Had
He At The Best Done Any Thing Beyond A Policeman's Work?
Of
Captain Wilkes no one would complain for doing policeman's duty.
If his country were satisfied with the manner in which he did it,
England, if she quarreled at all, would not quarrel with him.
It
may now and again become the duty of a brave officer to do work of
so low a caliber. It is a pity that an ambitious sailor should
find himself told off for so mean a task, but the world would know
that it is not his fault. No one could blame Captain Wilkes for
acting policeman on the seas. But who ever before heard of giving
a man glory for achievements so little glorious? How Captain
Wilkes must have blushed when those speeches were made to him, when
that talk about the sword came up, when the thanks arrived to him
from Congress! An officer receives his country's thanks when he
has been in great peril, and has borne himself gallantly through
his danger; when he has endured the brunt of war, and come through
it with victory; when he has exposed himself on behalf of his
country and singed his epaulets with an enemy's fire. Captain
Wilkes tapped a merchantman on the shoulder in the high seas, and
told him that his passengers were wanted. In doing this he showed
no lack of spirit, for it might be his duty; but where was his
spirit when he submitted to be thanked for such work?
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