Descripción
[1]p., 9¾ x 7¾ inches. Old fold lines, else near fine. Letter sent in reply by John Trumbull to a Mr. Groome, regarding a notice he had received, presumably in relation to payment of taxes of some kind. The letter reads: "Sir, I take the liberty of returning to you the enclosed Notice, unaccompanied with any of the statements which it requires. For the following reasons - I am an American; and during two years and a half, I have resided in this Country, in the public Character of one of the Commissioners for carrying into execution the 7th Article of the Treaty of Amity Commerce and Navigation, subsisting between his Britannic Majesty and the United States of America. I have always considered that Character as giving to me, that immunity from taxes & from military services, which is enjoyed by Foreign Ministers; in this persuasion I have not, during that time, paid taxes or performed any military service, and I do now conceive myself to be equally free from this, and from any future, Demand, of this nature, as I have been from the Past. I am sir, your most obedient humble servant, Jno. Trumbull." As Trumbull states in the letter, during this time he is in England working for the Jay Treaty Commission, which was organized to settle commercial and frontier questions between the Americans and the British. Trumbull's autobiography skips over the years from 1799 to 1804, and none of the other sources give hints as to what the issue regarding this notice may have been. It is obvious, however, that Trumbull felt the contents of the notice most certainly did not apply to him, given his diplomatic immunity status. A very nice autograph letter in Trumbull's neat and legible hand. Hailed as the official painter of the Revolution, Trumbull studied painting and art in England and France. The youngest son of the governor of Connecticut, the elder John Trumbull very much wanted his son to go into law. Trumbull did study the law, but gladly joined the fight against the British when the Revolution broke out. He eventually served as Washington's second aide-de-camp, having been brought to the General's attention through some very accurate drawings he had made of British gun emplacements. He rose to the rank of colonel as a deputy adjutant-general, but resigned the commission he finally received because it was dated three months late, a slight his honor could not tolerate. He refused to return to the law, finding it quite distasteful, and chose instead to pursue his true passion, art, against his family's wishes. Though he was never particularly wealthy in this pursuit, he did achieve a certain amount of success in his own lifetime. Among his most famous works are those commissioned in 1817 by Congress to adorn the Capitol building: "The Surrender of General Burgoyne at Saratoga," "The Surrender of General Cornwallis at Yorktown," "The Declaration of Independence," and "The Resignation of General Washington." DAB XIX, pp.11-15. Helen A. Cooper, JOHN TRUMBULL: THE HAND AND SPIRIT OF A PAINTER (Yale, 1982), pp.10-11. John Trumbull, THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF COLONEL JOHN TRUMBULL (Yale, 1953). N° de ref. del artículo WRCAM40199
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