But when the Bashaw of Tripoli imprisoned Bainbridge, and even after he
had seen the frigate he had captured disappear in flames and smoke, he
found he was not yet rid of Jersey sailors. Some months afterwards, when
Commodore Preble was still off the Barbary Coast, there was a vessel in
the squadron called the "Nautilus," which was commanded by a young
Jerseyman named Somers. He was a brave sailor, and had already
distinguished himself on several occasions.

Fighting the Bey was a good deal like trying to get at a rat in a hole,
and, although there were some good fights in the Tripolitan waters, the
fleet did not meet with much success at first. But the Americans were
very anxious to do something effective, for at that time Bainbridge and
his crew were imprisoned in the town, and no one knew what hardships and
cruelties they might be enduring.

After much consideration it was thought that a good way to strike a
decisive blow would be to send a vessel loaded with shells and gunpowder
into the harbor of Tripoli by night, and explode her there. This might
result, it was thought, in the destruction of the forts and ships, and
possibly part of the town, and so terrify the Bey that he would come to
terms. Lieutenant Somers, who had been foremost in contriving this
project, volunteered to command the expedition. The whole affair was so
extremely dangerous that no one was ordered to take part in it, and all
those who wished to go went of their own free will.

The "Intrepid," the small vessel on which Decatur and Lawrence had
sailed to burn the "Philadelphia," was still with the fleet, and this
was heavily loaded with explosives of all kinds. The plan was, that
after nightfall the "Intrepid" should be sailed as near as possible to
the town, and that, after lighting the slow match which communicated
with the terrible cargo, those on board should take to two small boats
which they had in tow, and row out of the harbor as fast as possible,
leaving there the "Intrepid" to hurl fire and destruction into the
enemy's strongholds.

Before Somers started out on this perilous voyage, he addressed the few
men who were to accompany him, and told them that he wanted no one to go
who would not be willing to blow himself up rather than be captured. It
was well known that the Tripolitans were short of ammunition, and if
they suspected what sort of a vessel it was which floated by night into
the harbor, they would board her and capture her, if it should be
possible, and thus gain possession of a great quantity of powder and
shell. Rather than that this should happen, Somers told his men that he
would blow up the little vessel with all on board, if the enemy should
take it. But no man flinched; and after they had all taken leave of
their friends on the fleet, as if they had been going to execution, the
"Intrepid" slowly sailed away into the harbor, and it was not long
before she was lost to view in the mists of the night.

But after a time it became apparent to those on the American fleet that
she was not lost to view to those in the harbor, for the guns of the
fort began to fire on her. Everybody who had a glass kept it fixed on
that part of the harbor where it was supposed Somers and his little
vessel must be, and in course of time they saw a light rapidly moving
as if some one were carrying a lantern from one end of the vessel to the
other. Then in less than a minute there was a blaze and a roar, and the
whole harbor of Tripoli was lighted up as if there had been an explosion
of fireworks. Sparks and fiery fragments flew into the air, and the
waters seemed to be shaken as if by an earthquake. Then all was silent
and dark.

Of course, the "Intrepid" had blown up, but how or why nobody on the
fleet could know; nor did Somers and his brave crew ever come back to
tell them. Some people thought, and still think, that the "Intrepid" was
about to be captured, and that Somers carried out his resolution to blow
up the vessel under him rather than allow it to be taken. Others suppose
that a red-hot cannon ball from one of the forts may have set the vessel
on fire; but the truth no one knows. We only know that this brave young
Jerseyman went out to his fate determined to do his duty, no matter what
happened, and that he died in doing it.




SEA FIGHTS WITH A NOBLER FOE.


The war with the Barbary pirates was all sorts of a war. Sometimes there
was fighting, and sometimes there was none; and after Bainbridge was
released, he was engaged part of the time in the mercantile service
until the war with Great Britain broke out in 1812. Early in this war,
Bainbridge took command of the "Constitution," the same vessel which, a
few months before, had had a fight with the "GuerriГЁre," in which the
latter was captured. It is a good deal better, sometimes, to fight with
a strong enemy who will stand up bravely in front of you, and let you
see what he is, than to contend with a mean little one who is
continually getting out of the way and bobbing up at unexpected places,
and making it very difficult either to get at him or to know when he is
going to get at you. Consequently there is no doubt that Bainbridge much
preferred to do battle with the naval power of Great Britain rather than
with the pirates of Barbary.

