Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

and loving friend Commodore Smith, who acknowledged the compliment in the following note:

"BUREAU OF YARDS AND DосKS, May 13, 1854.

"MY DEAR SIR,-I received your book two days since, and was sensibly struck with the Dedication, which I had not anticipated. For this modest but kind manifestation of your friendship and regard for me, accept my unfeigned acknowledgments.

"I have but cursorily run through the book. I pronounce it to be excellent in matter and arrangement. This to me will place you in high standing both in and out of the Navy. My kindest regards to your household. I am very truly yours, JOSEPH SMITH.

"Commander A. H. Foote, U. S. Navy,

Naval Asylum, Philadelphia, Pa."

Commodore Smith's estimate of the work is in the main well sustained by the book itself. Although Captain Foote's forte was not writing, but fighting, he succeeded in making a clearly methodized and valuable book, that interweaves in a quiet way the narrative of his own achievements on the African coast with much that is of general interest respecting Africa and the slave-trade, and that has been cited as authority from the bench of United States Courts. The following are some brief extracts from the many criticisms and encomiums which the book brought forth from the press, and which are here introduced as bearing testimony to the public estimation in which the author was held at that time;

"The work is written in excellent spirit, and in an unpretending style that does much credit to the author's good taste, while the religious regard for truth, and the liberality of sentiment manifest in every chapter, win the reader's confidence and esteem. A considerable portion of the volume is devoted to an account of the operations of the American Colonization Society, and all who take an interest in the colonization cause will derive satisfaction from the strongly favorable testimony which Commander Foote bears to the condition of Liberia as a nation."*

*N. Y. Commercial Advertiser.

"Africa and the American Flag."

ΙΟΙ

"The speculations of the author regarding the future of Africa are more cheering than those we are accustomed to hear, and as they are based on positive facts and investigations, they are not merely prophecies of a philanthropic heart, but conclusions of a logical mind.”*

"The American people may well be proud of their naval officers. Such men as Ingraham, Maury, Kane, Lynch, Foote, and others who might be named, confer honor upon the flag under which they sail, and which their gallantry is ever ready to protect. While looking after the interests of commerce, they have proved themselves awake to the interests of humanity; and while familiar with the arts of war, they have shown themselves equally familiar with the sciences by which the horrors of war may be mitigated or prevented."+

"The ethnographical chapter in this work is worth the books of some authors we might name. The poor despised Bushman, forming to himself with sticks and grass a lair among the low-spreading branches of a shrub, or nestling at sunset in a shallow hole amid the warm sands of the desert, with wife and little ones, like a covey of birds, sheltered by some ragged sheepskins from the dew of the clear sky, has an ancestral and mental relationship to the builders of the pyramids and the colossal temples of Egypt, and to the artists who adorned them."‡

"It contains, in a compendious shape, a complete account of the continent of Africa in all its relations to the United States, physical, commercial, political, and religious. The account of the active cruise in which Commander Foote was engaged for two years is full and circumstantial -too much so, perhaps, for one who reads merely for amusement, but very satisfactory to one who wishes to get complete and reliable information on the important question touching the value of our African squadron. The book has been published in an evil hour for those who are designing, whether by a cowardly connivance or by open and direct sanction, to revive the African slave-trade; but most opportunely for the cause of justice and philanthropy, and (we intend no irony) national honor and faith. We agree with most of the criticisms upon the book which we have seen in commending its literary execution. Commander Foote's style has a sailor-like simplicity, but is wanting neither in elegance nor *Graham's Magazine. + Philadelphia Presbyterian Banner. N. Y. Independent.

liveliness. Some of his descriptions, indeed, are full of humor and quiet satire."*

Lieutenant W. B. S. Porter, U. S. N., thus writes in a private letter:

"I am surprised at the amount of information contained in so small a compass, which at the same time forms a complete exposition of the devices of the slave-trader for conducting the traffic and escaping the vigilance of our cruisers. If taken as a guide, it will relieve our commanders of many difficulties in their intercourse with suspected vessels under the American flag. The difficulty which our officers had was to interpret their instructions, which seemed contradictory; but in your work they have the true spirit and the practical illustration of the conduct to be pursued.”

Commander Davis, U. S. N., writes:

"To have brought out such a result from an African cruise, from which so many bring nothing, is a proof that your thoughts and sympathies are expanded far beyond the narrow sphere of ship duties-it is proof of an enlarged comprehension and an elevated spirit. Our old friendship gives me the right to praise you without the suspicion of flattery."

