member of the board of
navy commissioners, had occasion to censure Commodore James Barron.
Barron considered himself insulted, and a long correspondence followed,
which finally resulted in Barron challenging Decatur to fight a duel.
Under the code of honor then in vogue, Decatur could do nothing but
accept, and the meeting took place at Bladensburg, Maryland, March 22,
1820. At the word "fire," Barron fell wounded in the hip, where Decatur
had said he would shoot him, while Decatur himself received a wound in
the abdomen from which he died that night. He was, all in all, one of
the most brilliant and efficient men the navy ever boasted; and he will
be remembered, too, for his immortal toast: "My country: may she be
always right; but, right or wrong, my country!"

Closely associated with Decatur in some of his exploits was William
Bainbridge, as handsome, impetuous and daring a sailor as ever trod a
deck. Bainbridge, who was five years younger than Decatur, began his
seafaring career at the age of sixteen, and three years later was in
command of a merchantman. He entered the navy at its reorganization in
1798, and two years later was appointed to command the George
Washington, a ship of twenty-eight guns.

Bainbridge's first duty was to carry a tribute of half a million
dollars to the Dey of Algiers, according to the arrangement made by the
Secretary of State which we have already mentioned. The errand was a
hateful one to Bainbridge, as it would have been to any American
sailorman; but he was in the navy to obey orders, and in September,
1800, he reached Algiers and anchored in the harbor and delivered the
tribute. But when he had done this, the Dey sent word that he had a
cargo of slaves and wild beasts for the Sultan of Turkey at
Constantinople, and that Bainbridge must take them, or his ship would be
taken from him and he and his crew sold into slavery.

There was nothing to do but consent, since the ship was wholly in the
Dey's power, so to Constantinople Bainbridge sailed her. When a boat was
sent ashore there to announce her arrival, the Turks were greatly
astonished, for they had never heard of a nation called the United
States, and did not know that there was a great continent on the other
side of the world. It makes us feel less self-important, sometimes, when
we stop to consider that about one half the human race, even at the
present day, have no idea of our existence.

Well, Bainbridge delivered his cargo