ss into oblivion. In this manner both
countries were relieved of patriots who "left their country for their
country's good." As an example, I remember hearing in my early life of
an Englishman named de Roos, who had the unfortunate habit of arranging
cards to suit his own fancy. When his _confreres_ finally caught him in
the act he left hurriedly for the Continent.

In 1842 the U.S. sloop of war _Somers_ arrived in New York, and the
country was startled by the accounts of what has since been known as the
"Somers Mutiny." The Captain of the ship was Commander Alexander Slidell
Mackenzie, whose original surname was Slidell. He was a brother of the
Hon. John Slidell, at one time U.S. Senator from Louisiana, who, during
the Civil War, while on his passage to England on the _Trent_ as a
representative of the Southern Confederacy in England, was captured by
Captain Charles Wilkes of the U.S. Navy. The result of the alleged
mutiny was the execution, by hanging at the yard arm, of Philip Spencer,
a son of the celebrated New York lawyer, John C. Spencer, President
Tyler's Secretary of War, and of two sailors, Samuel Cromwell and Elisha
Small. It was charged that they had conspired to capture the ship and
set adrift or murder her officers. Being far from any home port, and
uncertain of the extent to which the spirit of disaffection had
permeated the crew, Mackenzie consulted the officers of his ship as to
the proper course for him to pursue. In accordance with their advice,
and after only a preliminary examination of witnesses and no formal
trial with testimony for the defense, they were, as just stated,
summarily executed.

I speak from the point of view of the legal element of New York, as my
father's associates were nearly all professional men. The world was
aghast upon receiving the news that three men had been hurled into
eternity without judge or jury. Spencer was a lad of less than nineteen
and a midshipman. Although Captain Mackenzie's action was sustained by
the court of inquiry, which was convened in his case, as well as by the
_esprit de corps_ of the Navy, public feeling ran so high that a court
martial was ordered. His trial of two months' duration took place at the
Brooklyn Navy Yard, and resulted in a verdict of "not proven." The
judge-advocate of the court was Mr. William H. Norris of Baltimore, and
Mackenzie was defended by Mr. George Griffith and Mr. John Duer, the
latter of whom was the distinguished New York