in the neglected outlying districts; and there are many poor families, sailors, and workingmen now living in and about that neighborhood to testify of the good that he did to their bodies and souls during his brief military rule at the New York harbor. In the winter of 1859-60 there was quite an interest in religious matters on board the receiving-ship North Carolina, and a prayer-meeting was held nightly for months on the orlop-deck of that vessel, upon which meeting Foote was a regular attendant; and so frank, cordial, and confiding, as well as energetic, was the tone of his piety, and his efforts for the spiritual good of others were so earnest, that he was thought to be immediately instrumental in the conversion of many. He believed in George Herbert's words—

"Be useful where thou livest."

He did not wait for impossibilities to clear up like mists, but he steered straight into and through them. He began to do what he could. He saw no impossibilities. Difficulties acted upon him like stimulants. His methods were old and unvaried, but he believed in them, and he applied them unhesitatingly. He meant to regulate matters, to begin the work of improvement, to clear away old abuses, and leave the world better than he found it; and his grand principle of action was to begin at once at the religious nature, and try to implant a new life there.

One of his old Portsmouth officers (Pendleton G. Watmough), about to leave the Navy, writes:

"It is a long parting from one who represents all that is good in a service where I have spent seventeen years; and though about leaving it, I shall always cherish a remembrance, and a fond one, of my associations with many in it-particularly of our brilliant cruise in the 'saucy Portsmouth,”*

*In the same year of the return of the Portsmouth, a neat and handsome monument, designed by a New York artist, costing $1000, which was contributed "by their shipmates" of the San Jacinto, Portsmouth, and

Another fellow-officer of the East India cruise, Captain Macomb, writes:

"The men like to hear of you. They know that you afforded them all the 'pigeon,' as they call it, on the cruise, and that you had full swing in that squadron. The old Portsmouthers are proud of being remembered by Captain Foote. Could you not write to them, and give them some of your good advice?"

Commodore Smith sends a characteristic letter, which may serve to diversify this uneventful but by no means unprofitable portion of Commander Foote's life:

"WASHINGTON, February 4, 1860.

"MY DEAR CAPTAIN,-Yours of yesterday's date, with a douceur for Anna, just received. She is a sturdy beggar, and seems to think the orphans are especially under her charge. The object is good-none better; but I have cautioned her against troubling my non-Catholic friends to contribute to her Catholic charities. She gets enough out of me to suffice for the Protestant part of the Navy. But as you seem to be so popular with the ladies, it emboldens them to take liberties. You are more liberal than I should be under similar circumstances. My opinion is favorable to the institution of widows' and orphans' homes of all religions. Nevertheless I bear in mind what my priest reads at our offertory-Never turn your face from any poor man. If you have no penny to give, hear his story and judge charitably.' You are a good Samaritan. You not only give the pennies, but you pour the oil and wine of consolation into the wounds of the conscience and heart. I wish I were so endowed; but I am not. I do not possess the quality of pathos which brings the stray sheep into the fold again. Such sacred oratory is rare. It is not taught at the forum nor learned in the pulpit, but in private, with labor and intercourse with men.' Go on in your course. If your military commission should fail you in any sense, your zeal and ability to teach and speak will not. At last a Speaker is chosen. Next

Levant, was erected in the Brooklyn Navy Yard to the memory of those who fell in the capture of the Canton "Barrier Forts." The names of these are inscribed upon the monument, with a representation of the ships and the forts, with flags, wreaths, and other appropriate devices. It is one of the finest marine monuments in the country, and forms an interesting feature of the Yard.

K

week I presume Congress will proceed to business, after squandering two months in nonsensical squabbling. We hope a calm may succeed the storm; in the nature of things it must; but the storm will not subside until after March, 1861. I have no Navy news. I hear a vessel is to sail next Tuesday for Brazil. You must be getting slack of work at your Yard, which will make you uneasy. Yours truly, in haste,

"Captain A. H. Foote, U. S. Navy Yard, New York."

"JOSEPH SMITH.

