e front at Sackett's Harbor, at an important moment, with
powers of which he made creditable use.

In the spring of 1815 he narrowly escaped sailing with Decatur on the
expedition to Algiers. It was largely by his advice that Decatur
decided to accept the command. Irving's trunks had been taken on board
the commodore's frigate when orders came from Washington delaying the
expedition. Irving was afraid that his presence might in some way
embarrass the commander, and left the ship at once. He was not to be
balked of Europe, however; he was ready to sail and the affairs of the
firm seemed to promise an easy competence. On May 25 he embarked for
Liverpool, with no very distinct plans, but with no expectation of
being long abroad. It was seventeen years before he saw America again.

He reached Liverpool at a dramatic moment. Napoleon had fallen, and
the mail coaches were rushing through England with the news of
Waterloo. It was the sort of pageant which always roused Irving's
fancy. He was absorbed in the situation.

His letters show that however he may have shrunk from concerning
himself with practical politics, he viewed the great _coups_ of
statecraft with the greatest interest. His sympathies are with
Bonaparte; the English were perhaps too recent enemies to be treated
quite charitably. "I have made a short visit to London," he wrote to
one of his brothers in July. "The spirits of this nation, as you may
suppose, are wonderfully elated by their successes on the Continent,
and English pride is inflated to its full distention by the idea of
having Paris at the mercy of Wellington and his army. The only thing
that annoys the honest mob is that old Louis will not cut throats and
lop off heads, and that Wellington will not blow up bridges and
monuments, and plunder palaces and galleries. As to Bonaparte, they
have disposed of him in a thousand ways; every fat-sided John Bull has
him dished up in a way to please his own palate, excepting that as yet
they have not observed the first direction in the famous receipt to
cook a turbot,--'First catchy our turbot.'" Then comes a postscript:
"The bells are ringing, and this moment news is brought that poor
Boney is a prisoner at Plymouth. _John has caught the turbot!_"

Peter Irving was in charge of the firm's English office at Liverpool.
He was a bachelor, and Irving had to go to Birmingham, to the house of
his brother-in-law, Henry van Wart, to find an American home in
England.