John Barry DeCatur

“ Tempest had sent a boat to the gun ship, and with it a message which sounded strange to Captain Decatur.
"Will Captain Decatur of the U. S. man-of-war United States accept an invitation to visit the Caroline, which was captured from the British by the Lively Bee, privateer? The reason is too important to be intrusted to paper." ”

“ Whaur’s my ram? D’ye think I ped my money for sic a brute as that? What ha’ ye done wi’ the “Duke”? If this is a wee bit joke o’ yer ain, Mister Edwards, time’s up, I do assure ye, sir.’ And he advanced threateningly towards the publican, who nimbly retreated into the crowd, whilst protesting,—
‘I can swear to you, sir, that’s the very same sheep Jack Burns brought in the coach this mornin’. I helped to take him out, an’ I sez to Jack, “Well, he ain’t much to look at, Jack;” and Jack, he sez, “No, that he ain’t. I think the trip must have haffected him ”

“ Decatur is described as a man “five feet ten inches high, and had a somewhat slender figure, a long face, prominent, restless eyes, dark skin, and black hair.”
When the captors came to reckon the losses, they found their own were trifling. The United States carried four hundred and seventy-eight people all told, out of which number Lieutenant John Messer Funk and six seamen were killed, and five only were wounded. The ship had lost her mizzen topgallant-mast, and some of her yards were slashed a little. Her rigging was cut up somewhat, but only three round shot struck her hull. ”

“ Then she glanced at Guy. “Do you suppose he’ll be like that when he’s forty?”
“I’ve had a list of guests prepared for the newspaper people,” said Guy to Douglas Briggs. He liked to ignore Fanny’s jokes when they reflected on his personal appearance. “It’ll save a lot of time. And I’ve arranged to have them take supper in a room by themselves. They’ll like that better.”
Briggs, however, had turned to the servant, who had just come into the room. “Take the men up to the big room over the front door, Michael. That’ll be the best place,” he went on, to his wife. ”

“ Briggs,” the old lady broke out, “I knew a talk with you would make my husband feel right. He’s been groanin’ all Summer because he couldn’t get at you. He ain’t no hand at writin’ letters, an’ I jest wouldn’t let him go down to Washington while the weather was so hot. It was bad enough down to Auburn, though, as I tell everybody at home, no matter how hot it is, there’s always a cool spot in our house. You see, I keep the house closed all day long jest so’s the heat can’t get in.” Mrs. Burrell began to laugh. “Father often takes his paper an’ goes down cellar. ”

“ Briggs had taken his seat at the desk and had begun to work again. “Never mind,” he said. “It’ll keep. The drive’ll do you good.”
Guy hesitated between pleasure and duty. “Oh, well,” he said, glancing from his employer to his employer’s niece.
“You come with us, auntie,” Fanny urged, with an air that made Guy’s coming inevitable.
“No, I mustn’t,” Helen replied, decidedly. “I have too much to do this morning.”
As Fanny turned to the door Michael entered. “Mr. Burrell’s in the library, sir,” he said to Douglas Briggs. “He didn’t want to disturb you till he was sure you weren’t busy. ”

“ He says he ain’t nothin’ but a tricky politician. I s’pose the truth is, he feels kind of too stuck up to get down to every-day business.”
They all laughed, and Mrs. Burrell exclaimed: “Well, stuck up is about the last thing I’d ever think of you, Mr. Briggs. Now if you’d ’a’ said that about some of those other politicians we used to see down to Washington, Alpheus!”
Mrs. Burrell looked from her husband to her hostess, and then at Douglas Briggs. “Well, if you two men have finished your business, I s’pose we’ve got to go.” She turned appealingly to Helen, as if hoping to be urged to stay. ”

“ Is it to come before the New York courts?”
The old man nodded. “Those New York men have infringed on my patents, confound ’em! Mrs. Briggs, there ain’t anybody else I’d trust as I do your husband. He’s been a brick to me ever since I come here. He’s the only one of the big fellows in Congress that’s taken any notice of me, an’ I guess I appreciate it. An’ the girls, they think you’re just perfect.”
“I’m only sorry I couldn’t do more for you, Mr. Burrell,” said Helen, with a smile.
Mrs. Burrell led the way toward the staircase, the others following, with the exception of Carrie Cora. ”

