The Man Without a Country
Page 8
God is not ashamedto be called their God: for He hath prepared for them a city.'
"On this slip of paper he had written:
"'Bury me in the sea; it has been my home, and I love it. But will notsome one set up a stone for my memory [Note 12] at Fort Adams or atOrleans, that my disgrace may not be more than I ought to bear? Say onit:
"'_In Memory of_
"'PHILIP NOLAN,
"'_Lieutenant in the Army of the United States_.
"'He loved his country as no other man hasloved her; but no man deserved lessat her hands.'"
Notes
[Note 1:] - Frederic Ingham, the "I" of the narrative, is supposed to bea retired officer of the United States Navy.
[Note 2:] - "_Few readers . . . observed_." In truth, no one observedit, because there was no such announcement there. The author has,however, met more than one person who assured him that they had seenthis notice. So fallible is the human memory!
[Note 3:] - _The "Levant_." The " Levant " was a corvette in theAmerican navy, which sailed on her last voyage, with despatches for anAmerican officer in Central America, from the port of Honolulu in 1860.She has never been heard of since, but one of her spars drifted ashoreon one of the Hawaiian islands. I took her name intentionally, knowingthat she was lost. As it happened, when this story was published, onlytwo American editors recollected that the "Levant" no longer existed. Welearn from the last despatch of Captain Hunt that he intended to take anorthern course heading eastward toward the coast of California ratherthan southward toward the Equator. At the instance of Mr. James D.Hague, who was on board the "Levant" to bid Captain Hunt good bye on theday when she sailed from Hilo, a search has been made in the summer of1904 for any reef or islands in that undiscovered region upon which shemay have been wrecked. But no satisfactory results have been obtained.
[Note 4:] - _Madison_. James Madison was President from March 4, 1809,to March 4, 1817. Personally he did not wish to make war with England,but the leaders of the younger men of the Democratic party--Mr. Clay,Mr. Calhoun, and others--pressed him against his will to declare war in1812. The war was ended by the Treaty of Peace at Ghent in the year1814. It is generally called "The Short War." There were many reasonsfor the war. The most exasperating was the impressment of Americanseamen to serve in the English navy. In the American State Departmentthere were records of 6,257 such men, whose friends had protested to theAmerican government. It is believed that more than twenty thousandAmericans were held, at one time or another, in such service. For thosewho need to study this subject, I recommend Spears's "History of ourNavy," in four volumes. It is dedicated "to those who would seek Peaceand Pursue it."
[Note 5:] - Aaron Burr had been an officer in the American Revolution.He was Vice-President from 1801 to 1805, in the first term ofJefferson's administration. In July, 1804, in a duel, Burr killedAlexander Hamilton, a celebrated leader of the Federal party. From thisduel may be dated the indignation which followed him through the nextyears of his life. In 1805, after his Vice-Presidency, he made a voyagedown the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, to study the new acquisition ofLouisiana. That name was then given to all the country west of theMississippi as far as the Rocky Mountains. The next year he organized amilitary expedition, probably with the plan, vaguely conceived, oftaking Texas from Spain. He was, however, betrayed and arrested byGeneral Wilkinson,--then in command of the United States army,--withwhom Burr had had intimate relations. He was tried for treason atRichmond but acquitted.
[Note 6:] - Colonel Morgan is a fictitious character, like all theothers in this book, except Aaron Burr.
[Note 7:] - The "Lay of the Last Minstrel" is one of the best poems ofWalter Scott. It was first published in 1805.
The whole passage referred to in the text is this:--
Breathes there the man, with soul so dead, Who never to himself hath said, This is my own, my native land! Whose heart hath ne'er within him burn'd, As home his footsteps he hath turn'd From wandering on a foreign strand? If such there breathe, go, mark him well! For him no minstrel raptures swell; High though his titles, proud his name, Boundless his wealth as wish can claim, Despite those titles, power, and pelf, The wretch, concentred all in self, Living, shall forfeit fair renown, And, doubly dying, shall go down To the vile dust, from whence he sprung, Unwept, unhonour'd, and unsung.
O Caledonia! stern and wild, Meet nurse for a poetic child! Land of brown heath and shaggy wood; Land of the mountain and the flood.
[Note 8:] - "_Frigate-duels with the English, in which the navy wasreally baptized_." Several great sea fights in this short war gave tothe Navy of the United States its reputation. Indeed, they charged thenavies of all the world. The first of these great battles is the fightof the "Constitution" and "Guerri?re," August 19, 1812.
[Note 9:] - The frigate "Essex," under Porter, took the MarquesasIslands, in the Pacific, in 1813. Captain Porter was father of themore celebrated Admiral Porter, who commanded the United States navalforces in the Gulf of Mexico in 1863, when this story was written.
[Note 10:] - _Beledeljereed_. An Arab name. Beled el jerid means "TheLand of Dates." As a name it has disappeared from the books ofgeography. But one hundred years ago it was given to the southern partof the Algeria of to-day, and somewhat vaguely to other parts of theancient Numidia. It will be found spelled Biledelgerid. To use thisword now is somewhat like speaking of the Liliput of Gulliver.
[Note 11:] Page 40.-The English cruisers on the American coast, in thegreat war between England and Napoleon, claimed the right to searchAmerican merchantmen and men of war, to find, if they could, desertersfrom the English navy. This was their way of showing their contempt forthe United States. In 1807 the "Chesapeake," a frigate of the UnitedStates, was met by the "Leopard," an English frigate. She was notprepared for fighting, and Barron, her commander, struck his flag. Thisis the unfortunate vessel which surrendered to the "Shannon" on June3, 1813.
[Note 12:] - No one has erected this monument. Its proper place wouldbe on the ruins of Fort Adams. That fort has been much worn away by theMississippi River.