We may dismiss in a paragraph this whole matter of Randolph’s connection with the _Concord_. After his return home he lapsed into his speech-making habits. He indulged in slanders and falsehoods, asserting that the condition of the sailors was worse than that of his own slaves, and the discipline, especially flogging, severer than on the plantation. Perry and his officers heard of this, and on February 16, 1832, sent an exact report of the correction administered, proving that Randolph’s assertions were unfounded. Supported by his own officers, who voluntarily made flat contradiction of Mr. Randolph’s assertions, Perry convicted the erring Virginian of downright falsehood. Perry was careful to set this matter in its proper light, and two sets of his papers are now in the naval archives. No censure was passed upon him. His conduct was approved, for Randolph in addition to his disagreeable behavior, had exceeded his authority. It would be idle to deny, what it is an honor to Perry to declare, that the discipline on the _Concord_ was very strict. Flogging for certain offences was the rule of the service, not made by Perry but a custom fixed long before he was born. As a loyal officer, Captain Perry had no choice in the matter. Whenever possible, by persuasion, by the substitution of a reprimand for the cat, he avoided the, then, universal method of correction. At all the floggings, every one who could be spared from duty was obliged to be present. The logs of the _Concord_ and of all the vessels commanded by Perry show that under his discipline less, and not more, than the average of stripes were administered. Perry went to the roots of the matter and was more anxious to apply ounces of prevention than pounds of cure. The cause of the offences which brought the cat to the sailors’ back was ardent spirits. He, therefore, used his professional influence to have this ration abolished to minors, and by his persistence finally succeeded. By the law of August 29, 1842, the spirit ration was forbidden to all under twenty-one years old—money being paid instead of grog. As a man, he personally persuaded the sailors to give up liquor and live by temperance principles. In this noble work he was remarkably successful, and the _Concord_ led the squadron in the number of her crew who voluntarily abandoned the use of grog. Hence, fewer floggings and better discipline. From Copenhagen the run was made to Cowes, Isle of Wight, September 22, and thence to the Mediterranean. At Port Mahon the _Concord_ joined the squadron. The autumn and early winter were spent in active cruising, and in February we find Perry at Syracuse. Ever mindful of an opportunity to add stores of science, he made a collection of the plants of Sicily and forwarded it to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. A box of other specimens was sent to the Brooklyn Navy Yard.