He sailed down the coast of South America, and there he met the "Java,"
a British frigate. He had a hard fight and a long fight, and the end of
it was that the "Java" hauled down her flag after having a great
portion of her crew killed and wounded; and, as she was so thoroughly
shattered and broken up by the guns of the "Constitution," the victors
could not take her home as a prize, but were obliged to burn her.

If any one had been inclined to deride the Jerseyman at sea, after what
had happened to Bainbridge in the Mediterranean, he changed his opinion
after the affair with the "Java." In fact, a gold medal was voted to the
gallant captain by Congress. When the war with Great Britain was over,
Bainbridge took a squadron to the Mediterranean to try his hand again at
protecting American commerce, and humbling the pirates; but fortune did
not favor him this time, for Decatur had already settled the matter with
the Dey, the Bey, and the rest of them, and peace was declared before
Bainbridge arrived on the scene. Our Jersey sailor did not do any more
fighting, but he held high positions in our navy, and died an honored
commodore.

Years after the affair with the "Philadelphia," when war had begun
between the United States and Great Britain, there was a great chance
for America to show what she could do on the sea. Then the fighting men
in ships were more important to the country than the fighting men on
shore; and Captain Lawrence, our fighting sailor from Burlington, showed
himself among the foremost of our naval heroes.

Very early in the war he was in command of the "Hornet," a snappish
vessel with more stings than one, and while cruising in South American
waters he met the British man-of-war "Peacock." Now, when a hornet and
a peacock quarrel, lively times are likely to ensue, and so it happened
in this case.

The two vessels began by endeavoring to get into favorable positions,
each anxious to rake the deck of the other. The "Peacock" did not spread
her tail, but she spread her sail, and the "Hornet" buzzed this way and
that, with her stings ready for action as soon as the proper moment
should arrive. When at last they actually began to fight, the battle was
a terrible one, such as was possible only in those days of wooden ships.
But a short distance apart, they poured into each other heavy shot and
small shot; musketry and cannon cracked and roared, while the clouds of
smoke nearly hid the vessels from each other. This tremendous
bombardment lasted about a quarter of an hour, and at the end of that
time the "Peacock" struck her colors and surrendered. The captain and a
good many of the crew had been killed, and the vessel was in such a
demolished condition that there was not time to get all the prisoners
and the wounded on board the "Hornet." The officers and men of the
American vessel labored hard to save those on board their unfortunate
enemy; but the "Peacock" sank before this could be entirely
accomplished, and several of the British sailors, with three of those
from the "Hornet," sank with her.

Captain Lawrence was not only a brave man, but he was a very kind one.
He treated the officers and crew of the "Peacock" so well, even
providing them with clothes (for they had no time to bring anything from
their own vessel), that when the prisoners reached New York, the
officers publicly thanked him in a paper which they drew up and signed.
This victory, following our other brilliant exploits at sea, gave
Lawrence great fame both here and abroad.

A few months after the battle between the "Hornet" and the "Peacock,"
Lawrence was again the hero of a great sea fight. The coast of New
England was blockaded by a British fleet, and in the harbor of Boston
lay the frigate "Chesapeake," commanded by Captain Lawrence. He had been
recently appointed to this vessel, and in fact had been in command only
ten days when he received a challenge to fight a naval duel.

This proposition came from the captain of the British frigate "Shannon,"
one of the blockading fleet, about the same size and strength as the
"Chesapeake." The British captain sent a very polite letter to Captain
Lawrence; for when people propose to fight duels, whether on land or
sea, they are always extremely courteous before they begin to try to
kill each other. The British captain said, that, as he understood the
"Chesapeake" was now ready to go to sea, he would like her to come out
and fight the "Shannon" for the honor of their respective flags. He
offered the American captain choice of fighting ground inside of certain
limits, and promised that the rest of the British fleet should keep far
away, so that Captain Lawrence need have no fear of being troubled by
any vessel except the "Shannon."

When Captain Lawrence read this challenge, he was as willing to go out
and fight the duel as the British captain was anxious to have him do
so; but he knew that his vessel was not nearly so well prepared as was
the "Shannon." The British ship had been at sea for a long time, she was
manned by a crew of brave sailors, and her captain was well acquainted
with his ship and his men.

