1To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 25 August 1801 (Jefferson Papers)
I have recieved your kind letter by Mr. Dawson, and be assured no man in America rejoices more sincerely than I do at the change of political measures & the happy reconciliation of parties of which it speaks. I do not congratulate you, but my country, on the event of your election. I now indulge myself in the hope that we are not to lose the fruits of former labors, but that we may be wise...
2To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 4 October 1801 (Jefferson Papers)
I wrote you some time ago by Mr. Dawson and mentioned my intention of returning to America early in the spring. I still adhere to this intention, and am happy to learn by every letter from that country that the violence of party spirit is abated & that all honest men seem cordially united in support of your administration. I am persuaded that your election was the only means of uniting them...
3To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 26 October 1801 (Jefferson Papers)
Mr. Fulton’s letter giving an account of his experiments in submarine navigation is to accompany this. In the present state of the naval system of Europe every project for establishing the liberty of the seas on a permanent basis seems to be attended with so many difficulties that I am sometimes inclined to think the one he proposes may be found the most simple as well as the most effectual...
4To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 11 February 1804 (Jefferson Papers)
The enclosed letters from Mr Laharpe to Mr Stone and from Mr Stone to me are in my opinion of sufficient consequence to be communicated to you. this Laharpe is a Swiss Republican of An excellent character and an enlightened mind. he was the tutor of Alexander the present Emperor of Russia; having returned to his own country on the Accession of Paul he became one of the Directors of the...
5To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 26 June 1804 (Jefferson Papers)
This will be presented you by your countryman Doctor Upshaw, a young man of superior talents & acquirements, a good republican & perfectly attached to the principles of your administration. He has been two years in Europe to perfect himself in the study of medicine & has lately taken his degree at Montpellier. He is perfectly disposed & I think will be capable of doing much good in our country...
6To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 20 August 1804 (Jefferson Papers)
Mr. Emmet the Bearer of this was an eminent Counceller in Dublin where he has been grievously persecuted by the English government for his political opinions & his attachment to those principles of liberty which ought to govern all societies. he is now moving to America in search of a second country, a movement which, if our fathers had not made it for us, you & I might have been making at...
7To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 19 March 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
I believe I took the liberty of mentioning to you in a letter last summer, before I left Paris, that the ill state of my wife’s health was the sole cause of my not embarking for America that season, and that we were coming to England for medical advice, with the intention of passing the winter here, & embark this spring if possible. This is what we expect to accomplish. Her health now promises...
8To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 4 August 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
I take the liberty to announce to you my arrival in this country & my intention of visiting your part of it very soon. We propose to pass the winter at or near Washington, & look out for a place to pitch our tent for the residue of life. If you are not now at Washington I would be much obliged to you if you will drop me a line to the care of Peter Talman merchant in this place, to let me know...
9To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 2 September 1805 (Jefferson Papers)
I recieved your kind & friendly letter of the 14th. & should have set forward on my journey before recieving it, but learning from Mr. Gallatin that I should not find you nor scarcely any one else at Washington, I had already relinquished that project, or rather postponed the execution of it till October. And finding that my friend Baldwin is now in Connecticut, I am now going on to make up...
10To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 17 January 1806 (Jefferson Papers)
Can you find a half an hour in the course of the day to read over the enclosed Prospectus & permit me to call on you in the evening to recieve your ideas. I am told that the Memorial now before Congress has excited a disposition to do something, perhaps to grant a charter. if so, why not set the thing on its broad basis at first, & let it grow up with the means that may afterwards be applied?...
11To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 31 January 1806 (Jefferson Papers)
Will you excuse my volunteering so far in a business that does not belong to me, as to enclose to you some observations which I made the other day at the request of Mr. Baldwin, one of the committee on British depredations? If the principle of Mr. Gregg’s motion should prevail, I fear it would be too abrupt a measure for the present moment. I am pretty well acquainted with the feelings &...
12To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 12 February 1806 (Jefferson Papers)
No man can be more unpractised in devices, whether moral or scientific, than I am. I should at once say that the one proposed & so ably combined by Mr. Williams was too perfect for me to think of amending, were it not for the risk of being suspected of having paid but a slight attention to your kind commands. To avoid that imputation I am going to subject myself to its alternative, that of...
13To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 23 February 1806 (Jefferson Papers)
It is agreed among some members of the Senate that the subject of the Institution shall be bro’t forward by a motion in that house to be made by Dr—Logan for leave to bring in a bill, & that when leave is obtained he shall bring in something like the one I here enclose to you, striking out the two last sections.—He thinks too that it will be best to strike out the organization in the 4th....
14To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 18 March 1806 (Jefferson Papers)
If you can find time to read over the enclosed letter from Mr. Erving you will see expressed in a more striking manner than I could do it his reasons for desiring some military brevet rank. I can of course say nothing on the propriety or impropriety of your granting his request. With great respect your obet. sert. DLC : Papers of Thomas Jefferson.
