Born at Reading in Connecticut, 1755; died in December 1812, in
Russian Poland.
He served as chaplain to a regiment during the American War of
Independence, and attained some celebrity by the patriotic songs he
composed.
In 1788 he abandoned the clerical profession and sailed for Europe as
agent of the Ohio Company. He settled in Paris, where he identified
himself with the Revolutionary party, and was intimate with the leaders
of the Girondins.
In 1791 he published several pamphlets and poems in favour of the
Revolution, and in 1792 he addressed “A letter to the National
Convention” begging them to abolish royalty, and presented in person
an address to that Assembly from English Republicans. When the Abbé
Gregoire went to Savoy on a special mission from the Convention, Barlow
accompanied him and made many speeches at Chambéry against the King of
Savoy.
On his return to Paris he was appointed American Consul at Tripoli;
in 1805, after another long stay in Paris, he returned to America; in
1811 he was sent as American Minister to Paris. The following year
he started to join the Duke de Bassano in Russia, which the French
had just invaded, but falling ill on his way to Wilna he expired in a
miserable village near Cracow.