The case was very different with the "Chesapeake." Lawrence had been on
board scarcely long enough to find out what sort of a ship she was, but
he had been on board long enough to discover that her crew was a very
poor one. Many of them were Portuguese, they had not been well drilled,
and, worse than that, they did not want to fight. Few of them had been
in the service long enough to have a taste for naval warfare; and if
they had had their way, they would have let the "Shannon" lie outside
until her captain grew gray, before they would go out and accept his
challenge. The harbor was much more to their mind.

But Captain Lawrence had no such idea. He accepted the challenge without
hesitation, and prepared to go out and fight the duel. He would have
been glad enough if he had had a good crew, but he would do his best
with the crew he had. He put his ship in fighting trim, and his men in
the best order possible, and early on a summer afternoon the
"Chesapeake" went out to meet the "Shannon," which was boldly flying the
flag of St. George.

In those days, when men-of-war, as well as all other ships, were sailing
vessels, the tactics of naval combats were very different from what they
are now. Each of the commanders of vessels was obliged to think, not
only of what his enemy was about, but what the wind was about. A steamer
can take what position she pleases; she can steam far away from her
enemy, or she can use her long-range guns, or dash down upon her to
break in her sides with her ram. But in the old sailing times, maneuvers
were very much more difficult, and if the winds ever desired to stop a
sea fight, it often happened that they could do it simply by dying away
themselves.

The two ships sailed this way and that, each trying to get a position
which would be good for herself and bad for the other; and at last, when
they were very close, so near that their captains might have talked with
each other, their cannon began to speak. From their mouths came rolling
of thunder. From each ship, volleys of great shot swept the decks of the
other, while the rattle of musketry became incessant. This tremendous
fire was kept up for nearly ten minutes, and in this short time the
"Chesapeake" lost nearly one hundred men, killed and wounded, on her
upper deck.

Still she had the best of the fight, for in a few minutes she would have
taken a position in which she could have raked the decks of the enemy.
But unfortunately some of her rigging was shot away, and she could not
take advantage of the wind, and did not obey her helm. Nothing could be
worse than this; for, with sails flapping wildly in the wind, precision
of sailing, so necessary in a sea fight, was absolutely impossible.

But not only was the "Chesapeake" unable to take the position she
wanted, but she could not get out of the way, and she drifted against
the "Shannon;" and the rigging of the two vessels became entangled, with
the "Chesapeake" exposed to the full fire of the guns of the other ship.
In this case there was only one thing to be done, and Captain Lawrence
was the brave man to do it. He must board the "Shannon," and he and his
men must fight her captain and his men hand to hand. There was no use
trying to fight any longer with the "Chesapeake's" cannon.

Instantly Lawrence ordered the boarders to be called on deck, and he was
ready to put himself at their head and dash on board the "Shannon." He
was slightly wounded, but he did not care for that. But now came another
misfortune. The man who should have called the boarders to action by the
roll of the drum was not on duty, and the bugler was ordered to sound
the call. He was so frightened by this awful fight that he ran and hid
himself, and when he was pulled out from his retreat, he had not breath
enough to blow his bugle. Some of the men were sent below to shout for
the boarders and call them on deck,--a very slow procedure at such a
time; but before any of them arrived, the brave Lawrence was stretched
upon the deck by a musket ball.

The captain of the "Chesapeake" was not immediately killed, but he was
mortally wounded; and when he was carried below, he showed that, near
death as he was, he was still the bravest man on board. He thought
nothing of himself, he thought only of his country and his ship; and his
last orders were, "Don't give up the ship. Fight her till she sinks."

But it was not much use trying to fight the "Shannon" any longer; there
were no officers on the deck of the "Chesapeake," except two midshipmen,
and the British captain saw that he had a good chance to board his
enemy. So his crew were soon clambering over the sides of the American
vessel. Some wounded officers rushed up from below to help repel this
attack. Many of the American sailors fought bravely even at these great
odds; but some of the crew, especially the Portuguese, basely deserted
their comrades and hurried below. The fight on the deck of the
"Chesapeake" was not a long one; and very soon the stars and stripes
were hauled down from her masthead, and the British colors hoisted in
their place.

So ended the great duel between the "Chesapeake" and the "Shannon," and
the last words of the brave Lawrence were never forgotten. "Don't give
up the ship" became the watchword of the navy.

