d
assertions. But the spirit in which he wrote and the insinuations in
which he indulged furnish ample justification for the low opinion which
Cooper held of the evidence he had previously given.

With the parting shot in the preface to "The Red Rover," the
controversy, on Cooper's part, concluded. He had, however, been
concerned in another matter, in which the fortunes of his own work and
the fortunes of one of its critics were strangely blended. In 1841 an
abridged edition of his "Naval History" was brought out in one (p. 228)
volume. The publisher was desirous of having it included in the list of
books purchased for the district school libraries of New York. With this
object in view he offered it, without Cooper's knowledge, to the
Secretary of State, John C. Spencer, who was also superintendent of
public instruction. To him was confided, by virtue of his office, the
selection of the works which should constitute these libraries. He
rejected the proposal with uncomplimentary brevity. He would have
nothing to do, he informed the publisher, with so partisan a
performance. Soon after this he emphasized his opinion of its
partisanship by directing the purchase of Mackenzie's "Life of Perry"--a
work which was almost avowedly one-sided. There was a retribution almost
poetical in the tragedy that followed; for the same lack of mental
balance and judgment that had been exhibited in this biography of Perry
was to show itself under circumstances peculiarly harrowing. In October,
1841, Spencer joined the administration of John Tyler as Secretary of
War. In December, 1842, Mackenzie, then in command of the United States
brig Somers, gave a still further proof of his impartiality by hanging
on the high seas Spencer's son, an acting midshipman, for alleged
mutiny. It was done without even going through the formality of a trial.
It was an act of manslaughter, not committed, indeed, from any feeling
of malice, but merely from the same lack of judgment that he had
displayed in the literary controversy in which he had been engaged.
Mackenzie was brought before a naval court-martial, and succeeded with
some difficulty in securing an acquittal. In 1844 the proceedings of the
trial were published, and annexed to them was an elaborate review of the
case by Cooper. It was written in a calm and temperate tone, but (p. 229)
it practically settled the question of the character of the act.

Cooper's interest in the navy led him also to