To John Jay from Lansdowne, 31 July 1795
From Lansdowne
Bowood Park 31st July 1795
Dear Sir
I know that Sir Francis Baring has the honour to be well known to you, which of course is enough to reccommend his Son to you, but I flatter myself a Line from me will be no disservice to him, especially if I am to judge by the comparative weight, which your reccommendation will always have with me; he is in truth a most respectable young Man, & I have no doubt, if he lives, will prove a Man of the first emminence.1
I was exceedingly sorry at the suddenness of your departure from London which quite surprised me; I have been however indisposed almost ever since which with the Gout, which has still left my hand so lame, that I am obliged to avail myself of that of another, which I hope You will excuse; the course of our public Affairs is as little calculated to relieve the mind, as the unseasonable weather we have experienced is to relieve the Body; Mr Baring is very capable, indeed more so, than anybody I know, to give You the State of things both here & upon the Continent; My Son writes to me from Genoa, that he has heard there, that our old Friend Mr Reyneval has been called upon at Paris, & much consulted, but I do not find any tendency to peace upon our parts, but much the contrary, if any thing can evince the folly of the War, it is the Catastrophe which has lately taken place at Quiberon.
I beg my compliments to your Son, who I shall always remember with pleasure.2 I am with great Respect & esteem Dear Sir Your most faithfull humble Servt.
Lansdown
LS, NNC (EJ: 08182). For JJ’s response to Lansdowne, see his letter of 7 Jan. 1796, Dft, NNC (EJ: 08177).
1. Francis Baring, 1st Baronet (1740–1810), merchant banker and partner in Barings Bank (later John & Francis Baring & Co. and Baring Brothers & Co.) whom JJ had met in London during the Jay Treaty negotiations. Baring was close politically and personally to Lansdowne. In 1795, Baring and his associates in Hope & Co. sent Baring’s second son, Alexander, later first Baron Ashburton (1773–1848), aged 22, to the United States to purchase land from William Bingham as an investment. The younger Baring arrived in November 1795. In February 1796, he purchased 1,225,000 acres of land in Maine for £107,000, one-quarter for the Barings and three-quarters for the Hopes. He remained in the United States until 1801, providing commercial intelligence for his father. On 23 Aug. 1798, Alexander married Bingham’s daughter Ann Louisa (1782–1848), and his brother Henry (1777–1848) married Bingham’s daughter Maria in 1802. Barings and Hope & Co. were instrumental in funding the Louisiana Purchase. ODNBO.
2. PAJ, who met Lansdowne during the Jay Treaty mission to London. See, for example, PAJ Diary B, 11 Jan. 1795, AD, NNC.