After this bloody sea fight, which lasted only fifteen minutes, but in
which nearly two hundred and fifty men were killed and wounded, the
"Shannon" sailed away for Halifax, taking with her the "Chesapeake,"
with the dead body of its brave commander on board. When the two vessels
entered the harbor, Lawrence lay upon the quarter-deck, wrapped in the
great flag of the "Chesapeake," while all the men on the British vessels
in the harbor manned their yards, and shouted a wild welcome to the
victorious "Shannon." But the flag which floated from the masthead of
the British frigate held no more honorable position than that which
covered the dead body of the American hero.




THE STORY OF THE TELEGRAPH AND THE STEAMBOAT.


It will always be a source of commendable pride to the people of New
Jersey, that their State was never backward in the political, social, or
mechanical progress of this country. In fact, several of the most
important steps in great movements for popular good have been made upon
the soil of the State.

Among the claims to preГ«minence which New Jersey can make in this
respect is the claim that the first telegraphic message that was ever
transmitted through a wire was sent at the Iron Works at Speedwell, near
Morristown, at which place Professor Morse and Mr. Vail, son of the
proprietor of the works, were making experiments with the telegraph. The
first public message was sent more than six years later from Washington
to Baltimore; but the message at Speedwell stands first, in the point of
priority, of all the dispatches by magnetic telegraph which the world
has known.

When Professor Morse conceived the idea of communicating between distant
points by means of electricity, he was not able to carry out experiments
for himself, and having made the acquaintance of Alfred Vail, son of the
proprietor of the Iron Works at Speedwell, he gave up his business as a
portrait painter and went to Speedwell, where he and Mr. Vail worked
hard in experimenting with the new invention. At last, when they thought
they had brought it to such a point that they could make practical use
of it, they determined to try to send a message through three miles of
wire. If that could be done, they believed they could send one to any
distance desirable.

Currents of electricity had been sent through long lengths of wire by
Mr. Morse in previous experiments, but in these cases nothing more was
attempted than signals; no words or message had been sent, and the
proposed experiment, therefore, was of great importance. Its success or
failure meant success or failure to the magnetic telegraph.

The upper story of a house on the grounds of the Iron Works was one very
large room, and round the walls of this they stretched their three miles
of wire, until the room was encircled by lines of wire, one above
another, but nowhere touching. At one end of this wire was placed a
telegraphic instrument, and at the other, another; and with great
anxiety, although with strong faith in the success of their work, Mr.
Vail sent to Mr. Morse the first real telegraphic message, which ran
thus: "A patient waiter is no loser."

The house in which this first message was sent is still standing, near
the Whippany River, not far out of Morristown. Alfred Vail and Mr.
Morse, assisted by the advice of Professor Joseph Henry, superintendent
of the Smithsonian Institution at Washington, continued to work upon the
telegraph at Speedwell; and as Mr. Vail furnished the capital, and did
a great deal of the most important mechanical work, a large portion of
the credit for this wonderful invention is due to him; and the whole
system of telegraphy which now encircles and animates the world may be
said to have sprung from the Iron Works near Morristown.

Another great invention, as important as the telegraph, made its first
appearance before the world in New Jersey. In the frozen waters about
the North Pole, on the rivers of Africa, in the seas of China and Japan,
on the stormy ocean about Cape Horn, and in almost all navigable waters
of the world, are steamboats and steamships,--floating palaces on rivers
and lakes, steam yachts and great Atlantic liners, swift war cruisers
and line-of-battle ships like floating forts of iron and steel; but the
first vessel which was ever propelled by steam paddled its way along the
Delaware River, and was made in New Jersey.

In 1787 John Fitch, who was a native of Connecticut, but who lived at
that time in Trenton, N.J., where he had been a clock maker and
manufacturer of arms, constructed a boat which was moved through the
water by means of a steam engine on board. He had long been working on
this invention, making experiments, and endeavoring to obtain assistance
from people with money. He had applied to Congress to give him the
exclusive right to the great results of his work if he should be
successful; but this aid was refused.

New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, however, gave him the right for
fourteen years to propel vessels upon the waters of those States; and
thus encouraged he built the first steamboat. This little vessel was
imperfect in many ways, and its highest speed was four miles an hour;
but still it was a steamboat, and it was the first that man had ever
seen. Of course, it attracted a good deal of attention; and after it had
been proved that it could move without sails or oars, and that it was
not dangerous, people began to believe in it, and a steamboat company
was organized by Fitch. Another boat was built, which carried passengers
who paid their fare, and afterwards a larger boat was constructed, in
the hope that a good passenger traffic might be established.

