[Note 1:] - Frederic Ingham, the "I" of the narrative, is supposed to be
a retired officer of the United States Navy.
[Note 2:] - "_Few readers . . . observed_." In truth, no one observed
it, because there was no such announcement there. The author has,
however, met more than one person who assured him that they had seen
this notice. So fallible is the human memory!
[Note 3:] - _The "Levant_." The " Levant " was a corvette in the
American navy, which sailed on her last voyage, with despatches for an
American officer in Central America, from the port of Honolulu in 1860.
She has never been heard of since, but one of her spars drifted ashore
on one of the Hawaiian islands. I took her name intentionally, knowing
that she was lost. As it happened, when this story was published, only
two American editors recollected that the "Levant" no longer existed. We
learn from the last despatch of Captain Hunt that he intended to take a
northern course heading eastward toward the coast of California rather
than southward toward the Equator. At the instance of Mr. James D.
Hague, who was on board the "Levant" to bid Captain Hunt good bye on the
day when she sailed from Hilo, a search has been made in the summer of
1904 for any reef or islands in that undiscovered region upon which she
may have been wrecked. But no satisfactory results have been obtained.
[Note 4:] - _Madison_. James Madison was President from March 4, 1809,
to March 4, 1817. Personally he did not wish to make war with England,
but the leaders of the younger men of the Democratic party--Mr. Clay,
Mr. Calhoun, and others--pressed him against his will to declare war in
1812. The war was ended by the Treaty of Peace at Ghent in the year
1814. It is generally called "The Short War." There were many reasons
for the war. The most exasperating was the impressment of American
seamen to serve in the English navy. In the American State Department
there were records of 6,257 such men, whose friends had protested to the
American government. It is believed that more than twenty thousand
Americans were held, at one time or another, in such service. For those
who need to study this subject, I recommend Spears's "History of our
Navy," in four volumes. It is dedicated "to those who would seek Peace
and Pursue it."
[Note 5:] - Aaron Burr had been an officer in the American Revolution.
He was Vice-President from 1801 to 1805, in the first term of
Jefferson's administration. In July, 1804, in a duel, Burr killed
Alexander Hamilton, a celebrated leader of the Federal party. From this
duel may be dated the indignation which followed him through the next
years of his life. In 1805, after his Vice-Presidency, he made a voyage
down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers, to study the new acquisition of
Louisiana. That name was then given to all the country west of the
Mississippi as far as the Rocky Mountains. The next year he organized a
military expedition, probably with the plan, vaguely conceived, of
taking Texas from Spain. He was, however, betrayed and arrested by
General Wilkinson,--then in command of the United States army,--with
whom Burr had had intimate relations. He was tried for treason at
Richmond but acquitted.
[Note 6:] - Colonel Morgan is a fictitious character, like all the
others in this book, except Aaron Burr.
[Note 7:] - The "Lay of the Last Minstrel" is one of the best poems of
Walter Scott. It was first published in 1805.