New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1856-02-18

days after her departure she fell in with A. British
squadron, and then ensued that long chase which SO
strongly verified the old saying stern chase is
long chase.n The Constitution was pursued by the
best craft in the British claiming to have the
best saiers aoat she was tried on every tack with
all winds but against all she came off triumphant;
thanks to the oak of which she was built, the ropes
with which she was rugged, and the brave hearts and
skilful heads bywhich she was managed! One ofthe
chasing vessels was the Guerrero which on the 10th
of August, the same year, Morris had the pleasure of
meeting on an equal footing. Then ensued that ter
rible combat which in thirty.eight minutes reduced
the Guerrero to that condition that the wreck was
considered only fit for burning and was accordingly
destroyed.
The Constitution was commanded by Capt. Isaac
Hull, Morris still being her first Lieutenant.
For his galantry in this engagement, and before
Trpoli, Morris was promoted, March Is, 1915 to the
rank of Captain; his appointment gave the highest
satisfaction inevery quarter. .1
In December of the same year. the frigate Adams,
of % guns was launched, and Morris given tile COM
mand of her. The next year he was boclzaded in the
Potomac by q large British squadron; but, running
the gauntlet in the night, he got into blue WATER and
sailing off, made numerous valuable captures-
Finally, finding himself chased by squadron of
twenty-five sail, he compelled to run, and escaped
into Savannah where he re-victuaed. Putting to
sea again on the 9th of May, he ran down to the
British channel, and began capturing merchantmen
and creating confusion along the coast of the rock
bound isle He was chased, but succeeded in esca-
ping and put into Penobscot, running up nearly as
high as Bangor. Here he was again bockaded by
British fleet of sixteen sail, and finding no means to
avoid such superior force, the ship was reluctantly
burned, on the Sd of September 1914. The crew was
ordered to get to Portland the best way they could
and on the day designated there they a were with
out a single desertion, Or even absence
After this Morris had no more active service. For
| some years he was wholly unemployed, and for
several Others he was the commanding officer of the
Charlestown Navy Yard He commanded the ma
tional ship in 1856, that bore Lafayette back to
France, and in 1874 returned from his last cruise pre-
vious to that when he trpped anchor and voyaged off
into those realms, of which there has been but one
pilot returned to place the buoys and mark the
channel for safe naVi CATION. ~.
In the latter part Of his life Commodore Morris was
Chief of the Bureau of photography and Repairs and
died on the eth inst, after few weeks Illness The
National Inteligencer, speaking of him, says:
"On the unvarying testimony of his brother officers,
and without dsparagement to any OF the gallant men
who adorn the ranks of our navy, Commodore Morris
at the time Of his DEATH was in all the varied qualities
which constitute excellence in his profession, the
abest naval commander in the world. Nothing ever
turned him from the line of duty, and when, at the
end of fyseven years, he reached the highest point
Of professional honor he might truly have said:
have gained the palm, but not without labor"
So, by one in faster and faster step, the heroes
of the great deeds that made America American, that
disenthraled her from foreign ruler and defended
her from foreign insolence that planted her banner
as sentinel support and protection around the globe
that made the ttlepage and preface of our history
gloriousy golden in its rubrc and inception, fall away
from the ranks of the quick and are gathered to their
fathers. Of them, none lived q more stainless life,
rendering him worthy the chivaric boast of Bayard,
sans peur ct sans reproche-than Charles Morris.