15To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 18 April 1806 (Jefferson Papers)
Your constant occupation for some time past, has prevented my calling on you, to say some things which lie with weight upon my mind. I must go soon to Philadelphia to get forward the publication of my work,—and as I understood that you intended a visit to Monticello soon after the rising of Congress, when you will be able to bring back with you the interesting documents you possess relating to...
16To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 5 July 1806 (Jefferson Papers)
It has not hitherto been in my power to come to Washington as I intended this summer, to recieve such papers as you intend to put into my hands relative to the history in question.—If you can let me known by the return of post that I shall find you there, & that I can have a little time to confer with you previous to your summer retreat, I will then take a run there immediately. Yr. obet. &...
17To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 28 September 1806 (Jefferson Papers)
On hearing of the death of Judge Paterson I take the liberty of that Pierpont Edwards might be appointed to his place. I am confident that the seat could not be filled with more dignity to the office or usefulness to the Country. And it would be Particularly & highly advantageous to the republican interest in Connecticut, where they stand in great need of as much aid from the government as it...
18To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 13 January 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
Is there any cogent reason for continuing to call the Columbia River by that name? If not I should propose to name it Lewis, & one of its principal branches Clarke. We have so many towns, districts & counties, & I believe some smaller streams, called Columbia, besides its being the general name of the Continent, that it will tend to run our geography into some confusion, which may as well be...
19To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 25 February 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
There is an object of some importance to the interest of the United States, of which it may be in my power in some measure to influence the direction. But before it is set in motion at all I wish to know your opinion of it. The Bank of the U.S. will apply to Congress the next session for a new Charter, or a prolongation of the old for 25 years. It would be willing to pay a few millions of...
20To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 9 June 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
Captain OBrien has desired me to enclose to you this letter, think that perhaps it may be useful to the public service in giving you information. I have no personal knowledge of Mr. Davis. That little I have heard of him has not inspired me with confidence in him. With great respect yr. obt. Sevt. DLC : Papers of Thomas Jefferson.
21To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 9 December 1807 (Jefferson Papers)
I take the liberty to send you for perusal, a letter I have recd. from Thos. Law at Phila. on his way to England. His belief in a peace in Europe appears to me well founded, but your information must be better than his or mine. I have read the memoir of our friend Fulton & think it a real good thing. If this man is supported he will give us the liberty of the seas and a system of interior...
22To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 23 January 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
I beg your acceptance of a specimen of the typographical art which I think equal to any that Europe has produced. The paper type & ink are made in Philadelphia, and I regret that the engravings had not likewise been committed to American artists. I cannot hope that you will soon find leisure to read the poem with that attention which would be requisite to obtain from you your opinion of its...
23To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 26 May 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
The Bearer Mr. Mansfield is highly recommended to my by Mr. Lee as a man of integrity & intelligence. I know him to be charged with Mr. Lee’s business, & believe the permission he asks for would be essentially necessary to its completion. I was myself charged with asking this permission early in April last, and did then propose it verbally to Mr. Gallatin, but owing to the miscarriage of a...
24To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 14 July 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
As Capn. Haley told me he was sending to your house to day for some heavy baggage, I take the liberty of sending two small boxes of books to be sent on board his vessel with your things. I beg you to excuse this freedom, as I have no other way of getting them on board.— Yr. obt. Sert DLC : Papers of Thomas Jefferson.
25To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 1 August 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
I am very thankful for your itenerary, & Mrs. B–& myself expect to begin the use of it in about three weeks.—Mrs. Blackden whom you knew in Paris, widow of Col Blackden, is with us to pass the rest of the season. As she is desirous of seeing you & your daughter once more, if you will permit us we shall take her in the carriage with us. Are there any facts to be come at, besides what have been...
26To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 6 September 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
The state of Mrs. Barlow’s health obliged her & myself to go the Philadelphia soon after the date of my last letter, from whence we returned only last evening. So that till then I did not recieve yours of the 5th. Aug.—I propose now to set off on my visit to you in 3 or 4 days. But I shall be obliged to come alone. My wife regrets very much that she cannot accompany me on a tour in which she...
27To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 12 September 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
I set off tomorrow morning & as I travel alone in a light carriage with cool weather I may be with you sooner than we should otherwise contemplate. Having just received a letter from Thos. Law I take the liberty of enclosing it to you. I am by no means so much alarmed as he & many others appear to be. But the tories are certainly conjuring up a great mass of discontent, especially to the...
28To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 4 December 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
I send you the Institute’s examination of Gall’s famous theory of the Brain. The inquiries on this very obscure subject may not lead to any immediate result but to humble the pride of Science, yet the labors of that Society in general impress my mind so deeply with their importance as to make me regret that we have not the means in this country of attaching a higher estimation than we have...
29To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 12 December 1808 (Jefferson Papers)
When last in Philaa. I suggested to Dr. Mease the idea of a work on the manufactures of that city, and I thought its utility might be such as to encourage its extention afterwards to those of the U.S. describing the particular branches, the quantity of work done in each, & estimating the comparative amount of imported with that of home manufactured goods. &c.— He has now written me a letter...