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millions of dollars, were constructed; the constructors received their orders from the sages at Washington, and each vessel, as was to have been expected, became worse than the preceding. Two of them are permitted to rot in the mud, a third has been cut down to a frigate possessing no very creditable properties, and the others, if not humanely suffered to rot, will probably follow their example.

The same signal disgrace has fallen upon our sloops of war. Under a mistaken idea of strength and stability, their frames are solid, and in many instances their leeway and headway are nearly balanced. Some of them, we are officially informed, possess every desirable property, except that they are rather difficult to steer! Those in the least acquainted with the subject need hardly be informed that this exception, trifling as it seems, is conclusive against the model.

At the head of this board was Commodore John Rodgers, and his instructions and his orders were to be the basis of Mr. Eckford's operations. These orders, copied, for the most part, out of some exploded work on naval architecture, were wisely disregarded, although their receipt was duly acknowledged; and he has been heard to observe, that when the vessel was completed, he would have challenged the whole board to have examined and pointed out in what particulars their orders had not been implicitly obeyed. Under the orders of the commissioners, he had prepared a model which, after due examination, was graciously approved of. When Mr. Eckford proceeded to lay down the vessel, he thought fit to introduce many important changes, and the only genuine draught of the Ohio is now owned by Mr. Isaac Webb, one of the most intelligent of his pupils. The consequence, however, of these collisions between presuming ignorance and modest worth were soon obvious. Mr. Eckford resigned his commission on the day the Ohio was launched; and shortly after received an intimation, that he would never see her put in commission as long as the members of that board held their seats. This promise, as our readers are aware, was kept for eighteen years.

Shortly after this he engaged extensively in his profession; and so great and extended became his reputation, that he was called upon to construct vessels of war for various European powers, and for some of the republics of South America. Among others, he built and despatched to Columbia and Brazil four 64 gun-ships, of 2000 tons each, in the incredibly short space of eighteen months. In these cases his accounts were promptly adjusted, and he received from all parties highly honorable testimonials of his integrity, punctuality, and good faith. He subsequently received pro

posals to build two frigates for Greece; but as he thought he perceived, on the part of the agents, a disposition to take an unfair advantage of the necessities of that nation, he honorably and humanely declined their tempting propositions. All are aware of the disastrous and (to this country) disgraceful manner in which that business terminated.

Upon the accession of General Jackson to the presidency, he received from him an invitation to furnish him with a plan for a new organization of the navy. This was promptly furnished, and was pronounced by all who read it to be exactly what was required for an efficient and economical administration of the navy. It was not acted upon, although its adoption would have materially advanced the interests of the country. Among other novel propositions, it was recommended to remodel entirely the dockyards. These were to be under the superintendence of superannuated commodores, who, in taking command, would relinquish their rank and make way for more active officers. The constructor at each yard was to be held responsible for the quantity and quality of work done, and only amenable to the chief constructor at Washington. This latter office, he took occasion, however, to say, he could not, under any circumstances, be persuaded to accept. He wished, in short, from what he had himself observed of the extravagance, waste, and delay at our dockyards, to place them on a civil footing, as more consonant to the feelings of the mechanics and the spirit of our institutions.

About this period he determined to prepare and publish a work on naval architecture, for which he had ample materials, and numerous draughts of vessels of almost every class. He had also set aside twenty thousand dollars to establish a professorship of naval architecture in Columbia college, and had already entered into correspondence with an eminent constructor, Mr. Doughty, whom he had intended as the first professor, when a disastrous affair occurred, involving his reputation and his ample fortune. An insurance company, in which he was largely interested, became, in the panic of the day, insolvent, and its creditors ventured, in the madness of the moment, to throw doubts on the hitherto unimpeached character of Mr. Eckford. In this they were aided by a knot of political partisans, to whom his silent, but gradually increasing popularity, (which had, long ere this, placed him in the state legislature,) was gall and wormwood. Notwithstanding he satisfactorily proved that he had lost, by stock, and other advances to save the sinking credit of the company, nearly half a million of dollars, yet his enemies affected to discredit his testimony, upon the ground that such unparalleled sacrifices were too

disinterested to be credible. The termination of the investigation resulted in his complete and honorable acquittal, but the venomed shaft rankled in his kind and gentle breast to the hour of his death. It is no consolation to his numerous friends and relatives to know, that all who joined in this base conspiracy against this pure-minded and well-principled man have since paid the forfeit of their infuriated zeal, by the silent, but withering contempt of

their fellow-citizens.

In 1831, he built a sloop-of-war for the Sultan Mahmoud, and was induced to visit Turkey. His fame as a skilful architect had preceded him, and he was shortly afterwards offered the situation of chief naval constructor for the empire. A field worthy of his enterprise seemed open to him. With his characteristic energy he commenced the organization of the navy yard, and laid down the keel of a ship of the line. He had rapidly entered in her con struction, and had so far advanced in the favor of the sultan that preparations were in train to create him a Bey of the empire, when his labors were suddenly brought to a close by his lamented death, from inflammation of the bowels, which occurred November 12, 1832, in the fifty-seventh year of his age.

In private life, Eckford was remarkably simple in his manners and habits. Abstemious and temperate, he always possessed un clouded faculties; and his quiet attention and kindness to all under his control enabled him to secure their ready co-operation in any of his plans which required from them willing and prompt exer tions. The scrupulous observance of his contracts to the mi nutest particular was with him a point of honor; and his dealings with his fellow-men bore rather the character of princely munifi cence than the generosity of a private individual. Throughout life, and amid transactions involving millions, he maintained the same unassuming habits, considering himself but the mere trustee for the benefit of others; and died as he had lived, honored and beloved by all who knew him.

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