and Shore_, and _A Visit to Constantinople and Athens_. Soon after the
publication of these works, he was appointed Historiographer to the
South Sea Surveying and Exploring Expedition; but the ultimate reduction
of the force designed for the Pacific squadron, and the resignation of
his associates, induced him to forego the advantages of this office, for
which he had made very careful preparations in ethnographical studies.

He was now stationed at Philadelphia, where he was chaplain successively
of the Navy Yard and of the Naval Asylum. In this city we became
acquainted with him, and for several years enjoyed his frequent society
and intimate friendship, so that few have had more ample opportunities
of judging of his character. In 1841 and 1842, with the consent of the
Government, he added to his official duties the editorship of the
Philadelphia _North American_, and in these and the following years he
wrote much upon religious and literary subjects for other journals. We
believe it was in 1844 that he delivered before the literary societies
of the University of Vermont, a poem entitled _The Sailor_, which has
not yet been published. In the summer of 1846 he was married, and we
were selected by him for that occasion to fill the office commonly
falling to the nearest friend. A few months afterward he was ordered to
the Congress, the flag-ship of the Pacific squadron, in which he arrived
off the western coast of America soon after the commencement of the late
war with Mexico. The incidents of the voyage round Cape Horn are
detailed with more than his usual felicity in his book, _Deck and Port_,
published last summer in this city by Barnes & Co.

Soon after the arrival of the squadron at Monterey, he was appointed
alcalde, or chief magistrate of that city, an office of difficult duties
and large responsibilities, demanding the most untiring industry, zeal,
and fortitude. These were discharged with eminent faithfulness and
ability, so that he won as much the regard of the conquered inhabitants
of the country, as the respect of his more immediate associates. In
addition to the ordinary duties of his place, Mr. Colton established the
first newspaper printed in California, _The Californian_, now published
in San Francisco, under the title of the "Alta California;" he built the
first _school-house_ in California; and also a large hall for public
meetings--said to be the finest building in the state, which the
citizens called "