RODGERS. 191 



return home. Thereafter he was persistently at sea, except for short rests at home 

 or brief shore duties, until 1815, when he was 42 years of age. After that time he 

 was at sea for comparatively short periods. A similar love of the sea is widespread 

 in the family --in his brother, George W. Rodgers; in his son, John, who entered 

 the navy as midshipman in his sixteenth year (Hall, p. 84), explored the Arctic 

 sea north and northwest of Bering Strait, and in Henry, Augustus F., and Frederick, 

 all of whom were occupied on the sea. Moreover, there are the following grand- 

 sons in the navy: Rear Admiral Frederick Rodgers and Rear Admiral John A. 

 Rodgers (who are at the same time grandsons of Matthew C. Perry), and Com- 

 mander William L. Rodgers, a son of John Rodgers, Jr. 



A willingness to accept responsibility showed itself early in John Rodgers, 

 even as an apprentice (Paullin, p. 20). As captain of the New York he made an 

 honorable treaty with Morocco, without paying a cent for tribute or presents. 

 In treating with the pasha of Tripoli his "conduct during the negotiations on 

 board was mixed with that manly firmness and evident wish to continue the war 

 if it could be done with propriety, while he displayed the magnanimity of an 

 American in declaring that we fought not for conquest but to maintain our just 

 rights and national dignity." (Paullin, p. 139, quoting Consul Tobias Lear.) 

 Similarly he was successful in negotiating a treaty with the Bey of Tunis. His 

 brother, George W., was sent on a diplomatic mission to Brazil. John Rodgers 

 Jr. was, as we have seen, willing to assume responsibility for bringing the monitor 

 Weehawken through the gale without seeking shelter. Later, at Valparaiso, the 

 seaport of Chile, which was fighting with Spain, he observed and preserved neu- 

 trality, "while endeavoring to mitigate the harsh severities of war." (Hall, p. 

 89.) The secretary of state of the United States later praised his record in Val- 

 paraiso, saying, "enough of his methods have become known to add to his pre- 

 vious reputation, that of being an able negotiator and diplomatist." In 1870 he 

 was sent with Mr. Low, minister to China, to negotiate a treaty with Korea. In 

 this visit he had to punish a bit of Korean treachery. The family of Rodgers thus 

 for two generations was never called on in vain to make momentous decisions touch- 

 ing the honor and prosperity of the nation. 



For chart, see the Perry-Rodgers family, No. 50. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY. 



HALL, A. D. 1909. Biographical Memoir of John Rodgers. (In: National Acad. of Science 



Biogr. Memoirs. Washington: vol. 6, pp. 81-92.) 

 PAULLIN, C. O. 1910. Commodore John Rodgers. Cleveland: A.Clarke and Co., 434 pp. 



See Perry, No. 50. 