A letter from the Rev. Geo. W. Bethune and a notice from the London Spectator are all we will add to these extracts. Dr. Bethune says:

"Your notice of Buchanant is a just tribute to his worth. I knew him well-better than any one else knew him—and he has never yet received an estimation sufficiently high for a combination of admirable qualities mingled with but few faults. You have correctly estimated the difficulty and danger of his acting against the slavers, as he did without legal or any authority, and when he was liable to extreme prosecution before any admiralty court. The last night I saw Buchanan he bade me farewell at midnight. He came, he said, to state his difficulty and ask my advice, which he said he was determined to follow, as to his assuming or not the responsibility of seizing and punishing slavers. My answer was, 'Buchanan, authority or no authority, if you find a slaver on land or on sea, blow him sky high!

*The New-Englander.

+ Buchanan was one of the black founders and presidents of the colony of Liberia.

"Africa and the American Flag."

103

"He grasped my hand, looked me steadily in the face for at least a minute, and then, without a word, left me. I never saw him again; but among the earliest letters I had from him was one inclosing an account of the battle of the barracoons, and these words, 'Dear Dominie, I have blown him sky high.'

"I thank you again for your capital book, which is, I trust, designed for great usefulness."

The opening and concluding paragraphs of the critical article from the London Spectator are these:

"This quaint-looking title indicates the contents of the volume exactly. The book contains a geographical and historical sketch of Africa, or rather of Negroland, and an account of the doings of the American squadron on the slave-coast. It is the result of much African experience, which infuses into the volume living knowledge, definite ideas, and a certain degree of vigor. ***

"Captain Foote lays it down broadly that unless the American squadron is efficiently kept up, the slave-trade will become as active as ever under the American flag. The best mode of proceeding is for a British and an American ship to sail together, so as always to be within easy communication. In this way every thing can be overhauled: the American taking vessels sailing under the American flag, the British those of her own or any other nation with which she has right-of-search treaties; for the Americans only meddle with their own people. Indications frequently turn up of the delicacy required in dealing with American vessels, from the difficulties springing from the techiness of their naval officers, and the over-zeal of British officers, not always free from a desire to make prizes."

It is not necessary to speak further in detail of the book itself, but only to say that, with some faults of repetition and of ambitiousness of style, and here and there of an appearance of its having been compiled rather than created, it is work well done-surprisingly well done-considering that its author had studied ships and gunnery more than making books; and it is a genuine and manly contribution to the literature of an important subject from personal observation; and when the names of those who have thought and suffered for Africa shall be gathered into a bright crown, the name of Andrew Hull Foote will not be forgotten.

We also find Commander Foote, in January, 1855, delivering an address upon the "Ashburton Treaty" and "Consular Sea-letters," which was afterward published in pamphlet form, and which gained him much credit as a brief, forcible, and pointed argument setting forth and sustaining these propositions 1st. That our consuls abroad should not be allowed to give sea-letters, as they are called, to American vessels sold abroad, when such vessels are bound to Africa. 2d. That the expense of our African squadron is not nearly so large as has been commonly represented. 3d. That most beneficial results may be expected from a cordial co-operation between our own and British cruisers for the suppression of the slave-trade, and that in no other way can the disgraceful abuse of the American flag be suppressed. 4th. That if any change in the Ashburton Treaty is to be made, it should be to alter the terms, so that instead of a stipulated number of guns to be kept by us upon that coast, we should employ a number of small steamers, as being much better adapted to that service; but that in any case, treaty or no treaty, a hearty co-operation with the British squadron is all important.

It is needful that a word should be said in regard to the official rank and special professional services of Captain Foote during this four years' period of life ashore, which interval appears to have been by no means uselessly spent when viewed in a purely professional light. In December (19) of 1852 Lieutenant Foote was promoted to the rank of commander; and in the year 1854 (March 9) he was ordered to the Naval Asylum in Philadelphia as executive officer under Commodore Storer, governor of the asylum, where he remained for fifteen months; and he is said to have introduced some valuable reforms in the practical working and discipline of the institution. In 1855 (June 20) he was appointed to a membership of the "Naval Efficiency Board" at Washington, under Act of February 28th, 1855, together with Shubrick, Perry, McCow

« AnteriorContinuar »