mpi sc szn-i-iHi MARYLAND HISTORICAL MAGAZINE VOL. XXXVI DECEMBER, 1941 No. 4 JOSHUA BARNEY AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION By BERNARD MAYO When William Wirt was writing his biography of Patrick Henry and having difficulty in finding material on his subject, St. George Tucker commiserated with him on the indifference of Virginians to their great men. It seemed to Tucker that even Socrates would have been soon forgotten in the Ancient Dominion.1 This same sort of indifference has obscured the merits of a num- ber of Maryland's distinguished sons, and among them until recently has been Joshua Barney of Baltimore. To most Americans his name, if it meant anything at all, vaguely recalled the gallant defense of Washington in 1814 made by Barney's marines and flotilla-men at William Wirt's home town of Bladensburg. Yet this was but one of the Marylander's many exploits and public services. Happily he has now been rescued from an undeserved obscurity by Mr. Hulbert Footner's robust and stirring biography. Sailor of Fortune: The Life and Adventures of Commodore Barney, U. S. N.2 It is not the purpose here to recount what Mr. Footner has already told, but rather to throw a little additional light on one phase of Joshua Barney's career. In editing for the American Historical Association a volume comprising the instructions sent by the British foreign secretaries to Britain's envoys in America from 1791 to 1812, several items have been discovered which are pertinent to the man. The Foreign Office archives reveal that 1St. George Tucker to "Wirt, April 4, 1813, in John P. Kennedy, Memoirs of the Life of William Wirt (2 vols., Phila., 1850), I, 317. 2 Published by Harper and Brothers, New York, 1940. It was reviewed by Mr. William B. Crane in Maryland Historical Magazine, XXXV (Sept., 1940), 303-305. 357 358 MARYLAND HISTORICAL MAGAZINE Barney's Baltimore during these years was regarded by British diplomats as a " Mob Town," a hotbed of radical Jeffersonian Republicans who illegally fitted out French privateers in the 1790^ to prey on British commerce, and who frequently mobbed Britons and Americans for daring to say a kind word in favor of George the Third and the ruling British Tories. The activities of Barney himself only confirmed their unfavorable opinion of Baltimore. Already well known to the British for his naval exploits during the American Revolution, Barney became a very painful thorn in the flesh of John Bull when the great war began in 1793 between Britain and France. Quite naturally, Britain's diplomats looked with disfavor upon this Baltimore merchant-shipowner who traded with Britain's enemy, ran afoul of Britain's privateers and vice- admiralty courts, and for several years raided British shipping in West Indian waters as a commodore in the navy of the French Republic. One interesting document discovered in the Foreign Office archives is a letter, which the British navy intercepted, written by Joshua Barney from Bordeaux in December of 1794. This letter is interesting for several reasons. It is one of the comparatively few Barney letters extant, and one of the most revealing. It is historically important for its sidelights on conditions in Revolu- tionary France in the months which followed the death of Robes- pierre and the ending of the Reign of Terror; on the cordial reception which the French National Convention gave to James Monroe, the new American minister to the French Republic; and on the ignorance in which Monroe was kept respecting the Anglo- American treaty John Jay was then negotiating at London. In a striking manner it conveys the pro-French enthusiasm of American Republicans of that day. For Joshua Barney, in common with other disciples of Thomas Jefferson, was convinced that the cause of "Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity" throughout the world was dependent upon the victory of the French Republic over George the Third and the combined monarchs of Europe. By way of preface to Barney's letter it might be noted that the Marylander's zeal for France had recently been augmented and intensified by unhappy experiences with the British. Early in this year of 1794, on a trading venture to the French in Haiti, his ship Sampson had been seized by the British and he himself had almost been hanged as a "pirate." In Jamaica he had been JOSHUA BARNEY AND THE FRENCH REVOLUTION 359 forced to stand trial for piracy because, on a previous voyage, when the Sampson was illegally captured by three British priva- teers, he had retrieved his vessel from the prizemaster and inflicted wounds upon two of the prize crew. His trial had caused great excitement