1895.]

[Frazer.

Consul took his son to Malta where the latter joined the Fairfield as has been stated.

;

Edward entered the Naval School, then first established at Annapolis, November 12, 1845, and studied for a year, but upon the declaration of war against Mexico he was among the midshipmen who volunteered for service in that war.

To his great disappointment, however, after being promised orders to the "first ship going to the seat of war," he was ordered to the African coast, where he spent two years; returning to the Naval Academy February 2, 1848. Mrs. Moore has in her possession a MS. diary with many illustrations which he kept during this cruise. In July of that year he left the school, and after a short period of "waiting orders," began the real responsibility of a professional career on the frigate Constitution, which was ordered to the Mediterranean. While there his father, Daniel Smith McCauley, still Consul at Tripoli, was transferred to Alexandria, Egypt, as U. S. Consul General by orders from the U. S. Department of State dated August 14, 1849, the frigate Constitution conveying him and his family with their effects to his new post. On the day of the arrival of the frigate at Alexandria a boy was born to the Consul General, who, esteeming it a happy omen that a son of his should first see the light on a vessel so identified with the naval history of his family, named the childConstitution Stewart McCauley."

Edward was warranted a passed midshipman to date from August 10, 1847, on September 29, 1819.

The transcript of his orders, obtained from the Navy Department, and in serted in another place, will indicate the charges given to him succesively. It is only possible to touch upon those which were of most importance. Passed midshipman McCauley was ordered to the Powhatan, Commodore Perry's flag ship, which sailed from Norfolk, November 24, 1852, on the expedition to Japan.

The results of this expedition are sufficiently familiar to all Americans to render unnecessary any allusion to them in this place. McCauley was twenty-five years old, and this was his first expedition out of the ordinary routine. He had been familiar with the beauty and opulence of the seaports of that enchanting region where Asia, Africa and Europe unite; he was versed in the etiquette of the most civilized nations on that delicate field of diplomacy where a blunder serves as a pretext and often involves the most serious consequences; he was acquainted with the civilization of the Arab and the Persian, and their smiling aversion to the Caucasian; their aims and their creeds had been McCauley's study. But he was now, in the train of one of the New World's most distinguished war chiefs, to enter another and heretofore almost entirely unknown world, whose religion, philosophy, manners and resources were as dimly understood by the remainder of the world as if they pertained to the inhabitants of another planet. To such a character as that of the young midshipman this novelty was an inspiration, and the

He took with him a rare

prospective journey an anticipated delight. and beautifully bound album, the leaves of which were of various hues, and commenced at once to illustrate this remarkable voyage. If one looks through the illustrations accompanying the official account of this expedition it will be seen how faithful and admirable, and at the same time superior to these were the pictures and descriptions in this private illustrated journal.*

McCauley's sketches, full of life and humor (exhibiting at the same time lack of training in the technical details of drawing and coloring, yet an abundance of artistic sense in the treatment of his subjects), speak to the observer of a happy, talented youth, free from care and confident of the future. He was then twenty-four years of age.t

* The title of this official quarto of 537 pp. together with the contents of several of its important chapters here follows:

NARRATIVE

OF

THE EXPEDITION OF AN AMERICAN SQUADRON

ΤΟ

THE CHINA SEAS AND JAPAN

PERFORMED IN THE YEARS 1852, 1853 AND 1854,

UNDER THE COMMAND OF COMMODORE M. C. PERRY, UNITED STATES NAVY,

BY ORDER OF THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES,

COMPILED FROM THE ORIGINAL NOTES OF COMMODORE PERRY AND HIS OFFICERS, AT HIS REQUEST, AND UNDER HIS SUPERVISION,

CHAP.

BY FRANCIS L. HAWKS, D.D., LL.D.,

WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS.

PUBLISHED BY ORDER OF THE CONGRESS OF THE UNITED STATES.

WASHINGTON:

BEVERLY TUCKER, SENATE PRINTER,

1856.

II. From Capes of Chesapeake to Madeira, view of island-Funchal.
** St. Helena, Jamestown. Hospitality of a native to a Lieutenant.

СНАР. III. Passage to "the Cape."

СНАР. IV. Mauritius, Port Louis, ** Point de Galle (Ceylon), * * Straits of

Malacca, Singapore.

CHAP. V. Singapore, ** Hong Kong, * * Macao, * * Whampoa, *
СНАР. VI. Macao, * * Shanghai, * * Napha,

CHAP. VII. Lew Chew. * * Visit to palace of Shti,

CHAP. VIII.

Exploration of Lew Chew. * * The Commodore visits regent at his palace, and invites the authorities on board the Susquehanna to dinner.

