Norfolk Highlights 1584 - 1881
By George Holbert Tucker
Chapter 29
Decatur Drinks a Famous Toast
Time-honored tradition, sanctioned by all of the standard books of
quotations on the market, says that when Commodore Stephen Decatur lifted
his glass at a testimonial dinner given in his honor in Norfolk on April
4, 1816, he said: "Our Country! In her intercourse with foreign
nations, may she always be in the right, but our country right or wrong."
But that is not what Decatur said, according to the two contemporary
Norfolk newspaper accounts of the affair that have been preserved. The
first of these is in the American Beacon (a daily) in its issue of the
day after the banquet. The second is in the Norfolk Gazette & Public
Ledger (a triweekly) that appeared two days after the affair.
Both reported that when Decatur's time came to propose a toast, he
lifted his glass and said: "Our country! In her intercourse with
foreign nations, may she always be in the right, and always successful,
right or wrong."
Decatur was at the zenith of his distinguished naval career when he
proposed the toast. The American naval hero of the hour, he had just
returned to the United States as the commanding officer of a squadron
that had successfully settled the Mediterranean maritime troubles that
had plagued American commerce for two decades. Everywhere the thirty-seven-year-old
hero went he was lionized, and he remained the naval darling of the
nation until his tragic death in the famous duel in 1820 with Commodore
James Barron.
On April 4, 1816, the day Decatur was wined and dined in Norfolk, he
was treated as the hero of the hour.
Under the head of "Tribute to Valour and Patriotism," the
American Beacon of April 5, 1816, said: "Yesterday our citizens
testified to Commodore Stephen Decatur, by a Public Dinner, the exalted
sense they entertain of his galantry and public services."
The "neat and plentiful dinner," well supplied with wines
and liquors, was provided by Matthew Glenn of the Exchange Hotel on
Main Street and was served in the assembly room of the establishment.
A company of one hundred and twenty "officers of the Navy and
Army of this station" and the "most representative citizens
of this borough" sat down to the table at 5 p.m. John Nivison,
a well known Norfolk attorney, presided. He was assisted by his son-in-law,
Littleton Waller Tazewell, also a prominent member of the Norfolk bar.
According to the Beacon, "the utmost cordiality and harmony prevailed,"
and after the meal was over, eighteen prepared toasts were drunk. After
the glasses had clinked over the last one, Decatur was invited to propose
a toast. It was then that he responded with the salute to his country
that has been misquoted for so many years.
As a final gesture, the guests sang a two-verse song written for the
occasion by a citizen of Petersburg. The tune used was "To Anacreon
in Heaven," the same melody Francis Scott Key used for the musical
setting of "The Star Spangled Banner."
The second verse paid particular tribute to Decatur:
"Algiers' haughty Dey, in the height of his pride,
From American freemen a tribute demanded;
Columbia's brave freemen the tribute denied,
And his Corsairs to seize our bold tars was commanded.
Their streamers wave high,
For Decatur draws nigh,
His name strikes like lightning -- in terror they fly --
Thrice welcome our hero, returned from afar.
Where the proud crescent falls to the American Star."
 Chapter
30
The Chesapeake-Leopard Affair
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