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latter was in charge of the Boston Yard, relative chiefly to professional matters, and especially to the subject of naval reform, in which both were engaged heart and soul, will prove interesting as reflecting some of the marked personal characteristics of his correspondent. One of Foote's own letters on the subject of the "spirit-ration" to a Connecticut senator we insert among these:

"January 30, 1846.

"I conversed with many persons on the feasibility of carrying through Congress our project of abolishing the spirit-ration. I do not believe the committees in both houses would report in its favor; and if they should, I do not believe this Congress will ratify the measure. There is a strong opposition to it, and a good many wires would be pulled to check it. I heard by Dahlgren that your eyes continued bad. The Cumberland sailed yesterday for Mexico."

"February 20, 1846.

"You have done a good thing for the service by 'putting in your oar' to keep all the bureaus in the Navy. You are not alone in this work; still I learn from reliable sources that your townsman (Gideon Welles) will be confirmed. It is strange that the Navy can not furnish a head to a bureau capable of knowing what seamen want and how to furnish the stores. I trust your eyes will soon be well. I see by the prints that the crew of the Boston broke into her spirit-room and got drunk, and caused much trouble. That would be a good spoke in our wheel of reform, and a good commentary upon the effect of whisky in the Navy. The Cumberland lay fourteen days in the dry-dock, and no such conduct was enacted there. I have talked with Mr. Choate about the matter. He told me Mr. Calhoun voted against the reform, and that he could not carry it. We have some officers high in rank who will oppose it; nevertheless, I think it will come round by-and-by."

"February 22, 1847.

"I fear the six cents' commutation is in danger in the House of Representatives. The bill has been returned with amendments, and I fear the six cents will be attacked, as I know a good many who think much of the difference between the cost of whisky made from potatoes and money; and Mr. Welles has asked and received the assent of the Senate for an appropriation of $200,000 to pay this commutation, and that is what will endanger the bill in the House. God knows when the war (with Mexico)

will end. I see no prospect at present. After Vera Cruz and the Castle have surrendered, the chances for peace will be better."

“NAVY YARD, BOSTON, June 15, 1847.

"DEAR SIR,-Agreeably to the request contained in your letter of the 24th ultimo, I submit the following reasons, as among the most prominent, why whisky should be stricken from the Navy ration-table:

"In the mercantile marine generally the spirit-ration has been abolished, and its effect upon the morale and efficiency of that service has exceeded the expectations of the most sanguine. Similar effects were so manifest in the case of the United States frigate Cumberland, bearing the flag of Commodore Joseph Smith, now Chief of the Bureau of Yards and Docks, that all the commissioned officers, although at the outset of the cruise regarding the idea of abolishing the whisky-ration as wholly impracticable, with two hundred and fifty of the crew, subsequently sent a petition to Congress, praying its abolishment. Lieutenant-Commandant Charles H. Davis, of the United States surveying schooner Gallatin, and formerly in command of the Nautilus, has not for several years served out to his crew the daily allowance of whisky. One of his lieutenants informs me that now they can send their men on shore without apprehension of drunkenness and desertion, which were rife previously to adopting this measure. I inclose herewith a letter from Lieutenant-Commandant Davis, giving his views and mode of proceeding more in detail in relation to this matter. Commander John Pope, of the United States brig Dolphin, now cruising on the coast of Africa, in a letter to a friend, just received, says: 'I hope most truly to see the day when the spirit-ration will be done away. We can do as well without liquor as the men in the merchant service.' Commander John C. Long, United States Navy, says: 'It is practicable, it is expedient to abolish the whisky-ration, and it ought to be done forthwith. I tested this matter to my entire satisfaction when in command of the schooner Dolphin.' I am aware, notwithstanding this testimony, that there are quite a number of officers in the Navy opposed to its abolishment, and so were the officers of the Cumberland, and also of the mercantile marine, until the experiment was fairly tested, when the sentiment changed entirely.

"These facts seem to show conclusively that the abolishment of the whisky-ration would materially advance the moral tone of seamen and the efficiency of the service, but the proposed measure has met with objections, the most prominent of which is that it would be coercive; on

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the other hand, I would ask in the premises, Is not serving it out a positive encouragement to drunkenness? I have never been able myself to see the force of this objection-coercion. It simply takes away a portion of the ration and gives a full equivalent, which will be far more satisfactory to the men in service generally. It does not forbid the sailor's drinking. It merely ceases to parade by authority the grog-tub daily before his eyes: placing its contents in the same table with beef, pork, and other parts of the ration necessary to sustain his physical being—a sly incentive to his becoming a drunkard. The officer when he draws his ration is not permitted to receive his whisky; the minor is also debarred this portion of his ration. Why not, then, extend the prohibition to the remainder of the crew, especially as it has led them to advocate its abolishment who previously to sailing without it regarded its continuance essential?

