Background
He was the youngest son of Lewis Morris, 1726-1798 [q. v. ], signer of the Declaration of Independence, and Mary (Walton) Morris, member of a prominent shipbuilding family.
He was the youngest son of Lewis Morris, 1726-1798 [q. v. ], signer of the Declaration of Independence, and Mary (Walton) Morris, member of a prominent shipbuilding family.
So satisfactory did his services prove that in 1802 he was given command of a naval squadron which was being sent by the United States to operate against Tripoli.
Additional difficulties arose when the Algerine government refused to commute, from naval and military stores to cash, certain annual payments which the United States had been accustomed to make to Algiers.
The Bey of Tunis was also unfriendly, and constantly made threats against the United States.
In order to placate him Morris, in February 1803, landed at Tunis.
The Bey thereupon refused him permission to depart until Morris had granted certain concessions.
In June 1803 Morris was ordered to relinquish his command and to return to the United States.
In consequence of the subsequent report of a court of inquiry that he had not displayed "the diligence or activity necessary to execute the important duties of his station, " his commission was revoked.
These factors Morris emphasized in an elaborate and, on the whole, convincing pamphlet, A Defence of the Conduct of Commodore Morris During His Command in the Mediterranean (1804).
[E. M. W. Lefferts, Descendants of Lewis Morris of Morrisania (1907); W. W. Spooner, Hist.
Families of America (copr.
1907); C. W. Goldsborough, The U. S. Naval Chronicle (1824); G. W. Allen, Our Navy and the Barbary Corsairs (1905); C. O. Paullin, Diplomatic Negotiations of Am.
Naval Officers (1912); R. W. Irwin, The Diplomatic Relations of the U. S. with the Barbary Powers (1931); Dispatches: Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli, in Archives of Dept. of State, Washington, D. C. ; N. Y. Evening Post, May 15, 1815. ]
He was survived by his wife and three children, one son having died in 1798.
His first attempt to reach Tripoli failed because of adverse winds, and, although he later blockaded the chief port of the enemy, he was unable to conclude peace on favorable terms (Goldsborough, post, pp. 203, 204).
After the Revolution, during which the family suffered severe hardships and losses, Richard became actively engaged in the maritime enterprises with which his relatives were identified; then, on Jan. 24, 1797, he married his cousin, Anne Walton.
After the Revolution, during which the family suffered severe hardships and losses, Richard became actively engaged in the maritime enterprises with which his relatives were identified; then, on Jan. 24, 1797, he married his cousin, Anne Walton.
