To Thomas Jefferson from Joel Barlow, 19 March 1805
From Joel Barlow
London. 19 March 1805—
Dear Sir
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 to enable her to support the voyage, & we hope to sail in May.
But my taking this country in my way has, I find, subjected me to a great deal of calumny in France. Some Americans, as well as Frenchmen, in Paris have endeavoured to connect me with the operations of Mr. Fulton in this country, tho these operations took place before my arrival here, & tho I never had any personal interest+ or connection even with his projects.
A knowledge of these reports having been communicated to me by Mr. Lee of Bordeaux, I have addressed to him a letter on that subject, the copy of which I take the liberty of enclosing to you. And as it is possible that the slanders which this letter is meant to oppose may reach America & even get into the public papers, I desire you would have the goodness to make such use of it as in your opinion my reputation may require, should it even be to give it the same publicity that the stories which occasioned it may have had in that country.
I am, Dear Sir, with great respect, yr. obt. Sert.
Joel Barlow
+I mean no other interest than a patriotic one. For I still think, as I have before mentioned to you, that if his theory can be reduced to practice, it will give to America her cheapest mode of defence, & greatly diminish, in all countries, the instruments of despotism & the provocatives to war.
RC (DLC); at foot of first page: “Mr. Jefferson”; endorsed by TJ as received 12 June and so recorded in SJL. Enclosure: Barlow to William Lee, London, 15 Mch., thanking Lee for advising him of the criticism being expressed in Paris regarding Barlow’s move to England and his rumored intrigue with Fulton; Barlow reiterates the reasons for his move and his lack of involvement in any of Fulton’s projects; he defends Fulton as a patriot who wants only “to check tyranny, diminish the frequency of wars, and promote the interest of America” and is willing to work toward that purpose “in whatever country he can find a footing for his machines” (Tr in same; in Barlow’s hand).
letter last summer: Barlow to TJ, 26 June 1804.
Fulton moved his operations on submarine warfare from France to England in May 1804 and signed a contract with the British government in July. The Barlows were still in Paris as late as August (E. Taylor Parks, “Robert Fulton and Submarine Warfare,” Military Affairs, 25 [1961-62], 178; Vol. 44:261).