also studied the laws of the tides and the best methods of scientific lighthouses, and in 1839 was sent on a special mission to Europe to examine into steam tactics, gunnery, lights, reflectors, and steam appliances. In England he met Lady Franklin, and, in France, Fresnel and Louis Philippe. On his return, at Perry's suggestion, the lights on Navesink Highlands were erected. It is those lights which the traveler last looks upon as he crosses the ocean to Europe.

In the fullest sense of the word, Commodore Perry was an educator of the navy. Whether in Africa, Europe, Japan, or at home, he was a tireless worker, who strove to keep officers and men busy, and up to the highest point of discipline and professional excellence. He spared neither himself nor others, yet was scrupulously just and impartial, ever as careful of the sailor as of the officer. As our own illustrious Admiral David D. Porter, in a private letter to the writer, says: "I consider that Commodore M. C. Perry was one of the first officers we ever had in our navy-far superior to his brother Oliver. He had not much ideality about him, but he had a stolid matter-of-fact way of doing things that pleased me mightily."

From 1840 to 1843, Perry lived at Tarrytown, New York. Building a cottage there, which he fitly named "The Moorings," he, for the first time since childhood, made the close acquaintance of Mother Earth, and reveled in the bucolic enjoyments of raising vegetables. Washington Irving was his neighbor and life-long friend. Coming to Brooklyn daily, being then in command of the Navy Yard, he was actively interested in the details of construction of the splendid steam-frigates Mississippi and Missouri, and perfecting the steam service both as to men and material. How necessary this was, is seen in the fact that in the Mexican campaign steamers were used in war for the first time, when, too, but very few officers, and Perry facile princeps, were able to command them. The aver age naval officer of that day must of necessity be dependent wholly on his engineer, and usually was even more concerned about his boilers and steam gauge than about his enemy's batteries.

In 1843 the Ashburton treaty was negotiated, by which England and the United States bound themselves to mutually assist in the extirpation of the African slave trade. Perry was appointed to command the onehundred-gun fleet which, under the American flag, was to assist in rubbing out"the sum of all villainies." At this time the "Broad-pennant," which figures so prominently in the literature of the time, was the insignia of a commodore's presence on the flag-ship of a squadron. A commodore then was only a captain with honors, though now, and since 1862, the rank is

66

recognized with emolument, as between captain and rear-admiral. Perry's broad pennant was hoisted on the Macedonian, a superb and oft-captured ship, which sailed equally well under French, British and American colors. For three years on the African coast Perry acted the part of a great missionary and civilizer." On one occasion at a parley with King Crack-O, the dusky chief attempting treachery seized the burly commodore, and attempted to drag him off and dispatch him with his ponderous iron spear. The bullet of a sergeant of marines saved the officer, and an economical use of powder and ball from the sailors made the coast safe for a thousand miles. With tireless energy our missionaries and teachers were protected,

Done at Kana

a gaira

this thirty first day of March in the Year of our Lord Jesus Christ. One thousand eight hundred

fifty four Year, third mouth.

of Kayer the Seventh day

and Third_dan

[THE LAST CLAUSE OF THE FIRST JAPANESE TREATY, WITH SIGNATURE, TRACED FROM THE ORIGINAL TREATY

IN THE STATE DEPARTMENT AT WASHINGTON.

and the Portuguese and other foreign slave-peddlers were ferreted out, and the world's stock of villainy considerably reduced. The ocean slave trade as an institution soon ceased to exist.

Scarcely had the broad pennant of the commodore been lowered at Brooklyn again, than the Mexican War broke out, and in response to his eager offer to enter active service, Perry was ordered to the Gulf. The squadron was divided into two divisions of steam and sail vessels, and Perry was ordered to command those that carried their motor within them. No sooner was the name of Matthew Calbraith Perry announced as leader than the young officers, especially the graduates of the School of Gunnery, were aflame with desire to serve under him. To reach his post, Perry took outside quarters on the Vixen, and not long after his arrival, Commodore Connor retiring, he was given command of the largest squadron which up to this

time had ever assembled under the American flag. General Scott's army had been disembarked by Commodore Connor in magnificent style at Vera Cruz without the loss of a man, and the circumvallation and siege of the city-the key to the conquest of the whole country-had begun. But the army had nothing but a few light cannon and mortars. These killed numerous women and children, spoiled the house and church roofs and made promenading in the city disagreeable, while the fighting men were safe and walls remained intact. With provisions, Vera Cruz might have held out for six months. One benefit of a navy is that it is a permanent fortification, constantly ready, and yet its heavy batteries are movable. Little as he liked, much as he disliked, Winfield Scott-a great man in great things, a little man in little things-made request of the commodore for a set of heavy navy guns to breach the walls, proposing, however, to man them with his own artillerists, that the army might win all the glory. Would the commander of the naval forces grant the general of the army's request? The reply of Perry was characteristic, "Certainly, general, but I must fight them." Scott had to yield the point, and Perry at once rowed in person under the stern of each of the ships, announcing that the navy should take part in the siege. The naval battery was built and the heaviest and most efficient artillery then known in warfare was set at 800 yards from the walls. The guns had to be dragged through the sand three miles, and the engineer of the redoubt was Robert E. Lee. The naval captains in command day by day were Aulick and Mayo, and among the officers were Raphael Semmes, Alex. Slidell Mackenzie, and many others who have since made their mark. The chaparral was cleared away and the battery unmasked and set in activity. The accuracy, rapidity and force of the firing were astonishing, and exceeded even the anticipations of the naval officers themselves. It may be safely said that the naval battery at Vera Cruz attained the highest point of excellence in gunnery which up to that date had ever been reached. In spite of the concentrated fire of the city forts and the castle of St. Juan de Ulloa, the Mexican walls were within thirty-six hours, first pierced like a colander, and then breached to the width of a hay-wagon. Every Mexican gun within range was silenced, and the way opened for the army to enter. Most of the blood spilled and lives lost on our side were inside the naval battery. It was proposed to form a storming party, and the sailors and marines were to form the forlorn hope. But the enemy cried "hold, enough.” The white flag entered the American camp, and the city surrendered. With only the army mortars and field guns, the city might have held out for six months, or at least till the vomito and the norther, yellow fever and storms, had done their work.

