After fifteen days of very tempestuous weather, they arrived at the harbour of Tripoli a little before sunset. It had been arranged between lieutenants Decatur and Stewart, that the ketch should enter the harbour about ten o'clock that night, attended by the boats of the Syren. On arriving off the harbour, the Sy ren, in consequence of a change of wind, had been thrown six or eight miles without the Intrepid. The wind at this time was fair, but fast declining, and lieutenant Decatur apprehended that, should he wait for the Syren's boats to come up, it might be too late to make the attack that night. Such delay might be fatal to the enterprise, as they could not remain longer on the coast, their provisions being nearly exhausted. For these reasons he determined to adventure into the harbour alone, which he did about eight o'clock.

An idea may be formed of the extreme hazard of this enterprise from the situation of the frigate. She was moored within half gun-shot of the bashaw's castle, and of the principal battery. Two of the enemy's cruisers lay within two cables' length, on the starboard quarter, and their gun-boats within half gunshot, on the starboard bow. All the guns of the frigate were mounted and loaded. Such were the immediate perils that our hero ventured to encounter with a single ketch, beside the other dangers that abound in a strongly fortified harbour.

Although it was only three miles from the entrance to the place where the frigate lay, yet, in consequence of the lightness of the wind, they did not get within hail of her until eleven o'clock. When they had approached within two hundred yards, they were hailed and ordered to anchor, or they would be fired into. Lieutenant Decatur ordered a Maltese pilot, who was on board the ketch, to answer that they had lost their anchors in a gale of wind on the coast, and therefore could not comply with their request. By this time it had become perfectly calm, and they were about fifty yards from the frigate. Lieutenant Decatur ordered a small boat that was alongside of the ketch, to take a rope and make it fast to the frigate's fore chains: this being done they began to warp the ketch alongside. It was not until this moment that the enemy suspected the character of their visitor, and great confusion immediately ensued. This enabled our ad

venturers to get alongside of the frigate, when Decatur immediately sprang aboard, followed by Mr. Charles Morris,* midshipman. These two were nearly a minute on the deck, before their companions could succeed in mounting the side. Fortunately, the Turks had not sufficiently recovered from their surprise to take advantage of this delay: they were crowded together on the quarter-deck, perfectly astonished and aghast, without making any attempt to oppose the assailing party. As soon as a sufficient number of our men had gained the deck to form a front equal to that of the enemy, they rushed in upon them. The Turks stood the assault but a short time, and were completely overpowered. About twenty were killed on the spot, many jumped overboard, and the rest fled to the main-deck, whither they were pursued and driven to the hold.

After entire possession had been gained of the ship,and every thing prepared to set fire to her, a number of launches were seen rowing about the harbour. This determined lieutenant Decatur to remain in the frigate, from whence a better defence could be made than from on board the ketch. The enemy had already commenced firing on them from their batteries and castle, and from two corsairs that were lying near. Perceiving that the launches did not attempt to approach, he ordered that the ship should be set on fire, which was done, at the same time, in different parts. As soon as this was completely effected they left her; and such was the rapidity of the flames, that it was with the utmost difficulty they preserved the ketch. At this critical moment a most propitious breeze sprang up, blowing directly out of the harbour, which, in a few minutes, carried them beyond the reach of the enemy's guns, and they made good their retreat without the loss of a single man, and with but one wounded.

For this gallant achievement, lieutenant Decatur received a captaincy; and congress voted to Lawrence and the other officers and crew, two months extra pay, which he declined receiving. During the same year, when commodore Preble bombarded the town of Tripoli, the Enterprise, with the other ships of the

squadron, were employed to cover the boats during the attack. On this occasion, lieutenant Lawrence had the temporary, command of the Enterprise, and performed his service in so gallant. and seaman-like a manner, as to receive the thanks of commodore Preble.

From the Enterprise, he was transferred to the frigate John Adams as first lieutenant; and after remaining in the Mediterranean about three years, he returned with commodore Preble to the United States.

Soon after, he was again sent to the Mediterranean as commander of gun-boat No. 6. These vessels were originally destined to serve merely along the American coast, and however qualified for harbour or river defence, were deemed exceedingly insecure in crossing the Atlantic. Being very small, with a disproportionably large gun and necessarily laden very deeply, they laboured under every disadvantage in encountering heavy gales. So decided were the opinions of the naval officers against them, that no one would, perhaps, have been willing to risk his life in them on such a voyage, for any motive of private advantage, or from any consideration, except the performance of his duty. "Lawrence has told me," writes one of his brother officers," that when he went on board the gun-boat, he had not the faintest idea that he would ever arrive out to the Mediterranean in her, or indeed, arrive any where else. He has also told me, that on the coast of Europe he met an English frigate, the captain of which would not at first believe that he had crossed the Atlantic in such a vessel." He did not, however, go with less alacrity, and he unexpectedly arrived safely in the Mediterranean, where he remained about sixteen months.

