I had received the elegant present, a few days previously, through the kind agency of Mr. Osbourne; my answer to him I enclose. For years before these reports were made, I had observed the great effort which was making to stop the mail on Sunday, on religious grounds, with deep sorrow and melancholy regret. When by a joint effort, which embraced the whole Union, near twenty thousand petitioners made this request of congress, I was a member of the senate, and chairman of the post office committee, to whom the petitions were referred. I discovered that the same printed memorial had come to us from every part of the Union. Under these circumstances, I felt it my duty to make an effort to awaken public sentiment to the danger of such a measure, and presented my first report, sanctioned by the whole committee.

My term of service having expired, I was elected to the house of representatives, and was made the chairman of the same committee. The request to stop the mails on Sunday was renewed by about half the number of the preceding session, and it again devolved upon me to make my second report, with the approbation of the whole committee, with one dissenting voice; since which, the application has not been renewed. And I am glad to concur with you in the belief that it is abandoned for ever, leaving every individual to keep the first day of the week precisely as his own faith and conscience may dictate. Thousands, I am happy to believe, signed the memorials without due consideration, who are more than satisfied with the result. I have never had a doubt but what the movement originated principally in misguided zeal. I felt confident that I should be sustained by public sentiment. But I did not anticipate or expect the high honour which your present implies. It was a painful duty I had to discharge, against such a formidable array of numbers, respectability, and influence.

There is no man living who is under more obligations than I am to the professors of religion, of every denomination, for his political elevation, and for personal and social happiness; and I was fearful that my language and my motives might be misunderstood. My single object

was to prevent, as far as depended upon me, a measure which, in my opinion, would have been a palpable violation of the federal constitution, and having a tendency to concentrate, in congress, ecclesiastical as well as political power. The persecutions under the reign of Mary, Queen of England, daughter of Henry the eighth; the revocation of the edict of Nantz, and the expulsion of the Huguenots from France; the persecutions which drove the pilgrims to Plymouth, on our own happy shores, and the trials for witchcraft in our own country, in olden times, all admonish us to keep church and state disunited.

Please convey to my fellow citizens of Baton Rouge and its vicinity, of all political parties associated with you, the profound respect and grateful acknowledgments with which I accept their present.

Wishing each of you prosperity and happiness, I remain sincerely your friend and fellow citizen, R. M. JOHNSON. Messrs. HUGH Alexander,

CHAS. TESSIER,

JAMES M'CALB, Baton Rouge, La.

Col. Johnson,

LOUISVILLE, KY. June 5, 1833. Sir-With this, you will receive a box forwarded from Baton Rouge, La.; and here permit me to say, that it af fords me much pleasure in being in any way instrumental in promoting the personal or political welfare of Col.

Johnson.

Your services to your country, and the sacrifices you have made for the public good, demand, as I hope they will receive, the grateful acknowledgment of every friend of civil and religious liberty.

For your hospitality and friendly attention to me, and the high estimation in which I hold your political opinions and practice during the last quarter of a century, be pleased to accept my most respectful and friendly consideration, until a time shall arrive when I can give more substantial proofs of both. SAMUEL M. OSBOURNE.

GREAT CROSSINGS, 8th June, 1833. Sir-I have received your esteemed favour of the 5th, accompanied by the box containing the beautiful silver

goblet "presented to me by the citizens of Baton Rouge, La., as a tribute of respect for my Reports on Sunday Mails," for which I return to them, through you, the sincere regard and acknowledgments of a heart overflowing with gratitude. It shall ever be retained by me, as a memorial of their friendship and of my affectionate devotion to them; and preserved, that I may ever be reminded of my duty to my country in any crisis in which may be involved the civil, political, or religious freedom of our happy country.

This token of the approbation of my fellow citizens of Baton Rouge is unexpected, and I regret that I have not done more to deserve it.