“ Captain Hope, who commanded her, was not guilty of the “uncircumspect gallantry” of which Sir Howard Douglas wrote so feelingly. So Decatur determined on a desperate move. Calling the crew aft, he addressed them, so it is said, as follows:
“My lads, that ship is coming up with us. As our ship won’t sail we’ll go on board of theirs, every man and boy of us, and carry her into New York. All I ask of you is to follow me. This is a favorite ship of the country. If we allow her to be taken we shall be deserted by our wives and sweethearts. What! let such a ship as this go for nothing! ”

“ After a brief inspection of the Macedonian, Lieutenant Nicholson carried Captain Carden over to the United States. Decatur, “wearing an old straw hat and a plain suit of clothes which made him look more like a farmer than a naval hero,” met him at the head of the ladder. Stepping to the deck Carden offered his sword to Decatur in the usual form.
“No, sir,” said Decatur; “I cannot receive the sword of a man who has so bravely defended his ship. But I will receive your hand,” he added, and shook hands cordially with the defeated captain. ”

“ The swirl of intrigue continued. Burr tried to get the support of men disaffected toward the Administration. Among them were Commodore Truxtun, Commodore Stephen Decatur, and "General" [827] William Eaton. Truxtun and Decatur were writhing under that shameful treatment by which each of these heroes had been separated, in effect removed, from the Navy. Eaton was cursing the Administration for deserting him in his African exploits, and even more for refusing to pay several thousand dollars which he claimed to have expended in his Barbary transactions. ”

“ Not one American lost his life and but one was wounded. Of the Tripolitans more than twenty were certainly killed by the boarders, while many wounded ones jumped overboard, and many cowards sneaked to hiding places below, where the flames ended them.
To reward those who had participated in this feat, which Lord Nelson, it is said, called “the most bold and daring act of the age,”358 Congress made Decatur a captain and gave him a sword, and to each of the others two months’ pay. And, because of this adventure, the name of the ketch was changed to Intrepid. ”

“ I suppose I am kind of a cross old thing, and—well, I didn’t understand Rufus James. The family’s always been poor and good-for-nothing. But Rufus, he’s got lots of spunk. Why, at first he wouldn’t come to the house—even when I said he could. You’d think he was a prince, the way [Pg 252] he acted. And he’s doin’ real well. He’s had a raise in his salary, and he ain’t lettin’ father do a thing for him.”
“And is it to be soon?” Helen asked.
“The third of next month,” Emeline and Gladys cried together.
“And we want you to come, Mrs. Briggs,” said Carrie Cora, recovering from her embarrassment. ”

“ To tell the truth, I don’t feel quite fit for your company. I’m not good enough [Pg 271] for you. I’ve been a good deal of a machine man myself, you know.”
Farley laughed. “That’s all right. We haven’t any objections to the machine. We only object to the men who are running it just at present.”
“I don’t think it’s necessary to keep you on the rack any longer,” said De Witt, rising.
The others rose too.
“Thank you,” said Briggs, with a smile. “Will any of you gentlemen have a—? I always hesitate in asking any members of the Citizens’ Club.”
“No, thank you,” said Saunders. ”

“ West looked at her with an expression of exaggerated solicitude. “What’s the matter?” he asked.
“We’ve been neglected—shamefully,” Miss Wing replied.
“They put us in a side-room,” Miss Moore interposed, “with the reporters.”
“It’s a mistake, of course,” West remarked. “Mrs. Briggs will be very sorry when she hears about it. Have you been through the rooms?”
Miss Wing shook her head. “We haven’t been anywhere,” she said, plaintively.
[Pg 51]
“Then let me take you into the drawing-room. Mrs. Briggs is——”
“She’s always near where you are, Mr. ”

“ Mrs. Burrell went on, with a wistful look, “after my daughters get better acquainted they’ll have more partners.”
“Ma!” exclaimed Carrie Cora.
“But let me introduce you to some of the gentlemen,” said Helen, solicitously. “We’ll go back into the drawing-room.”
“No,” Burrell interposed. “We must go [Pg 114] home. We ought to have gone long ago. I’m sorry not to have had a chance to talk with your husband about that law case of mine, Mrs. Briggs.”
“I’ll speak to him about it, Mr. Burrell,” said Helen. “Now that Congress is nearly ready to adjourn, he’ll have more time. ”