On his return from the Mediterranean, after the peace with Tripoli, he was appointed first lieutenant of the frigate Constitution, and afterwards commanded the schooner Vixen, the sloop of war Wasp, the brig Argus, and the ship Hornet, with the rank of master and commander, and was twice sent to Europe with despatches to our ministers. In the year 1808, he married a daughter of Mr. Montaudevert, a respectable merchant of Newyork.

The declaration of war against Great Britain, in June, 1812, gave a new impulse, or rather a new existence to the navy. Lawrence was at that time in Newyork, in command of the Hornet, and in a few days sailed with a squadron, consisting of the United States, Congress, and Argus, under the command of commodore Rogers, in the President. Their object was to intercept the Jamaica fleet. After being detained for a day by the pursuit of the British frigate Belvidere, which ended in the escape of the latter, owing to her having the advantage of the wind, the squadron followed the fleet with the utmost alacrity, as well as the imperfect information of the vessels they met would permit, till the 13th of July, when they reached within eighteen or twenty hours' sail of the English channel. Disappointed in this chase, they now ran down near the Azores, thence back by the banks of Newfoundland to Boston, where they arrived on the 31st of August. Although this cruise was marked by no bold or prominent success, and although the squadron made only seven captures and a single recapture, yet the failure is attributable to fortune only. At a moment when the British navy, with its boasted ubiquity covered the ocean, this little band of adventurers sought their enemies in every quarter, dared them on their own coast, and after carrying alarm through the mercantile classes of England, returned unmolested, and not victorious, only because the single enemy they encountered sought safety in flight.

The day before the squadron entered Boston, capt. Hull arrived after the capture of the Guerriere; and soon afterwards, the government yielding too far to the universal and natural enthusiasm excited by this gallant action, promoted lieutenant Morris, the first officer of the Constitution, to the rank of captain. As this appointment, however, advanced him two grades at once, contrary to the ordinary rules of promotion, and thus placed him above all the masters and commanders in the navy, it occasioned much dissatisfaction among them. Captain Lawrence felt himself peculiarly injured by it; inasmuch as he found himself thus suddenly outrank-' ed by one so much his junior. He therefore addressed a letter to the secretary of the navy, in which, after rendering the most ample justice to the merits of lieutenant Morris, he remonstrated in mild

and firm, but respectful language, against so unprecedented a promotion, by which he would be forced to leave the navy. In reply to this fair and manly letter he received from the secretary of the navy, a short and contemptuous answer, merely ac knowledging the receipt of his letter, with an intimation that if he chose to leave the service without a cause, there would still remain heroes and patriots to support the honour of the flag. This sarcastic note Lawrence received as he was on the point of sailing from Boston. To have left the service instantly would have been the natural impulse of his wounded feelings, but at such a moment, with a fine ship and a gallant crew, with sails unbent to meet the enemy, he could not part with the high hopes of acquiring reputation. He therefore repressed his indignation, and in reply to the secretary, after stating his surprise and regret, that any thing which he had written should have been deemed indecorous, he apprised him that he had prepared a memorial on the subject to the senate of the United States, and should be governed by their decision. This example may be serviceable to many officers, who, in a moment of disappointment, at improper or unkind treatment, are tempted to resign. It is better like Lawrence to stifle for a time the natural but hasty resentment of wounded pride, till an opportunity offers of proving, not by our complaints, but our actions, that we have been unjustly neglected. Lawrence sailed under the galling impression of having been keenly wounded by the secretary of the navy, and seeing a junior placed over him. On his return, he found that secretary no longer in office, and himself promoted in consequence of his application to the senate, to the rank of captain, so as to outrank the officer whose well deserved, though irregular appointment had given him so much uneasi

ness.

He now sailed from Boston in the Hornet, in company with commodore Bainbridge of the frigate Constitution, on a cruise to the East Indies; but in running down the coast of the Brazils, in the month of December, they found the Bonne Citoyenne, a British ship of war, loaded with specie, lying in the port of St. Salvador. The Bonne Citoyenne, was a larger vessel, and had a greater force both in guns and men than the Hornet;