J. 177
Ray’s American Tars in Tripoli.
12
mo.
1815 Catalogue, page 13. no. 82, as above.
RAY,
William.
Horrors of Slavery: or, The American Tars in Tripoli. Containing an account of the loss and capture of the United States frigate
Philadelphia; treatment and sufferings of the prisoners . . . public transactions of the United States with that Regency,
including Gen. Eaton’s Expedition . . . Written during upwards of nineteen months’ imprisonment and vassalage among the Turks.
By William Ray . . .
Troy: Printed by
Oliver Lyon, for the Author,
1808.
HT1345 .R3
First Edition. 12mo. 150 leaves: A-Z
6 (in a 24 letter alphabet), Aa
6, the last a blank: Z
3 is a blank with the sig. Z
2 faintly printed; Z
4 has the title for:
Poetry, published in The Albany Register, during the summer of 1807. By William Ray
. The copyright slip is pasted on the back of the first title-page; woodcut at the head of the
Exordium, and on the first page of
Poetry; several leaves foxed and one leaf damaged by damp.
Original sheep with the Library of Congress 1815 bookplate. Initialled by Jefferson at sigs. I and T, a minor correction in ink.
Jefferson’s copy was originally a presentation from the author. On March 24, 1809, immediately after his retirement from office,
Jefferson wrote to the President, James Madison: “
I inclose you several letters which must have been intended for the office, & not the person named on the back . . . Among
these letters is one from Ray author of the War of Tripoli. he sent me one of his books, & in answering him with thanks I
used the complimentary phrase he quotes. he lays hold of it to beg 100.D. of which I shall not be the dupe. I inclose it to
you, as I think he has too much genius for the low station in which he was in the navy . . .
”
The book, which for the most part is in the form of a diary, in prose interspersed with verse, contains references to the
negotiations of Jefferson, as President of the United States, with the Bashaw of Tripoli, and quotes in full the letter, dated
May 21 [1801], in which he suggests to the Bey that the apparent truculence of his letter of the 25th of May last, was rather
than in “
rendering into another language those expressions . . . which seem to imply purposes inconsistent with the faith of that transaction,
your intentions have been misconstrued . . .
”
An original manuscript draft of this letter by Jefferson is in the Jefferson Papers in the Library of Congress.
The first poem in the
Poetry at the end, dated Amsterdam, July 4, 1807, is entitled:
Independence. Tune--“Anacreon in Heaven”
[The Star-Spangled Banner], of which the second stanza reads:
| While Jefferson o’er us sublimely sits head, |
| No treason the league-union’d states can dissever; |
| Of freedom the guardian--of tyrants the dread, |
| His name will grow dearer and dearer forever; |
| When worlds cannot save-- |
| Green garlands shall wave, |
| And Liberty blossom o’er Jefferson’s grave, |
| To prove nature’s equal eternal decree-- |
| Heav’n ne’er form’d us slaves--man was born to live free. |
The rhymed
Exordium has a tribute to Jefferson in 17 lines beginning:
Amongst our worthies, count as one,
The great, the peerless JEFFERSON.
This was one of the missing books at the time of the sale to Congress in 1815. On March 28, 1815, Jefferson sent a report
to Milligan of the missing books, including “
Ray’s American tars in Tripoli. 12
mo. printed in the U.S.
”, with a request that he try to get copies and bring them in.
On December 7, 1815 George Watterston wrote to Jefferson: “. . . I find, on reexamining the book [i.e. the catalogue] that there are two works which have not been received viz--“Rays
American Tars in Tripoli & Morris’ Accounts”. These are the only deficiencies I know of . . .”
This letter was endorsed by Jefferson:
Morris. C. 24. 439.
Ray’s Tripoli. C. 2. 82. marked--
On March 2, 1816, Jefferson wrote to Watterston: “
. . . I remember that Ray’s Tripoli C. 2. 82. was missing . . .””