“ Briggs exclaimed, patting Burrell on the back. “No harm done, Mrs. Burrell. This husband of yours overrates me, that’s all. There are hundreds of men right here [Pg 250] in New York who could handle that case better than I could.” He took the old man affectionately by the arm. “Look here, Burrell,” he said, confidentially, “don’t you think we’re in the way of these ladies? They probably have a lot to talk about that they don’t want us to hear.” ”

“ There is abundance of comedy of the popular Elizabethan type—the comedy of the clown, the gallant, the citizen and the citizen's wife, the bawd and the punk. Dekker can be coarse enough, but he does not strike one as coarse in grain. In fact, he is not such a master of vigorous coarse comedy as Middleton. He is on the side of decency and honesty. His citizens' wives in Northward Ho and Westward Ho vindicate their honour and put to shame their jealous husbands. A careless, kindly gaiety is the best feature of Dekker's comic scenes, which are too often tedious fooling. ”

“ When the Burrells had left, Helen walked into the library with her husband. Her face looked puzzled.
“Did Mr. Burrell talk with you about the girls?” she asked.
Briggs sank heavily into a chair. “Yes, he told me all about it. He seemed a good deal ashamed. Poor old man! And yet I could see that he was making them an excuse for offering me more money.”
“He’s been offering you money, then?” Helen asked, her face growing slightly paler.
“Oh, yes. He wants to pay me absurdly for taking that law-case and looking after his affairs here. There’s really a good deal to be done ”

“ At least, thought I, if I am degraded to be a private soldier there will be no one of my acquaintance who will witness my shame; and that is the point which I have always cared for most. There will be no one to say, ‘There is young Redmond Barry, the descendant or the Barrys, the fashionable young blood of Dublin, pipeclaying his belt and carrying his brown Bess.’ Indeed, but for that opinion of the world, with which it is necessary that every man of spirit should keep upon equal terms, I, for my part, would have always been contented with the humblest portion. ”

“ John Barry, who had borne an active share in the struggle for self-government—irrespective of the methods being constitutional or unconstitutional—was a man of attractive personality and an indefatigable worker and organiser. ”

“ She followed him into the hall. When he entered the drawing-room he closed the door behind him. West was standing in front of the mantel; he wore a long frock coat, and a pair of yellow gloves hung from one hand. On seeing Briggs he came forward, smiling, and offering his hand.
“Glad to catch you in,” he said. “I came over in a tremendous hurry. I——”
He stopped. Briggs stood in front of him, looking him sharply in the face, with hands clasped behind his back.
“West!”
Franklin West let his hand drop. His eyes showed astonishment. “What’s the matter?” he gasped. ”

“ My Bryan was a boy of amazing high spirit (indeed how, coming from such a stock, could he be otherwise?) , impatient even of my control, against which the dear little rogue would often rebel gallantly; how much more, then, of his mother’s and the women’s, whose attempts to direct him he would laugh to scorn. Even my own mother (‘Mrs. Barry of Lyndon’ the good soul now called herself, in compliment to my new family) was quite unable to check him; and hence you may fancy what a will he had of his own. If it had not been for that, he might have lived to this day: he might—but why repine? ”

“ Let’s get the boy off as quick as we may. Your man shall go for a cart, and take away the body of this unhappy gentleman. This has been a sad day’s work for our family, Redmond Barry: you have robbed us of 1500 (pounds) a year.’
‘It was Nora did it,’ said I; ‘not I.’ And I took the riband she gave me out of my waistcoat, and the letter, and flung them down on the body of Captain Quin. ”

“ It is still blowing hard; but our captain is more than satisfied; and, under everything she can carry, the Boadicea rushes, like a frightened stag, fast away, northwards and eastwards, out of those dismal seas of ice and fog, snow, and unknown islands, a very nightmare of navigation, into which one merchant skipper, at least, will never willingly venture again. ”

“ I’m an Englishman I am, and a man of property; and I—I’—‘If you’re insulted, and not satisfied, remember there’s two of us, Quin,’ said Ulick gruffly. On which the Captain fell to washing his nose in water, and answered never a word.
‘Mr. Quin,’ said I, in the most dignified tone I could assume, ‘may also have satisfaction any time he pleases, by calling on Redmond Barry, Esquire, of Barryville.’ At which speech my uncle burst out a-laughing (as he did at everything) ; and in this laugh, Captain Fagan, much to my mortification, joined. ”