CHAP. X. Bonin Islands.

СНАР. XI. Lew Chew (same picture, p. 169, Chap. VIII, and 226, Chap. XI).
CHAP. XII. Departure from Napha for Japan, Veds, etc.

CHAP. XIII. Reply from court at Yedo, etc.

The following comprise the principal subjects of these colored drawings, i. e.; Band itti (ship's negro minstrels), "Members of the Boarding School" (sailors with pistols, muskets, pikes and cutlasses), "The Reason Why Johnnie Came to Sea,"

The humorous sketches aboard ship are excellent, and the carefully elaborated drawings of the canoes of State, the weapons, buildings and costumes of the inhabitants of Lew Chew and the coast of China are the best things of their kind the writer has seen, and far more graphic and instructive than the illustrations accompanying the before mentioned official account. Of a sudden these delightful sketches cease with an entry of June 9, 1854 (?), though the album is but half full. The reason is to be found in the official volume before alluded to. Strict orders were issued by Commodore Perry that no sketch or narrative should by his officers be communicated to their own families, or to the public,* and while an officer probably had the right to make and retain such data among his private papers, yet the penalty which he would pay for any accidental or unguarded communication of his sketches or notes, and the barrenness of the pleasure of keeping them entirely to himself, in all probability discouraged McCauley from continuing his project. The reporting of the expedition was to be "official," and by the chance employment of the then little known traveler Bayard Taylor as historian, classic. This long expedition was crowned with success and made the participants in it marked and envied men for many years. Among those mentioned in Commodore Perry's despatches as deserving of credit for the intelligent performance of duty was the subject of this sketch.†

66

"Chalks, the Ship's Cook," "Unmarried and Married," "Going and Returning on Twenty-four Hours' Leave," Municipal Police of Mauritius Reception House at Bumé Borneo," "Manmaigne Rajah," "Chinese Fast Boat," "Hong Kong," "San Pan," "Dream of Johnnie," Japanese Salute," "Jack's Provocashins," "The Barrel Overcoat," "After a Six Months' Leave," "Gun Practice," "Cousin Nelly," "Return Stock," "A Japanese," "One of the Things not Thought of when Homeward Bound;" Sketches of Loo Choo (sic) man, woman, knife, Joss, Japanese head, Japanese pipe, Mandarin hat partly finished, and colored croquis of a home scene; "Mount Fusi," "Mount Chesima in Eruption," "Plan of Jeddo Bay," "Japanese," "Japanese Utensils and Arms," "Mandarin Boat No. 4," "Japanese Nob and Snob," Japanese Scull," "Japanese House on Sail Boat;" Coins, fire engine, hat, paper mackintosh and wooden pattens, Prince's barges, Japanese soldier, straw mackintosh, Japanese wrestler, Japanese landscape, Japanese woman on pattens, Japanese buildings, bow and arrow, U. S. officers with Japanese lantern, map of Hakodada bay, etc.

*"All journals and private notes kept by members of the expedition were to be considered as belonging to the Government until permission should be given from the Navy Department to publish them" (Narrative, etc., p. 100).

"The Secretary of the Navy in his report speaks thus of the conduct of our officers and men of the East India squadron with the pirates in the waters of the China seas: "In the several encounters the officers and men have conducted themselves gallantly,' and honorable mention is made of Lieuts. Pegram, Preble, Rolando, E. Y. McCauley and Sproston; Asst. Engineers Stamm and Kellogg; Acting Masters Mates J. P. Williams and S. R. Craig, and private Benjamin Adamson, of the marine corps, who was dangerously wounded.

"Lieuts. Henry Rolando and J. G. Sproston are from Baltimore, and Lieut. McCauley is from this city, though his father was for some time Consul General from the United States to Egypt" (Philadelphia daily paper of (?) 1856).

(This reference is to the attack of the Powhatan on the Chinese pirates in the China seas in 1855.)

It is proper to notice here that this experience of a new phase of Oriental life, added to the training of McCauley's youth in Egypt, naturally produced a marked effect upon the direction of his thought, and gave his studies an Oriental and philological bias. Naturally a shrewd observer and a good imitator, he improved every occasion to increase his repertory of languages and his mastery of Oriental habits of thought. But despite this undercurrent, scarce observed by himself, perhaps, but which was to become later his ruling tendency, he was now a handsome, well cultivated young officer, with a high appreciation of ladies' society, and every where welcome to it. The long story of his transfers, assignments to shore duty, waiting orders, sailing orders, etc., are about the same as those of thousands of other young men, and conceal in their laconic and routine phraseology about the same number of heart-burnings, bad and good luck, and apparent injustice.

The next important duty to which he was assigned was also for him, as well as for the country, epoch-making, but of a very different kind from the last.

