The Artist as Diplomat

John Trumbull and the Jay Mission to England

RICHARD B. MORRIS and ENE SIRVET

. N June 15, 1794, John Jay, immediately upon his arrival
in London, wrote from his very fashionable and expen¬
sive apartments at the Royal Hotel in Pall Mall to
Britain's foreign secretary William Wyndham, Lord Grenville:
"Colonel Trumbull does me the favor of accompanying me as
Secretary, and I have brought with me a Son, who I am anxious
should form a right Estimate of whatever may be interesting to
our Country. Will you be so obliging, my Lord, as to permit me
to present them to you. . . ." Thus was the thirty-eight year old
American painter John Trumbull, and Jay's eldest son, the eight¬
een year old Peter Augustus Jay, who served as his father's per¬
sonal secretary, propelled onto the stage of diplomacy.

At the time of Jay's appointment in April as "Envoy Extraordi¬
nary to the Court of his British Majesty" to negotiate at a critical
juncture a treaty to settle the issues between England and the
United States, John Trumbull wanted to go abroad. Flis brother
Jonathan, a United States Senator from Connecticut, so informed
Jay. The day after Senate confirmation Jay asked Trumbull's
brother to extend the invitation to the artist to be his secretary on
the mission in consideration of his "personal abilities" and knowl¬
edge of "men and manners" due to his past residence in England.
"Nothing, Sir, could be more flattering to me, or more agreeable
to me in this present state of my personal as well as public Affairs,"
replied the artist. "But how much Honor (unexperienced as I am
in business of this kind) I may do to your country, to your Choice,
or to myself, I know not. If on this point, you are satisfied, I will
only say that I am ready to obey your orders."

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