Author Barlow Joel

considerable literary reputation and was once much read. In 1807 he had published in a sumptuous volume the Columbiad, an enlarged edition of his Vision of Columbus, more pompous even than the original; but, though it added to his reputation in some quarters, on the whole it was not well received, and it has subsequently been much ridiculed. The poem for which he is now best known is his mock heroic Hasty Pudding (1793). Besides the writings mentioned above, he published Conspiracy of Kings, a Poem addressed to the Inhabitants of Europe from another Quarter of the Globe (1792); View of the Public Debt, Receipts and Expenditure of the United States (1800); and the Political Writings of Joel Barlow (2nd ed., 1796). In 1788 he went to France as the agent of the Scioto Land Company, his object being to sell lands and enlist immigrants. He seems to have been ignorant of the fraudulent character of the company, which failed disastrously in 1790. He had previously, however, induced the company of Frenchmen, who ultimately founded Gallipolis, Ohio, to emigrate to America. In Paris he became a liberal in religion and an advanced republican in politics. He helped Thomas Paine publish the first part of "The Age of Reason" while Paine was imprisoned during The Reign of Terror. He remained abroad for several years, spending much of his time in London; was a member of the "London Society for Constitutional Information"; published various radical essays, including a volume entitled Advice to the Privileged Orders (1792), which was proscribed by the British government; and was made a citizen of France in 1792. He was American consul at Algiers in 1795-1797, securing the release of American prisoners held for ransom, and negotiating a treaty with Tripoli (1796). He returned to America in 1805, and lived at his home, Kalorama in what is now the city of Washington, D.C., until 1811, when he became American plenipotentiary to France, charged with negotiating a commercial treaty with Napoleon, and with securing the restitution of confiscated American property or indemnity therefor. He was summoned for an interview with Napoleon at Wilna, but failed to see the emperor there; became involved in the retreat of the French army; and, overcome by exposure, died at the Polish village of ?arnowiec. The record in the archives of the church in ?arnowiec reads Anno 1812, Decembris 26 at 1 o'clock P.M. before us the rector of the Zarnowiec parish and civil recorder of the village of Zarnowiec, Pilica County, Department of Cracow, there came Hon. John Blaski, postmaster and Mayor of the village Zarnowiec, residing here and thirty-six years old, and Idzi Baiorkiewicz, residing at his farm of two quarts at Zarnowiec and thirty-three years old, and declared that his Excellency, Joel Barlow, Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of Emperor of the French and King of Italy, died on the above day at 12 o'clock at noon in the house No. 1 while journeying from Warsaw to Paris, at the age of fifty-six, son of unknown parents, and husband of her Excellency Mrs. Margaret nee Baldwin, residing in the American city of Ridgefield. After reading this to the present we undersigned it with the witnesses, Rev. Stanislaus Bajorski, civil recorder; John Blaski, witness; Idzi Baiorkiewicz, witness. Joel Barlow was painted by Robert Fulton. Benjamin Franklin, Arthur Lee, Silas Deane (substituted by John Adams in 1778) 1776–1779 Franklin 1778–85 · Jefferson 1785–89 · Short 1790–92 · Morris 1792–94 · Monroe 1794–96 · Pinckney 1796–97 · Livingston 1801–04 · Armstrong 1804–10 · Russell (chargé d'affaires) 1811 Barlow 1811–12 · Crawford 1813–15 Gallatin 1816–23 · Brown 1824–29 · Rives 1829–32 · Harris (chargé d'affaires) 1833 · Livingston 1833–35 · Barton (chargé d'affaires) 1835 · Cass 1836–42 · King 1844–46 · Rush 1847–49 · Rives 1849–53 · Mason 1853–59 · Faulkner 1860–61 · Dayton 1861–64 · Bigelow 1865–66 · Dix 1866–69 · Washburne 1869–77 · Noyes 1877–81 · Morton 1881–85 · McLane 1885–89 · Reid 1889–92 · Coolidge 1892–93 Eustis 1893–97 · Porter 1897–05 · McCormick 1905–07 · White 1907–09 · Bacon 1909–12 · Herrick 1912–14 · Sharp 1914–1919 · Wallace 1919–21 · Herrick 1921–29 · Edge 1929–33 · Strauss 1933–36 · Bullitt 1936–40 · Leahy 1941–42 · Tuck (chargé d'affaires) 1942 · Caffery 1944–49 · Bruce 1949–52 · Dunn 1952–53 · Dillon 1953–57 · Houghton 1957–61 · Gavin 1961–62 · Bohlen 1962–68 · Shriver 1968–70 · Watson 1970–72 · Irwin 1973–74 · Rush 1974–77 · Hartman 1977–81 · Galbraith 1981–85 · Rodgers 1985–89 · Curley 1989–93 · Harriman 1993–97 · Rohatyn 1997–2000 · Leach 2001–05 · Stapleton 2005–09 · Rivkin 2009–