We cannot wonder that there should have been a desire among enterprising
people to establish some better method of transportation in travel than
existed in the early days of New Jersey. At first the only roads in the
State were narrow paths, sometimes more than fifty miles long, but only
wide enough for the easy passage of a man on horseback. After that,
better roads gradually came into use; and in the beginning of the
eighteenth century there was a "stage wagon," intended for the carriage
of merchandise, not passengers, which made a trip every two weeks from
Perth Amboy to Philadelphia. This was considered as a great public
convenience; because, before that, there was no regular method of
shipping merchandise from New York to Philadelphia, except by sea.

After a time, stage wagons, which carried passengers, began to run in
some parts of New Jersey; and in 1750 a grand stage line was
established, intended especially for the transportation of travelers. In
an advertisement the proprietor of this line announced to all persons
"who have occasion to transport themselves, goods, stores, or
merchandise from New York to Philadelphia," that he would take them in
"forty-eight hours less than by any other line," and he promised to "use
the people in the best manner." It is stated that this trip by land and
water between New York and Philadelphia lasted seven or eight days,
although it now seems almost impossible to travel so slowly.

Sixteen years afterward, a new and improved line of stage wagons was
established, which were faster and very much more comfortable than any
which had yet been known. They were actually mounted on springs, and it
was promised that the trip would be made in two days in summer, and
three days in winter. These stagecoaches were so much swifter than
anything else of the kind ever known in the State, that they were called
"flying machines."

Fifteen years afterward, the price of conveyance between New York and
Philadelphia on one of these "flying machines" was forty shillings in
gold or silver for each passenger, and as much for each hundred and
fifty pounds of baggage.

The mail facilities in those days were as poor as the methods for
transportation; and we can get an idea of the postal arrangements from
an extract from a New York paper published in 1704, which states, "In
the pleasant month of May, the last storm put our Pennsylvania post a
week behind, and has not yet com'd in." But although this was rather
slow communication, New Jersey was better off than many of the civilized
communities of the day; for she had a regular postal system, which had
been invented by Colonel John Hamilton.

Colonel Hamilton's system was considered so good, that the British
Government gave him a patent for it, and adopted it for the mother
country, it being considered much better than the system then in use.
The mails were generally carried in canvas bags by men on horseback; and
this method of transportation was known as the "express" as a horse and
his rider could go much more rapidly than even the best "flying
machines." Mail service in New Jersey greatly improved before the end of
the century.

But it was very hard to persuade the public to encourage Fitch's new
enterprise, even although it promised cheaper and more rapid
transportation than any methods in use; and of course it was still
harder, from the fact that the new steamboats had not yet gone faster
than a sailing vessel with a good breeze. And so, notwithstanding the
value of a system of navigation by which vessels could be made to move
whether there was a breeze or not, and in any direction no matter how
the wind was blowing, there was very little support to the new
steamboat, and the enterprise was so unprofitable that it was given up.

Nearly ten years after Fitch's largest steamboat had been sold as a
piece of useless property, Robert Fulton made a steamboat which ran on
the Hudson River at the rate of five miles an hour; and after this the
practicability of steam navigation began to be slowly acknowledged. But
the waters of New Jersey were the first which were ever ruffled by the
paddles of a steamboat.

New Jersey has another claim to distinction in connection with steam
navigation, for at the Speedwell Iron Works were manufactured some of
the larger portions of the machinery of the "Savannah," the first
steamship which ever crossed the ocean.




NEW JERSEY AND THE LAND OF GOLD.


There was another famous American sailor who came out of New Jersey, who
was perhaps of as much value to his country as any other naval
commander, although he was not the hero of any great sea fights.

This was Robert F. Stockton, who was born in Princeton, and who entered
the navy early in life. He became an excellent officer and a great
fighter. His disposition to do battle showed itself not only in leading
men into action, but in doing a great deal of fighting himself. He
distinguished himself in several naval combats during the war with
Algiers. He commanded the "Spitfire" during this war, and, besides
taking one of the enemy's vessels in an ordinary naval combat, he
captured an Algerine brig, one might almost say, with his own hands.
With as many men as a small boat could carry, he left his vessel, rowed
to this brig, and at the head of his bold sailors boarded her,
vanquished the crew, and carried her off as a prize.

