The constant maintenance of a small squadron in the Mediterranean is a
necessary substitute for the humiliating alternative of paying tribute
for the security of our commerce in that sea, and for a precarious
peace, at the mercy of every caprice of four Barbary States, by whom it
was liable to be violated. An additional motive for keeping a
respectable force stationed there at this time is found in the maritime
war raging between the Greeks and the Turks, and in which the neutral
navigation of this Union is always in danger of outrage and depredation.
A few instances have occurred of such depredations upon our merchant
vessels by privateers or pirates wearing the Grecian flag, but without
real authority from the Greek or any other Government. The heroic
struggles of the Greeks themselves, in which our warmest sympathies as
freemen and Christians have been engaged, have continued to be
maintained with vicissitudes of success adverse and favorable.
Similar motives have rendered expedient the keeping of a like force on
the coasts of Peru and Chile on the Pacific.
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