1. Thomas Barclay enclosed this letter with his of 26 May (Adams Papers). There he indicated that Grubb, of Virginia, was “an American Subject, and extremely worthy of any good Office You can do him.” Barclay also sent three other enclosures: James Day’s letter to Grubb dated 11 May at Cowes, Isle of Wight, England; an extract from Philippe Ludger’s letter, dated 11 May at London; and Grubb’s 23 May letter to Barclay. Day’s letter reported the capture of the brig Nancy, although, according to testimony from its captain and passengers, the vessel had been 5 1/2 leagues off the Isle of Wight and thus outside British territorial waters. Day indicated that he had begun proceedings for the Nancy’s recovery. Ludger, a passenger, confirmed the report by Day and described the Nancy’s voyage from its departure from Lorient on 29 April until its detention on 3 May. Writing to Barclay, the U.S. consul to France, Grubb requested that he send the Day and Ludger letters to JA with the expectation that JA would support his efforts to obtain the return of the Nancy and its cargo. For JA’s response to Grubb’s appeal, see his 7 June letters to Barclay and Grubb, both below.

2. JQA described Grubb, whom he met at Lorient while he awaited passage to America, as “very much a gentleman.” Thirty years later JQA would employ Grubb as his private secretary during his tenure as minister to Great Britain (JQA, Diary description begins Diary of John Quincy Adams, ed. David Grayson Allen, Robert J. Taylor, and others, Cambridge, 1981–. description ends , 1:270, 271; AFC description begins Adams Family Correspondence, ed. L. H. Butterfield, Marc Friedlaender, Richard Alan Ryerson, Margaret A. Hogan, and others, Cambridge, 1963–. description ends , 6:147, 148, 149).