"I can not regard the commutation at even $1 80 per month, leaving it optional with the crew, as calculated to have the desired effect. This would leave it still an open, unsettled, exciting question, enabling a few old seamen, most of them foreigners, to influence many of the younger and inexperienced men to use this portion of their ration against their better judgment. In this case, also, the expense to the government, and inconvenience to the ship of filling the spirit-room without knowing what portion would be required, is another objection. On the other hand, strike the whisky unqualifiedly from the ration - table; pay the men $1 per month in lieu thereof, and it will prove acceptable to the men, economical to the government, and in all respects beneficial to the service. Respectfully your obedient servant,

"Hon. Geo. P. Rockwell."

"A. H. FOOTE, Lieutenant U. S. Navy.

To continue the extracts from Commodore Smith's letters:

"August 20, 1847.

"I have yours of the 18th inst.; am glad to hear you are getting on so well at your station, and particularly of your successful progress with your improved propeller. You will have a host of competitors from the engineers, I fear; but if the improvement is valuable, it will put down opposition. I fear you have not calculated the effect of the centrifugal force, or rather the spiral force of the water after leaving the propeller and coming in opposing contact with the vessel. However, experiment. is the only proper test in such matters."

E

"December 29, 1847.

"From Tattnall I received your model of a scull-not skull. You are right about the Indian paddles. The shape of these paddles, or floats, or sculls, should be of the same shape as Indian paddles, instead of being circular. But you are behind the times, my friend, in this, for in England this kind of paddle has been in use, or rather experimented upon, for five years, on each quarter instead of the bow, as yours is intended.

"Dahlgren is at home on a visit. He is in tall grass now; has full swing, and will make for himself an enviable reputation. He has won golden opinions from the whole eighty-five middies at the school for the manner and course of his instructions."

"April 13, 1848.

"I trust you will have full credit for all your exertions in bringing and keeping the Yard in good order and wholesome discipline, and much is due to you for the excellent state it is in, as all say. You must be a commodore, at least, before the retired list brings you up."

"April 25, 1848.

"Your organization of the fire department is excellent, as almost every thing you do is. The only fault, or rather imperfection in the system, is your too great zeal. When I see you with a project in hand to develop its usefulness, I think of the black stain, and call to mind, or rather it comes instinctively, what the pastor of the parish where I was reared used to say-'What is violent can not be lasting.'"*

"August 31, 1848.

"Go on in your course of talking and writing in the cause of temperance and all good things. While doing those good deeds, God will bless the means to restore your eyes to perfect health. Dahlgren is pro

*This reference to "the black stain," which occurs in many of Admiral Smith's letters, is thus explained by him: "The story of the 'black stain' originated in the Cumberland, by Foote's (who was executive officer) scraping the paint off the gun-carriages to the bare oak wood, and applying a black dye or stain. This caused many quaint remarks from officers and sailors, as it did not at first promise success. Characteristic of the man, whose will was indomitable, Foote persisted in his experiment, and by oiling and frequently rubbing, a beautiful black polish was produced, which, after all the jokes which had been employed to dampen the inventor's ardor, was much admired; hence the frequent quotation afterward, 'Like Foote's black stain,' when a doubtful experiment was in question."

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gressing finely, and will give the Navy some interesting results in ordnance."

"October 31, 1848.

"I trust your Dr. Elliott will effect a perfect cure, and that your eyes, which were always bright and sharp, will not be less effective and useful to you than any other of your faculties. The political horizon looks as if the wind would change and haul around in favor of old 'Rough and Ready.' He heads up for the White House, and if no unfavorable flaw strike, he will fetch the mark."

"June 25, 1849.

"I trust the chastisement will be a lesson to you not to carry things to excess, as you, in your zeal to do good and work righteousness, are, or have been, prone to do. I may speak plainly now that you are on your pins again, and say I fear you have been a victim to your water cure.' Bless God for his unbounded mercies. You have a new lease of life, and have much more to see of this wicked world than you have seen, and more good to do than you have done."

In regard to the invention of the bow-propeller, to which reference is made in these extracts, there was a correspondence on the subject in the years 1846 and 1847, between Lieutenant Foote and Commodore Morris, Chief of the Bureau of Construction, which correspondence is recorded in the minutebook of the bureau, but does not seem to have led to an adoption of Foote's invention. As explained by the inventor, the object of placing the propeller in the bow is to produce by its motion a partial vacuum or eddy, throwing the water aside that would otherwise rise in front and around, and offer resistance to the bow of the vessel in proportion to the vessel's velocity; which theory, he maintained, was fully sustained by actual experiment, and one fourth, or at least a fifth more velocity was secured by the bow-propeller over the stern-propeller; as in the first the water which offers such resistance to the bow is thrown aside or broken up, while the stern-propeller takes the water from the stern, where it is needed to buoy the vessel, and causes her to go, as it were, upon an inclined plane.