in Baltimore, where retaliatory threats had been made against the life of the British consul. Eventually Barney was released. But he had been plundered of his vessel and cargo, and the affair had whetted his hatred for Tory Britain.3 On the other hand, when mercantile matters took him to Paris shortly there- after the French greeted him as a hero, gave him the fraternal embrace, and urged him to accept a commission in the French navy. Barney wrote of these marks of consideration, and glowingly reported on conditions in France, to his brother in Baltimore. His letter was intercepted by the British and a copy of it, which is printed below, was sent by Lord Grenville, the foreign secretary, to George Hammond, the British minister to the United States.4 Bordeaux, Dec. 21, 1794. My Dear Brother, I now sit down to write you a few lines, and to inform you how things go with me, and in this Country in general. I arrived at Paris on the 3d August, a few days after I accompanied Mr. Monroe to the National Convention,5 where we were received amidst 700 Members, and several thousand Spectators, with the loudest clapping of hands and cries of " Live the Convention, Live the United States of America, our brave Brothers," we were in fact received more like beings of a superior nature than men. The Convention voted that the Flag of the United States should be placed in the Hall of the Convention with the Flag of France: in Consequence Mr. Monroe had a most elegant one made of Silk, with Silver Stars and gold Fringe and tassels, under my direction. On the 11th Septr. I went to the Convention in order to present it and was received with as much applause as we had experienced before. The Convention received the Flag, which I presented by order of our Minis- ter, & in the name of the United States, and decreed that I should be 3 See Footner, op. cit., pp. 177-190. 1 It was enclosed with Grenville's instruction to Hammond of June 5, 1795, No. 12, Series 115, Volume 4, Foreign Office Records (hereinafter cited as F. O.), Public Record Office, London. The copy of Barney's letter (presumably to his brother, William Barney) which was sent to Hammond is reprinted here exactly as it was written. 6 Barney and his young son William had sailed from Baltimore for France June 28, 1794, on the same ship with James Monroe, the Cincinnatus, owned by Oliver and Thompson of Baltimore. Footner, op. cit., p. 195. Although Beverly W. Bond, Jr., The Monroe Mission to France, 1794-1796 (Baltimore, 1907), does not mention Barney, this work should be consulted for Monroe's activities as American minister to France. 360 MARYLAND HISTORICAL MAGAZINE invited into the Convention, and receive from the President the Kiss of Friendship. At this time Several Members rose and demanded a decree should pass for to employ me in the Service of the Republic, which -was instantly adopted. But having at that time four Ships arrived with Flour, and all my Affairs of the West Indies to settle, I could not instantly accept. This business has kept me ever since engaged, nor have I been able to put a finish to it. I left Paris on the 15th November. Two days before my departure the Minister of Marine offered me a 74 gun Ship, which had been taken from the British a few days before; and which I was obliged to refuse. 1 shall return to Paris in a few days; my desire is a fine Frigate, with liberty to appoint my Officers, and mann her with Americans and then to cruise where I please. If they agree to this, I am ready, but otherwise I shall be cautious how I accept of any Command. I suppose the History of the whole World does not afford such a scene of Success as the late Campaign has been the French Arms have every where been superior to all their Enemies. It would amaze the world still more to see the immense Sums of gold and Silver, which are daily brought to Paris from the conquered Places little fesu/s, Virgin Mary's, Saints of all Sizes melted down and deposited in Barrs, ready to carry on the War. The Country, notwithstanding appears perfectly quiet as if no War existed. You travel with ease and security, not a beggar to be seen, every child as well as Men and Women, go daily to the municipality and receive their bread; and they have been blessed this year with an abundant harvest. In fact, the Country is one large Family and the Convention provide for all. Since the Death of Roberspierre, things have taken a great change indeed, there is no more taking off of heads the prisons are nearly empty. Among the rest is our friend Thomas Paine who has again taken his seat in the Convention after a confinement of a number of Months,6 with seventy one members more.