ARTICLE 5. A citizen or subject of either party having bought a prize vessel condemned by the other party or by any other nation, the certificate of condemnation and bill of sale shall be a sufficient passport for such vessel for one year; this being a reasonable time for her to procure a proper passport. ARTICLE 6. Vessels of either party putting into the ports of the other and having need of provissions or other supplies, they shall be furnished at the market price. And if any such vessel shall so put in from a disasterat sea and have occasion to repair, she shall be at liberty to land and reembark her cargo without paying any duties. But in no case shall she be compelled to land her cargo. ARTICLE 7. Should a vessel of either party be cast on the shore of the other, all proper assistance shall be given to her and her people; no pillage shall be allowed; the property shall remain at the disposition of the owners, and the crew protected and succoured till they can be sent to their country. ARTICLE 8. If a vessel of either party should be attacked by an enemy within gun-shot of the forts of the other she shall be defended as much as possible. If she be in port she shall not be seized or attacked when it is in the power of the other party to protect her. And when she proceeds to sea no enemy shall be allowed to pursue her from the same port within twenty four hours after her departure. ARTICLE 9. The commerce between the United States and Tripoli, the protection to be given to merchants, masters of vessels and seamen, - the reciprocal right of establishing consuls in each country, and the privileges, immunities and jurisdictions to be enjoyed by such consuls, are declared to be on the same footing with those of the most favoured nations respectively. ARTICLE 10. The money and presents demanded by the Bey of Tripoli as a full and satisfactory consideration on his part and on the part of his subjects for this treaty of perpetual peace and friendship are acknowledged to have been recieved by him previous to his signing the same, according to a reciept which is hereto annexed, except such part as is promised on the part of the United States to be delivered and paid by them on the arrival of their Consul in Tripoly, of which part a note is ikewise hereto annexed. And no presence of any periodical tribute or farther payment is ever to be made by either party. ARTICLE 11. As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian Religion, - as it has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Musselmen,- and as the said States never have entered into any war or act of hostility against any Mehomitan nation, it is declared by theparties that no pretext arising from religious opinions shall ever produce an interruption of the harmony existing between the two countries. ARTICLE 12. In case of any dispute arising from a notation of any of the articles of this treaty no appeal shall be made to arms, nor shall war be declared on any pretext whatever. But if the (consul residing at the place where the dispute shall happen) shall not be able to settle the same, an amicable referrence shall be made to the mutual friend of the parties the Dey of Algiers, the parties here- by engaging to abide by his decision. And he by virtue of his signature to this treaty engages for himself and successors to declare the justice of the case according to the true interpretation of the treaty, and to use all the means in his power to enforce the observance of the same. Signed and sealed at Tripoli of Barbary the 3d day of Jumad in the year of the Higera 1211- corresponding with the 4th day of Novr 1796 by JUSSUF BASHAW MAHOMET Bey SOLIMAN Kaya MAMET Treasurer GALIL Genl of the Troops AMET Minister of Marine MAHOMET Coml of the city AMET Chamberlain MAMET Secretary ALLY Chief of the Divan Signed and sealed at Algiers the 4th day of Argib 1211- corresponding with the 3d day of January 1797 by HASSAN BASHAW Dey and by the Agent plenipotentiary of the United States of America [Seal] Joel BABLOW I, Joel Barlow, agent and consul general of the United States of America for the city and Kingdom of Algiers, certify and attest that the seal standing uppermost on the page next but two preceding this [in the Arabic order] is that of the Regency of Algiers and that the signature above it is that of Hassan Bashaw Dey. In testimony whereof I sign these presents with my hand and affix thereto the seal of the consulate of the United States at Algiers this 4th day of January 1797. [Seal] JOEL BARLOW |
From the original painting by Chappel
in the possession of the publisher. Johnson, Fry & Co. publishers, New
York. Entered according to act of Congress AD 1863 by Johnson,
Fry & Co. in the clerks office of the district court
of the southern district of NY. |
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Portrait by Charles Wilson Peale,
1807 Used by permission of the owner, Joel Barlow of
Wash D.C., a descendant of Joel Barlow Ankers
Photography |
The Joel Barlow Commemoration Committee of Redding Connecticut
invites your participation, Saturday, June 22, 1935, in honoring
the life and work of Joel Barlow, Poet, Patriot, Statesman,
born in Redding, March 24th, 1754, son of Samuel and Esther
(Hull) Barlow, died in Zarnowiec, Poland, December 26, 1812,
in active services as United States Minister Plenipotentiary
to France.
Program (Daylight Saving Time) 11:30 a.m. Ridgewood Inn, Redding Ridge. "Hasty Pudding" Breakfast: old New England Style. Short talks after breakfast on "Joel Barlow, Prophet and Dreamer;" "The Redding Boy" by Hon. Daniel S. Sanford of Redding, Conn.; "The Hartford Wit and Editor" by Robert E. Stevenson, Editor of the Waterbury Republican, Waterbury, Conn.; "Yale Alumnus and Man of Letters" by Chauncey Brewater Tinker, Sterling Professor of Literature, Yale University; and others. (Make reservations with Chairman, Mrs. D.S. Sanford, Ridgewood Inn., Redding Ridge. Seventy-five cents per person, paid before June 15, as accomodations are limited.) 3:00 p.m. Redding Green at Old Town House. (Center Church in case of rain.) Commemoration Meeting. Singing: America. Address by His Excellency, the French Ambassador to the United States, Andre de Laboulaye. Address: "Joel Barlow's Service to Peace, Rev. Dr. B.S. Winchester, of Georgetown, Conn. "The Recessional", Kipling: Sung by Redding children. 4:00 p.m. Procession to old Congregational Burying Ground Hymn: America the Beautiful. Address, by the Representative of the Government of Poland. "Joel Barlow." Presentation of Memorial Tablet, by Mrs. Bessie Barlow Crane, on behalf of kinsmen and fellow townsmen. Acceptance: First Selectman George W. Banks. Bugle: Taps. Children strew flowers. Pledge of faither in Freedom and Democracy, by Niel Sanford, Registrar, Bard College, of Columbia University. Singing: "Faith of Our Fathers." During the preliminaries for this commemorations, kinsmen of Joel Barlow have expressed a desire that a Genealogy of the descendants of John Barlow of Fairfield, Conn. (d. 1674) be published. A considerable amount of material for this purpose was collected some years ago, by a member of the family. It can be amplified and brought down to date by co-operation of the kinsmen. Please send data to Miss Clara M. Hill, R.F.D., Ridgewood, Conn. Those desiring to share in the gift of the tablet to the Town, send contributions to Tablet Chairman, Mrs. Bessie Barlow Crane, 300 West Main Street, Waterbury, Conn. Those desiring to loan or give books, manuscripts, pictures or maps for the exhibit June 22nd, or for the permanent collection to remain in Redding Library, address Chairman of Joel Barlow Loan Exhibit, Mrs. B.S. Winchester, Georgetown, Conn. Library of Congress, Rare Book and Special Collections Division Click to view published image |
 Joel Barlow High School Easton/Redding Connecticut 100 Black Rock Turnpike Redding, CT 06810 (203) 938-2508 Redding / (203) 334-8003 Easton Fax: (203) 938-9602 |