It shall stimulate me on all occasions to discharge my public duty faithfully to the extent of my abilities, confident of the support of my fellow citizens. In presenting that Report, I was extremely anxious to avoid casting cen sure or reproach upon any, while I felt it my duty at every hazard to vindicate the freedom of religion to our fellow citizens, universally, and to denounce, in pointed terms, any interference of government on that subject. I am hap py to believe that the case is viewed in its true light, and that all concur in the sentiment, that the measure contemplated will never again be seriously renewed. Religion can be a blessing only when every one is left to be persuaded in his own mind, without legal restraint or coercion. For the kind manner in which you have forwarded the highly valued present, accept my thanks; and wishing you the enjoyment of every blessing, I remain truly and sincerely your friend and fellow citizen, RH. M. JOHNSON.

SAML. M. OSBOURNE, ESQ. Colonel Johnson has lately been re-elected to congress by a vast majority of his district, say four of every five voters, and is yearly becoming a more popular favourite. Meetings have lately been called in approbation of his mail reports.

In recording the events of a life, the major part of which was devoted to the service of his country, the writer is aware that the space which it must occupy is too circumscribed to render complete justice to the subject. The space which his fame occupied in the public estimation, and the scenes in which he took an active part, are enstamped on the minds of his contemporaries, and inseparable from the history of our national glory. Nothing remains for the compiler, but to select with discretion, and condense with judgment, those events which are indissolubly connected with the progress and achievements of the American navy.

Little as some may imagine the circumstances of birth and education are connected with the events of adult life, certain it is, that to these we may often refer as the impetus by which the man is either propelled or induced to action in later years. The father of our hero, though of French descent, was born in Rhode Island. When but a young man, he removed to Philadelphia, where he married a Miss Pine, of Irish extraction. He was bred to the sea, and commanded a merchant vessel out of the port of Philadelphia until the establishment of the Navy, when he was appointed to command the Delaware sloop of war. He continued in her until the frigate Philadelphia was built, when the command of that ship was given to him, at the particular request of the merchants who had built her by subscription. In this situation he remained until peace was made with France, when he resigned his commission, and retired to his residence a few miles from

*Commodore is not a title in the navy, distinguishing a grade in office, but merely seniority of commission; the oldest captain in a squadron, on taking the command, is entitled to it as a distinguishing appellation. Post captain is the highest title yet given to our naval officers.

Philadelphia, where he resided until his death which happened in November, 1808.

His son, Stephen Decatur, was born on the 5th January, 1779, on the eastern shore of Maryland, whither his parents had retired while the British were in possession of Philadelphia. They returned to that city when he was a few months old, where he was educated.

It is not a little remarkable, that as the father first commanded the noble ship Philadelphia, so the son, when she was in possession of a Barbary power, risked his life in the astonishingly hazardous enterprise of destroying her, in the harbour, and under the very guns of the enemy.

He received a midshipman's warrant in March, 1798, and joined the frigate United States, under the command of Commodore Barry, who had obtained it for him. He continued for some time with that officer, and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. The United States at that time requiring some repairs, he requested an order to join the brig Norfolk, then bound to the Spanish main. He performed one cruise in her as first Lieutenant, and then resumed his station on board of the United States, where he remained until the affairs with France were settled.

During most of the time in which young Decatur was in the United States, that ship was engaged in the duty of convoying and protecting American merchantmen, and chastising or destroying the literal swarms of French and Spanish picaroons which infested the Atlantic ocean. Constitutionally ardent, and panting for naval glory, no wonder the lessons and examples of his father had their effect on his conduct; nor need we wonder that so able a commander as Commodore Barry, should encourage the noble bud of promise for future usefulness, which he could not observe but with the utmost satisfaction. It may not be amiss here to remark, that of this ship, in which he rose from midshipman to lieutenant, he captured, fourteen years afterwards, one of the finest frigates belonging to the British navy.

He was then ordered to the Essex, as first Lieutenant, and sailed with Commodore Dale's squadron to the Medi