There is a new and separate phase of Admiral Foote's life which it would be interesting to dwell upon, but which we would only indicate here. A large portion of the documentary matter left by him is taken up with bulky notes of courtmartials in which he was personally engaged, both while stationed on shore and while at sea. Owing to his great practical energy and executive talent, he was often called upon to act as the presiding officer in these courts; and owing also, it must be confessed, to his exceptionally rigid ideas of discipline, he was, in his own command, sometimes involved in bitter controversies and litigations with officers. While he went to the root of matters-while he was searching and unsparing, and perhaps even at times erring in severity whenever insubordination, disrespect, and wrong was to be dealt with, never swerving for fear of making an enemy-he was unusually humane where infirmities of character were involved, especially among common sailors, so that he was considered to be quite democratic, or too much inclined to take the part of the seaman, or apprentice, or petty officer who was delinquent. He was, in fact, rather too popular among the men for the aristocratic standard of the officers of the Navy. He befriended, encouraged, and defended those whom he thought had no friends. This trait is noticed by one of his brother-officers, who says:

"I am very much grieved that your purser is 'infirm of purpose.' I feel assured you have done your duty toward him, and that your kind

Educational Matters.

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feeling for the weaknesses of the weak-a characteristic point in you— has rather prompted you to go further in covering this vulnerable spot than many others would."

As it is not desirable to stir up old controversies which have now entirely passed away, it does not seem necessary to mention particular instances of court-martial trials in which Foote was conspicuous at the time; merely saying that his firmness and general impartiality, with now and then a singular display of roundabout good sense and kindly tact, are noticeable in the history of these oftentimes protracted and difficult cases; and from the testimony of all, in this judicial or juridical department of his profession he was very valuable, having, indeed, from a natural love of controversy, a partiality for its excitements, and for all its elaborate forms and details, though he was kept by his sound head and good heart from widely erring in judgment.

Admiral Foote was a friend of education. In a correspondence with Lieutenant (now Commodore) Simpson, who was then stationed as a teacher of gunnery at the Naval Academy in Annapolis, he defends the system of professional instruction against the vigorous assaults of that young officer, who was in favor of a more practical teaching by purely naval men who had seen actual service at sea. Foote expresses himself in favor of a proper and equal combination of the two kinds of teachers, thereby securing a thorough and scientific training, as a basis upon which to build practical seamanship. This intelligent view, coming from one so intensely practical as Captain Foote was, certainly shows comprehensiveness and breadth of mind. He was, in fact, a progressive man in all matters of education, and was never so superstitiously in love with the old as not to seize with eagerness upon new methods and ideas, as he did, for example, upon the use of iron in naval warfare. In fitting out the Portsmouth for her East India cruise, the following letter was addressed by him to the Sec

retary of the Navy, which goes to prove his hearty interest in scientific investigations:

"During the cruise of the Portsmouth abundant opportunities are likely to occur to make collections in natural history. The surgeon of the ship, Dr. Henderson, will collect specimens for the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, and perhaps also for Yale College. It is desirable, therefore, that a copy of Professor Dana's 'Report on Crustacea (Exploring Expedition under Captain Wilkes) should be in the vessel. Believing myself, in common with two or three scientific gentlemen here, that it will meet the views of the government to encourage officers to contribute when abroad to the cause of science, I respectfully request that it may be purchased for the use of the Portsmouth during her approaching cruise."

The letter of Lieutenant Simpson, shortly before referred to, seems to have been sent for perusal by Foote to his friend Dupont, and called forth this expression in his reply:

"But let me say how rejoiced I should be to see you, my dear Foote, take hold of this establishment (Annapolis Naval Academy), from which the last hope must spring of our giving the country an efficient Navy by rearing officers of capacity and moral worth. I have ever followed the fortunes of the academy with deep interest, increased perhaps by the fact that I was a member of the first two boards which organized the school. It has steadily progressed, like West Point, which is the creation of over half a century. Yet you would find an abundant scope for your active and intelligent energies in developing improvements still needed, and which no one man could cover heretofore in the brief period allotted him there."

Both of these gallant men were soon to be summoned to a more stirring and arduous service.

We have called this brief period of Commander Foote's life-when he had in charge the New York Navy Yard-an "uneventful" one; but this is not literally true. The period of great events was rapidly drawing on, and they had already begun to cast their shadows over the scene. It was a time of agitation and popular excitement. Those especially who held