He was afterwards transferred to a larger vessel, and was stationed for
a time at Gibraltar. There was a very bad feeling at that time between
the American naval officers and those of Great Britain. The War of 1812
was over; but the British were not inclined to treat the officers of the
United States Navy with the respect which the latter thought was due to
them. Stockton was not a man to stand still and allow himself to be
treated disrespectfully; and whenever he received anything that seemed
like an insult from a British officer, he was ready to fight that
officer, whoever he might be. It is said that at one time he challenged
all the officers in Gibraltar to meet him in single combat, one after
another, and he actually did engage in duels with several of them.

During the British war and the Algerine war, Stockton distinguished
himself in various ways, both on land and sea. But in 1821 he undertook
a very important enterprise in Africa. Many naval vessels had gone from
the United States to Africa, but none of them on an errand such as this.
Our gallant Jersey captain did not sail to pay tribute, bombard cities,
sink vessels, humble African potentates, or to shed African blood; he
went on an errand of charity and humanity.

He sailed from America in the interests of the Colonization Society, and
his object was to make arrangements on the west coast of Africa for the
establishment of a colony, to be composed of negroes who had been slaves
in the United States, but who had obtained their freedom. There were
many humane people in the United States who believed that the negroes
who had been set free from slavery would be much happier and more likely
to prosper in their native land, or in the land of their ancestors, than
in the United States.

In company with an agent of this society, Stockton sailed for the west
coast of Africa in command of an armed schooner called the "Alligator;"
and when he arrived at his destination, he took upon himself nearly all
the difficult work of selecting territory suitable for the purposes
desired, of buying land from the savage natives, of making them
understand the character of the settlers who were coming to Africa and
of the powerful nation who intended to protect them. He made treaties of
commerce and friendship with the ignorant Africans, who, until he came,
scarcely knew what was meant by a treaty.

The performance of these complicated and difficult duties required a man
of courage and diplomatic ability, who could take things as they came,
and who was always ready to act promptly in sudden emergencies. Stockton
proved himself to be that man, and he established in the native land of
the negro a country to which the Africans who had once been slaves in
the United States might freely go, carrying with them all that they had
learned of civilization in this country, and where they might live
without fear of reГ«nslavement by the warlike tribes, whose principal
business in life then was to capture their fellow-countrymen, and sell
them into slavery.

This new country, which was called Liberia, was at first a colony of the
United States. It grew and prospered, and in 1847 it became an
independent nation, and soon after was recognized as such by Great
Britain and the United States; and since then it has made treaties with
most of the European countries.

Thus was established the new nation of Liberia, and it is not likely
that there was a man in the United States who could have accomplished
this great work better than the fighting sailor from Princeton.

After having finished the Liberian business on land, Stockton did some
work at sea more in the line of a naval commander. While sailing along
the coast, the "Alligator" was sighted by a Portuguese war vessel, the
"Marianna Flora," who mistook her for a pirate, and determined to
capture her. But when the "Marianna" got near enough, and opened fire on
the supposed pirate, she found that the work she had undertaken was very
different from what she had expected. To speak figuratively, the
"Alligator" lashed her tail, opened her jaws, and began to fight with
such fury, that in twenty minutes the "Marianna" was beaten and
captured. Stockton put her under the command of one of his own officers
with an American crew, and sent her away as a prize to America.

The government of Portugal, when it heard what had happened, declared,
that, as their country and the United States were not at war, our Jersey
sailor had no right to take one of their vessels; but, as it was
asserted on the other side that one of their vessels had first tried to
take his, there seemed to be a good deal of justice in what had been
done. However, the matter was settled by his exoneration from all blame
in the matter, and the return of the "Marianna" to Portugal.

Some time later, the "Alligator" fell in with a French slave ship and
captured her; and it is stated that the legal proceedings which
followed this capture established the point of international law, that
war vessels of all nations have a perfect right to capture a slave ship,
wherever it may be found. This was the first step in the work of
breaking up the slave trade, which was then carried on by many of the
civilized nations of the world.

In later cruises, Stockton sailed about in the West Indies, capturing
several slavers, and also making a vigorous war on pirates and
freebooters, who at that time made the vicinity of these islands very
dangerous for peaceable vessels.

In 1838 our commander was made a captain. There was no war now in which
he might engage, but his mind was very busily occupied in regard to the
proper construction of war vessels. In 1841 the United States Navy did
not possess a single steamship. They were all old-style sailing vessels.
Several steamers had been planned: one had blown up, and two others were
still on the stocks. But Captain Stockton did not believe that if these
were finished they would be effective as vessels of war. One great
reason for this was the fact that their engines were situated so near
the upper deck, that a shot from an enemy might easily destroy them, and
so render the vessel worthless. Another objection was that they were
side-wheelers, and it would be a very easy thing for a cannon ball to
knock an exposed side-wheel into a worthless condition.

