completer success. Yet Eaton has not had the luck of fame. He was nearly
forgotten, in spite of a well-written Life by President Felton, in
Sparks's Collection, until a short time since; when he was placed before
the public in a somewhat melodramatic attitude, by an article in a New
York pictorial monthly. It is not easy to explain this neglect. We know
that our Temple of Fame is a small building as yet, and that it has a
great many inhabitants,--so many, indeed, that worthy heroes may easily
be overlooked by visitors who do not consult the catalogue. But a man
who has added a brilliant page to the _Gesta Dei per Novanglos_ deserves
a conspicuous niche. A brief sketch of his doings in Africa will give a
good view of the position of the United States in Barbary, in the first
years of the Republic.

Sixty years ago, civilized Europe not only tolerated the robbery, the
murder, and the carrying into captivity of her own people, but actually
recognized this triple atrocity as a privilege inherent to certain
persons of Turkish descent and Mahometan religion inhabiting the
northern coast of Africa. England or France might have put them down by
a word long before; but, as the corsairs chiefly ravaged the defenceless
coasts of Sardinia, Sicily, and Naples, the two great powers had no
particular interest in crushing them. And there was always some jealous
calculation of advantage, some pitiful project of turning them to future
account, which prevented decisive action on the part of either nation.
Then the wars which followed the French Revolution kept Europe busy at
home and gave the Barbary sailors the opportunity of following their
calling for a few years longer with impunity. The English, with large
fleets and naval stations in the Mediterranean, had nothing to fear from
them, and were, probably, not much displeased with the contributions
levied upon the commerce of other nations. Barbary piracy was a
protective tax in favor of British bottoms. French merchantmen kept at