and sister of the present senator of that name in Congress.

When the independence of America was acknowledged, and the British troops withdrawn, soldiers and generals alike retired to their farms; and he who but lately commanded a battalion was not unfrequently seen holding a plough. Every one had either a new profession to seek, or an old one to resume; and multitudes of armed men, who had fought the battles and achieved the freedom of their country, withdrew with but a very inadequate compensation, and almost without a murmur.

Mr. Barlow, like many others, found his private fortune not in the least increased by the public service; and he at length deemed it necessary to resume his preparations for the profession of the law. For this purpose he removed to Hartford, the capital of Connecticut, where he established himself, as he then supposed, for the remainder of his life. As some temporary aid, however, was still necessary for subsistence, until the fees of an untried profession should begin to flow in, he purchased half the stock in trade of a printer and bookseller, with whom he entered into partnership, and aided in carrying on that complicated business, one part of which consisted in editing a newspaper. This connection continued but two years, for in 1785 the subject of this memoir was called to the bar, and began the practice of the law with uncommon reputation and

success,

The business of a lawyer in that country unites

the

the duties both of the advocate and solicitor, and Mr. Barlow now made a rapid progress towards fortune, having the double advantage of an extensive previous acquaintance throughout the country, and a considerable stock of general science and literature.

In the year 1787 he published his "Vision of CoJumbus," a poem, in nine books. This work, besides adding greatly to his reputation in America, rendered him somewhat known in Europe. It was reprinted and published a few months afterwards, in London, by Dilly and Stockdale.

But the following year opened a new scene before him, which induced him to give up his brilliant prospects at Hartford, and to suspend the practice of law which he has never since resumed.

The Ohio Company, composed of a number of reputable men, with most of whom he had been acquainted while in the army, purchased from the Congress a tract of country lying on the river of that name, consisting of about three or four millions of Their project was to sell a part of these lands to foreigners, and to settle themselves on the remainder.

acres.

This company named Mr. Barlow their agent to transact their business in Europe. He accordingly repaired to England for this purpose in the year 1788, and soon after crossed over into France, where he disposed of some of the lands, and sent over a few settlers. But, luckily for the general enterprize, its success did not depend in any great degree on the European part of the operation. A few New England

England adventurers repaired thither with their usual habits of industry and perseverance; and the settlement, which did not commence until 1788 on the territories of the Ohio Company-of which Mr. Bar-. low was one of the first projectors, and still remains, as we believe, a considerable proprietor-has now, after the lapse of a few years, acquired the rank and dignity of an independent body, consisting of seventy thousand inhabitants, and was lately received into the federal union of the American empire, making the seventeenth state.

Notwithstanding the great and certain pecuniary advantages which Mr. Barlow might have derived from returning to his fellow labourers, and profiting by the prosperity of their then growing colony in America, when his agency had ceased in Europe, other events, and those of far greater interest in the view of general philanthropy, now assailed his imagination, and induced him to prolong his residence in this quarter of the world. Instead, therefore, of settling with his old friends on the borders of the Ohio, he remained with his new ones on the banks of the Seine and of the Thames. He, as well as many other ardent admirers of liberty, thought he saw, in the opening of the French revolution, the germe of higher wisdom in political science, and the dawn of greater happiness in the social state of man, than Europe had ever before beheld. His heart, as well as his curiosity, was interested in the event, and

1805-1806.

It is called the state of Ohio.

M

he

he panted to behold the miracles which were to spring out of a well-regulated freedom.

He, however, returned to this country from France in 1791, with the intention, as he has often mentioned to the writer of this article, of never visiting the old continent again. His design was to stay in England a year or two, and then return to America. Near the close of that year and in the beginning of 1792 appeared three of his works: "Advice to the Privileged Orders," "The Conspiracy of Kings," and "A Letter to the National Convention of France." It does not appear that he contemplated any other publication here, as it was his settled design to recross the Atlantic in the spring of 1793. His great literary project, after his return to America, was to write the History of the United States, and we still hope that he has not laid aside that idea. It is a work wanting to our literature, and that country has probably not yet produced a writer more able to perform it than the one to whom we thus pointedly allude.

His intentions were, however, frustrated by a singular incident. Towards the end of 1792 the Constitutional Society in London, of which he was a member, voted an address to the National Convention of France, and nominated Mr. Barlow and another person to go over and present it. As the relations of peace, which still existed and were kept up between the two countries, had not then been disturbed, these two gentlemen undertook the task, doubtless without foreseeing the consequences that resulted from that

measure.

measure. It soon after became the subject of legal inquiry, and is said to have given birth to the state trials which took place in the year 1794.

It cannot be doubted that more importance was annexed to this mission by his Majesty's ministers than it merited. However this may be, such was the critical state of affairs at this crisis, and so warm the resentment engendered against Mr. Barlow, that he thought it inexpedient for him to return at that time to this country. But he had originally departed with the design of being absent only during the space of three weeks. He had accordingly left his wife in London, and all his private concerns were in such a state of confusion as seemed to require his return here before he should leave Europe. France had not yet become the theatre of those crimes which have since tended greatly to render not only the perpetrators, but all those who had taken an active part in the revolution, odious. His acquaintances chiefly consisted of Gregoire, Condorcet, and other distinguished persons of the Gironde party, who have preserved their characters, although not many of them were able to preserve their lives during the tremendous times which ensued.

Being unable to return immediately to England, he sent for Mrs. Barlow, who joined him in France. In the mean time, he accompanied some of the deputies who were sent from the Convention on a mission to Savoy, a country, the inhabitants of which appeared eager to throw off the yoke of Victor Amadæus, King of Sardinia; a monarch become