The heavy ordnance from the ships settled the question in two days, broke the seals from the road to the capital, and held the coast, while the army moved to the salubrious highlands.

Here let us pause-we unmilitary folks who know how history is sometimes written, but who cannot always get at the truth, because it lies so deep down in the well, and the surface waters cover it-and let us see how the naval history of the Mexican war has been thus far treated. Read the contemporary newspapers, and you will find the praises of our army in Mexico sounded without stint,

while the navy receives chiefly

sneers and editorial castigation. Consult the average popular histories and I have looked into dozens and you wonder whether we had any navy at this time. Read-and this is the worst-even Winfield Scott's official report. Hear him while he blows the Triton's horn for his soldiers and forgets not the "magna pars fui" for himself. The sole reference in a voluminous report to the navy's assistance is limited to an ambiguous

line or two "the able co-opera

tion of the United States squadron successively under the command of Commodores Connor

**

潛殿氏

铝卷五疌

THE FOUR JAPANESE SIGNATURES TO THE FIRST JAPANESE TREATY,
FROM THE ORIGINAL IN THE STATE DEPARTMENT.

HAYASHI-DAIGAKU-NOKAMI.

IDO, PRINCE OF TSUS-SIMA.

IZAWA, PRINCE OF MIMASAKI.

UDONO, MEMBER OF THE BOARD OF REVENUE.

and Perry." And mark again how a great man can be little where you expect him to be great. In his autobiography he neither once refers to the naval battery, nor mentions the name of Commodore Perry. Further, on the inscriptions on the trophies of Vera Cruz placed by him in the Museum at West Point no mention of Perry's work was made. The navy was again utterly ignored, and only on the remonstrance of the naval chief was justice partially done, and the inscription enlarged to include both arms of the service.

Well may we declare that the naval history of that war has not been written. Yet Vera Cruz does not end the record of what our sailors accomplished. Laguna, Tobasco, and Tuspan were attacked and captured

by Commodore Perry, who led his men in person. Whether on the quarterdeck or in the face of the rifle-fire from chaparral, or among the whizzing balls from the batteries, he showed the same personal courage which marks all the Perrys from the Quaker to the Congressman. In addition to his warlike exploits, he administered the ports, policed the coast, examined the isthmus of Tehuantepec for the trans-continental canal of the future, and secured the sea-board provinces so perfectly, that Scott's inland campaign was made a success. Understanding the art of hygiene as thoroughly as that of manoeuvring a fleet, he saved his command from the scourge of yellow fever, so that comparatively few filled those "hospitable graves" to which they were invited both in congressional rhetoric and by the copper bullets of the Mexicans.

No sooner was the commodore at home, than the vexed question of the Canadian fisheries loomed up, and he was sent by President Fillmore into the North Atlantic to adjust the question. A collision was avoided, there was no war with England, and the way was paved for that final arbitration which has been the triumph of our day, whether in the sum we first gained or secondly lost. At his home in Tarrytown he now began to study the question of opening Japan. He imported books and charts from Europe; for the country which is now our nearest western neighbor was then little more to us than a name. On account of preoccupation in this new enterprise, he declined the presidency of the Light House Board, the pioneer of whose organization he had been. As the Secretary of State, Daniel Webster, was busy with other matters, and seemed to delay instructions to the commodore-since the delicate business of opening a jealous and secluded nation had no precedent in American diplomacy-Perry wrote them himself. He forwarded them to the Secretary of State, and they were approved, almost without an erasure or interlineation. Thus armed, Perry went forth like the fair prince to open the barred castle of Thornrose. It was with a kiss, and not with a blow, that the sleeping maiden of the EastPerry could strike from the shoulder, his guns were the guns of Vera Cruz, and his Paixhan shells could have laid Yedo in ashes in half a day; but he chose rather to out-Chesterfield these Oriental Chesterfields in the minuteness, severity and suavity of his etiquette. With time, with patience, with firmness, with delicacy equal to that demanded in a firstclass flirtation, with sublime attention to details, with a terrible earnestness that brooked no trifling, Perry succeeded. Thornrose awoke, her warders drew back the bolts, and opened the doors. Where before we felt the thorn we now possess the rose. Into the minutiae of that diplomatic vic. tory we do not propose to enter. The story is known to the world. It is

ern sea was won.