and
rapidity of action were large elements in the hoped-for achievement, and
secrecy depends much upon the length of time the secret must be kept.
Among the officers whose length of service and professional reputation
indicated them as suitable for the position, there was little to guide
the department to the man who would on emergency show the audacity and
self-reliance demanded by the intended operations. The action proposed,
though it falls within the limits of the methods which history has
justified, and has, therefore, a legitimate place in the so-called
science of war, was, nevertheless, as the opinions of Barnard and Porter
show, contrary to the more usual and accepted practice. It disregarded
the safeguards commonly insisted upon, overleaped the successive steps
by which military achievement ordinarily advances to its end, and,
looking only to the exceptional conditions, resorted fearlessly to
exceptional methods. For such a duty the department needed a man of more
than average determination and vigor.

Farragut's name was necessarily among those considered; but the final
choice appears to have been determined by the impression made upon Mr.
Fox, and through him upon the department, by his course in leaving
Norfolk at the time and in the way he did. This, Fox argued, showed
"great superiority of character, clear perception of duty, and firm
resolution in the performance of it." His conspicuous ability was not
then recognized, could not be until revealed by war; but it was evident
that he stood well above the common run of simply accomplished officers.
Still, further tests were required; in a matter of so much importance
the department had need to move warily. That Farragut was faithful could
not be doubted; but was his heart so far in the contest that he could be
depended upon to exert his abilities to the full? Commander Porter was
ordered to go to New York on duty connected with the mortar flotilla,
and while there to make an opportunity to visit Farragut. There had
been, as is known, a close relation between the two families, and to him
Farragut was likely to show how hearty he was in the cause. Porter's
account was most favorable, and it then remained only to judge whether
he was in sympathy with the military plan of the proposed expedition.

For this object Farragut was ordered to report at the department, and
Fox undertook to meet him at the train and talk over the matter
informally. He arrived in Washing