Stockton's idea was to put the engines and machinery deep down in the
vessel, below the water line, where it would be almost impossible to
injure them, and to have the ship moved by means of a submerged screw
in the stern, instead of by paddle wheels. The naval constructors and
authorities opposed this new-fangled scheme; but our New Jersey sailor
was an energetic man in whatever he had to do, and he fought the naval
constructors as vigorously as he ever fought a pirate. Consequently he
got authority from Congress to build a war ship after his own plan, and
arm it with cannon, which he thought would be much better than the guns
then in use in the navy.

Under Stockton's directions, there was built at Philadelphia a vessel of
war, which he named the "Princeton," and which was constructed according
to his plans. On her deck were two great guns of wrought iron, which
were also devised by him; and each of these carried a two hundred and
twenty-five pound shot,--much heavier than those then used in naval
warfare.

Great public interest was excited in the "Princeton," the first
steamship of our navy, and on her trial trip she was found to be an
excellent seagoing vessel. She went to Washington, and there started out
on an excursion, during which her great guns were to be tried. There was
a very distinguished company on board,--officers of the army and navy,
and several members of the Cabinet, and other guests.

It was found, however, that the ship was much superior to her great
guns; for when one of them, named the "Peacemaker," was fired, it
exploded, killing several people, among whom were the secretary of war,
the secretary of the navy, and the father-in-law of the President;
while others, including Captain Stockton, were wounded.

This terrible event shocked the whole nation; but although there were no
more wrought-iron cannon made, the building of naval steamships, which
began with Stockton's "Princeton," went steadily on, growing and
improving, until it reached the high point shown by the swift and
powerful ironclad men-of-war which now fly the stars and stripes.

In 1846 Stockton found himself on the coast of California, with the rank
of commodore, and in command of a squadron. Since he had started from
the United States, war had been declared with Mexico; and when he
arrived, the towns of Monterey and San Francisco had been taken by
Commodore Sloat, who had preceded him. A state of war exactly suited
Stockton's disposition; and as there was no more immediate need of
fighting on the seacoast, he organized a little army of marines and
sailors from his ships, which was afterwards joined by a body of
adventurers and hunters of the United States, and also by
Lieutenant-Colonel FrГ©mont, an officer of the United States Army, who
had been sent into that region to explore the country, and who had
already done some fighting with the little band under his command.

Los Angeles, the Mexican capital of California, was attacked and taken.
Commodore Stockton now declared himself the conqueror of California, and
organized a provisional government for the captured territory,
appointing John C. FrГ©mont as governor.

At the same time, however, there was another Jerseyman in the field
intent upon the capture of California. This was General Stephen Kearney,
an army officer who had made a wonderful march across the plains and
mountains towards the coast. After he arrived on the scene, there were
several battles with the Mexican forces and with the Indians; but the
contest ended in a complete victory for the land forces commanded by
Kearney from Newark, and the naval forces by Stockton from Princeton,
under whom FrГ©mont held his position.

But now arose a dispute between the general and the commodore. When
Kearney arrived at Los Angeles, he would not recognize the authority of
FrГ©mont, who had been appointed governor by Stockton, because he
considered that an army officer is higher in rank than one in the navy;
and he took the governorship himself. A court-martial was convened for
the purpose of deciding the question, and it was settled that Kearney
was of the higher rank, and he therefore retained the governorship. But
between the two Jerseymen the United States obtained the land of gold.

A year or two after this, Commodore Stockton resigned from the navy, and
subsequently went to Congress as a senator from New Jersey. But although
no longer in the navy, he did not cease to work for the benefit of the
brave sailors he had so often commanded and led; and he obtained the
passage of a bill abolishing the punishment of flogging in the navy,
thus adding another great gift to his country and civilization.

When the country which had been captured from Mexico was discovered to
be not only a fertile and pleasant land, but a land filled with rich
treasures of gold, the true value of the gift made to the United States
by our two Jerseymen became known and appreciated; and the names of
Stockton and Kearney, with that of the brave FrГ©mont, will ever be
associated with that State whose principal water portal is well called
the "Golden Gate."

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TYPOGRAPHY BY J. S. CUSHING & CO., NORWOOD, MASS.