Recent Deaths.
The Rev. Walter Colton was born in Rutland, Vermont, about the year 1797. When sixteen years of age he determined to acquire a liberal education, and commenced with industrious energy his preparatory studies. In 1818 he entered Yale College, where he received the Berkleyan Prize in Latin and Greek, and delivered the valedictory poem, when he graduated, in 1822. He soon afterwards entered the Theological Seminary at Andover, where he remained three years, giving much of his tune to literature, and writing, besides various moral and critical dissertations, a Sacred Drama, which was acted by the students at one of their rhetorical exhibitions, and an elaborate poem pronounced when his class received their diplomas. On being ordained an evangelist, according to the usage of the Congregational Church, he became Professor of Moral Philosophy and Belles-Lettres in the Scientific and Military Academy at Middletown, then under the presidency of Captain Alden Partridge. Besides attending to the more immediate duties of his position, he wrote while here a prize Essay on Duelling; a Discussion of the Genius of Coleridge; The Moral Power of the Poet, Painter, and Sculptor, contrasted, and many contributions in verse and prose to the public journals, under the signature of "Bertram." In 1828 he resigned his professorship, and settled in Washington, as editor of the American Spectator, a weekly gazette which he conducted with industry, and such tact and temper, that he preserved the most intimate relations with the leaders of the political party to which it was most decidedly opposed. He was especially a favorite with President Jackson, who was accustomed to send for him two or three times in a week to sit with him in his private chamber, and when Mr. Colton's health declined, so that a sea voyage was recommended by his physicians, the President offered him without solicitation a consulship or a chaplaincy in the Navy. The latter was accepted, and from 1830 till the end of his life, he continued as a chaplain in the naval service.
His first appointment was to the West India squadron, where his reputation was increased by several incidents illustrative of his personal character. On one occasion a murderous affray had taken place between a boat's crew of American sailors and a party of Spaniards belonging to Pensacola, in which several sailors were killed. Mr. Colton drew up the official report of the outrage, in which he handled the police with just severity. The mayor, himself a Spaniard, and a man of desperate character, was greatly enraged, and swore he would take ample vengeance. He watched his opportunity, and attempted to rush on the chaplain with his long knife before he could protect himself. But the latter, drawing his pistols at the instant, levelled one of them at his breast, and told the mayor if he stirred his hand except to return his knife to its belt, he would put a ball through his heart. The Spaniard hesitated for a few minutes, and reluctantly complied.
Returning from the West Indies Mr. Colton was appointed to the Constellation frigate, and sailed for the Mediterranean, and in the three years during which he was connected with this station, he travelled through Spain, Italy, Greece, and Asia Minor; visited Constantinople, and made his way to Paris and London. The results of his observations he partially gave to the public in volumes entitled Ship and Shore, and A Visit to Constantinople and Athens. Soon after the publication of these works, he was appointed Historiographer to the South Sea Surveying and Exploring Expedition; but the ultimate reduction of the force designed for the Pacific squadron, and the resignation of his associates, induced him to forego the advantages of this office, for which he had made very careful preparations in ethnographical studies.
He was now stationed at Philadelphia, where he was chaplain successively of the Navy Yard and of the Naval Asylum. In this city we became acquainted with him, and for several years enjoyed his frequent society and intimate friendship, so that few have had more ample opportunities of judging of his character. In 1841 and 1842, with the consent of the Government, he added to his official duties the editorship of the Philadelphia North American, and in these and the following years he wrote much upon religious and literary subjects for other journals. We believe it was in 1844 that he delivered before the literary societies of the University of Vermont, a poem entitled The Sailor, which has not yet been published. In the summer of 1846 he was married, and we were selected by him for that occasion to fill the office commonly falling to the nearest friend. A few months afterward he was ordered to the Congress, the flag-ship of the Pacific squadron, in which he arrived off the western coast of America soon after the commencement of the late war with Mexico. The incidents of the voyage round Cape Horn are detailed with more than his usual felicity in his book, Deck and Port, published last summer in this city by Barnes & Co.
Soon after the arrival of the squadron at Monterey, he was appointed alcalde, or chief magistrate of that city, an office of difficult duties and large responsibilities, demanding the most untiring industry, zeal, and fortitude. These were discharged with eminent faithfulness and ability, so that he won as much the regard of the conquered inhabitants of the country, as the respect of his more immediate associates. In addition to the ordinary duties of his place, Mr. Colton established the first newspaper printed in California, The Californian, now published in San Francisco, under the title of the "Alta California;" he built the first school-house in California; and also a large hall for public meetings—said to be the finest building in the state, which the citizens called "Colton Hall," in honor of his public spirit and enterprise. It was during his administration of affairs at Monterey that the discovery of gold in the Sacramento Valley was first made; and, considering the vast importance which this discovery has since assumed, it may not be uninteresting to state that the honor of first making it publicly known in the Atlantic States, whether by accident or otherwise, belongs properly to him. It was first announced in a letter bearing his initials, which appeared in the Philadelphia North American, and the next day in a letter also written by him, in the New-York Journal of Commerce.
Mr. Colton returned to his home early last summer, with anticipations of years of undisturbed happiness. With a family deeply attached to him, a large circle of friends, good reputation, and a fortune equal to his desires, he applied himself leisurely to the preparation of his MS. journals for the press, and the revision of his earlier publications. He had published, besides Deck and Port, already mentioned, Three Years in California, and had nearly ready for the printer a much enlarged and improved edition of Ship and Shore, which was to be followed by A Visit to Constantinople, Athens, and the Ægean, a collection of his Poems, and a volume of Miscellanies of Literature and Religion. His health however began to decline, and a cold, induced by exposure during a late visit to Washington, ended in granular dropsy, which his physician soon discovered to be incurable. Being in Philadelphia on the 22d of January, we left our hotel to pay him an early visit, and found the death signs upon his door; he had died at two o'clock that morning, surrounded by his relations, and in the presence of his friends the Rev. Albert Barnes and the Rev. Dr. Herman Hooker—died very calmly, without mortal enemies and at peace with God.
Mr. Colton was of an eminently genial nature, fond of society, and with such qualities as made him always a welcome associate. His extensive and various travel had left upon his memory a thousand delightful pictures, which were reflected in his conversation so distinctly and with such skilful preparation of the mind, that his companions lived over his life with him as often as he chose to summon its scenes before them. We believe him to have been very sincere in all the professions of honor and religion, and fully deserving of the respectful regrets with which he will be remembered during the lives of his contemporaries.
Auguste d'Avezac, descended from an illustrious French family, was born in the island of St. Domingo, about the year 1787. He was educated at the celebrated college of La Flèche, in France; emigrated to the United States; studied medicine at Edenton, North Carolina; and on the acquisition of Louisiana removed to New Orleans. Here his sister was married to Chancellor Livingston, and he himself became a successful lawyer. When General Jackson arrived in New Orleans, d'Avezac became one of his aid-de-camps, and he served with him to the end of the war, and remained all his life among his most devoted friends. When General Jackson became President he appointed Major d'Avezac Chargé d'Affaires to Naples, and afterwards to the Netherlands, whence he was recalled by Mr. Van Buren, but under circumstances which did not prevent his hearty support of the President's administration. He then took up his residence in New-York, and in 1841 and 1843 was elected from this city to the Legislature. In 1845, he was appointed Chargé d'Affaires to the Hague, and he remained there until superseded last year by Mr. Folsom, when he again returned to New-York, where he died on the 16th ultimo. He was an eminently agreeable man in society, and wrote in French and English with ease and vivacity, upon literature, art, politics, and history.