To Thomas Jefferson from Joseph Barnes, 17 August 1793
From Joseph Barnes
London Augt. 17th 1793
Sir
This will be presented to you by Mr. Cooper, of Manchester, who is concerned in one of the principal Cotton Manufactury’s in that place, And, who, from his great efforts in Society, And in writing in favor of the Specific rights And General Liberty of Mankind, has become so Offensive to the present Spirit of the British Government, that he can No Longer in Safety reside in this Country; he therefore goes to Seek an Asylum in the United States.
As I esteem you, Sir, Our great Patron of Republicanism, And of Virtue, ‘tis with peculiar pleasure I give this Letter to you, Your Patronage to him will follow of course, So far as you May find him worthy thereof, And I am Sure he will wish it No farther. With grateful esteem I am Sir Yours most respectfully
Joseph Barnes
P.S. The Book Which Mr. Cooper has written and Published, I have been well informed, contains the essentials of Mr. Paine’s Rights of men, in excellent Language and great demonstration. He is a friend of Doctor Priestley’s and of Mr. Walker, of Manchester.
J. B.
RC (DLC); above postscript: “Mr Jefferson”; endorsed by TJ as received 5 Dec. 1793 and so recorded in SJL.
After an exploratory visit heralded by this letter, Thomas COOPER moved his family to the United States permanently in 1794 and six years later began an extensive correspondence with TJ (; Dumas Malone, The Public Life of Thomas Cooper 1783–1839 [New Haven, 1926]). The book by him was A Reply to Mr. Burke’s invective against Mr. Cooper, and Mr. Watt, in the House of Commons, on the 30th of April, 1792 (London, 1792). Cooper presented two copies of it to TJ ( Nos. 2803, 2827).