Litchfield enquirer., 1868-01-30
REAR ADMIRAL FOOTE.

New Haven Colony Society on the 20th inst. by the Rev. Leonard ". Bacon, and published in the New Haven Courier We are compelled to omit much; but hope to make such selections as will show the ad- 1nirable justice Mir Bacon has done our old Connecticut Cromwellian
 We will say nothing of ancestral infnen- ces. though he is the grandson and great grandson of two ministers of the Gospel, who served the church of Cheshire success ivelv in the pastoral office for the full pe- riod of eighty years and half. His father is such a man as the Cheshire people delight to send to the Legislature; byand by he becomes Senator of the United States; and l remember myself. the day when l sat on my fathers shoulder to look over the crowd and see him ride into New Haven, in triamphal pomp, driving his own one-horse buggy, to be ipauSurated Governor of Connecticut.
 In the qniet sternly disciplined New England home-true nursing place. of mo- ble characters-the boy grew up to sixteen years of age. He finished his Academy life with an oration on the American Union
 
 ural discussions of his mother, and his fath- CTS offers of a college education, had no ef- feet to turn the settled course of his incli- nation and at last, after much delay he re- ceived his appointment as midshlpman, ,and was ordered to report on board the schoon- CT "Grampus," then fitting out for a cruise against the pirates that at that time infest- ed the West India seas Old Admiral Greg ory, that splendid specimen of the old style naval commander, was then Lieuten- ant Frank Gregory in command of the Grampus He lived long enough to exult in the renown of his young pupil, and to mourn at his funeral
 There were smart young midshipmen, no doubt, aboard the Grampus, but there was no one quite like Foote, not only for doing his duty faithfully and creditably, but for getting in every possible way g thorough understanding of his new profession. There was no Naval Academy then. The ship was the young officers school, and his commander was his professor. Lieutenant Gregory used to notice that whenever he was called on deck no matter whose watch 1t was, there would be Foote watching all movements. It came out afterwards that the boy had made arrangements to be call ed on every such occasion, that he might miss no opportunity of learning the busi- ness of a sailor.
 While yet midshipman he became relig- ious, and had misgivings about the nature of his profession which his father succeed ed naquieting:--
 He took the question to his father. The shrewd good sense of the Senator met them with others. ''Is not Navy necessary" The midshipman could not help answering in the affirmative. elf there must be 8 Navy, ought there not to be good men in it?"
 He soon found there was abundant opportunity for Christian action in his pro- fession:-
 In his next ship, the John Adams" of which he was first Lieutenant, Foote had 8 noble opportunity for heroic deed, in be- half of right and justice. A little company of American citizens were found, voluntary eXiles on an archipelago of cannibal saya- ges in the midst of the Pacific ocean, la boring and suffering in behalf of Christ and humanity. Their subsequent success in the introduction of the regenerated Sand wich Islands into the family of Christirn nations, is one of the glories of modern history. But in 1889, sustained outwardly by the christianized Govt of the Island chiefs, and by the confidence of good men in America, they seemed set upon by the calumnies and assaults of the world and the devil. Against the horrible plague of li- centioilsness and drunkenness, brought by foreign sailors, which had ravaged those lovely islands more than any pestilence, the ] Christian chiefs had attempted to set up the barrier law. The sailors of successive ships, enraged with disappointed lust, lan- ded ill riotous gangs, and roared about the house of the missionaries with bloody threats, as the men of Sodom about the house of righteous Lot. To the horrible shame of our flag, the U. s. Schooner Dolphin" enforced by the guns of the United States, the right of free debauchery of her crew, and the helpless missionaries wept for shame and grief, as the lambs had been gathered with such infinite cost, were torn from the fold again by ravening wolves.
 As a fit sequel to these crimes, the com | tmander of French frigate demanded with 1 the emphasis of all his sixty guns, that the law of the islands forbidding the landing of ardent spirits should be revoked in favor of French brandies; and warned the American i Consul that in the event of hostilities, he should regard the missionaries as part of the population of the island entitled to none of the immunities of American citi- Zens.
 1 A few weeks after the Frenchman. had gone on his way in insolent triumph, the U. $. squadron arrived at the port Homo lulu. The wronged grieyed and wounded little colony of Christian minister found in Lieutenant Foote a confidential friend and adviser. The history of his life will show from example records left by his own hand how bravely, wisely and discreetly he con ducted their case by act and by writing and after his return by speeches from many 8 public platform from city to city; meeting and overwhelming the calumnies by which
 they had been pursued by the devilish ma lignity of their adversaries, and leading the
 way to the establishment of the principle
 now as unquestioned as the Monroe Doc. Urine, that the American missionary, O.
 whatever sect, is an American citizen, ne
 less than the American traveller or merchant
 and that the foreign power whether civilized
 or barbarous, that shall molest him, must
 answer for it to the Great Republic.
 But probably the one thing which did
 most to make Foote conspicuous previous l 4