Mr. Cyrus W. Field, at the head of a devoted few enthusiasts, had finally succeeded in impressing the governments of Great Britain and the United States with the feasibility of an Atlantic submarine telegraph, and both governments had granted the request for aid in realizing the project.

The history of the vicissitudes, failures and final success of this enterprise deserves to be taught in the public schools, as an example of what courage and perseverance in the face of almost insurmountable obstacles may accomplish. The parts played in this drama, so important for the entire globe, by the Niagara, the Agamemnon, the Gorgon and the Valorous, is best told in a little book called The Story of the Telegraph, of which the title and the contents of some of the principal chapters will be found in the footnote below.*

Additional interest in this connection is found in a small 8vo of eighty pages, entitled, Froceedings at the Banquet held in Honor of Cyrus W. Field, Esq., of New York, in Willis' Rooms, London, on Wednesday, 1st of July, 1868. Revised by the Speakers. London: Metchim & Son, Printers, 20 Parliament Street S. W., and 32 Clements Lane E. C., 1868,"

The Story of the Telegraph. The Story of the Telegraph and a History of the Great Atlantic Cables. A Complete Record of the Inception, Progress and Final Success of that Undertaking. A General History of Land and Oceanic Telegraphs. Descriptions of Telegraphic Apparatus and Biographical Sketches of the Principal Persons Connected with the Great Work. By Charles F. Briggs and Augustus Maverick. Abundantly and Beautifully Illustrated. New York: Rudd & Carleton, 310 Broadway, MDCCCLVIII. 8vo,255 pp. Chap. iii, “Origin of the Atlantic Telegraph;" Chap. iv, "Construction and Experiments;" Chap. v, "The First Expedition-Summer of 1857;" Chap. vi, "The Expedition of 1858;" Chap. vii, "The Third and Successful Attempt, Trinity Bay, Thursday, etc., August 5, 1858." "The Niagara and Gorgon arrived at Trinity Bay, yesterday. Atlantic cable perfect in working landed. The Agamemnon and Valorous spliced in mid-ocean with Niagara, and each proceeded her way, the first two for Valentia and the last to Trinity."

in which occur the names of over four hundred of the most distinguished diplomats, noblemen, men of science and of affairs, barristers and representatives of the army and navy of England and France, presided over by the Duke of Argyle, R. T. The proceedings show the realization by the participants of the immense importance of the success of the Atlantic cable, and bear testimony in a very remarkable manner to the cordiality of Englishmen of the better class towards the United States; and in a more remarkable degree still to the spirit of fairness and justice which we are too apt to deny to our transatlantic cousins.* The incident is mentioned merely to call attention to these significant words used by the Chairman, the Duke of Argyle, in giving the toast, The Military and Naval Service of the Two Countries, Great Britain and America" (sic). If variety in his experiences makes a highly cultivated man, certainly there is no need to look far for the cause of this characteristic in the late Rear Admiral Macauley. With a youth spent at the foot of the pyramids, and a young manhood passed in opening to the world the most advanced if hitherto unknown Oriental culture, he was now to experience what the acme of Western civilization could accomplish in "annihilating time and space.”

From the contemplation of the mysterious shrines which even yet lock up from our ken volumes of the contemplative wisdom of the far past, he was to witness the instantaneous exchange of thought between men on board of a ship rolling in the seas of the wide Atlantic and men in a little station on the coast of Ireland; between the respective officers of two vessels on the ocean which were a thousand miles apart and constantly increasing that distance. Western objective science and triumph over matter was, in short, to build a superstructure to Eastern subjective speculation and mastery of mind.

What may have been the sensations through which this observant young officer passed we can only imagine, but it is most probable that the admiration for true science, which was noticeable in him, dates from this time. Yet by one of those singular turns, which it is impossible to account for, the science which from this time began to interest Macauley was not physics, as one would naturally suppose, but geology.

If there be a class of men who are debarred by their profession from progress in this science, it would seem to be the seafaring class; for, although sailors visit various parts of the world where instructive geological phenomena are to be observed, they can seldom absent themselves from the vessels sufficiently long to visit these localities, while the harbors and seaports in which they might find time to observe are usually stamped

'My lords and gentlemen, I hope the American people will believe, and I think they do believe that all Englishmen almost deplore the causes which ever led the two countries into collision. They deplore them the more as I think the conviction is now fastened on the minds of all of us that in these contests from beginning to end, England was in the wrong. (Cheers.) She was wrong in the quarrels with the colonists, and was hardly ever in the right in regard to belligerent warfare," etc. The last allusion is to the conduct of England toward the U. S. during the late war of secession. (P. F.)