The
irregular privateers have within the last year been in a great measure
banished from those seas, and the pirates for months past appear to have
been almost entirely swept away from the borders and the shores of the
two Spanish islands in those regions. The active, persevering, and
unremitted energy of Captain Warrington and of the officers and men
under his command on that trying and perilous service have been crowned
with signal success, and are entitled to the approbation of their
country. But experience has shown that not even a temporary suspension
or relaxation from assiduity can be indulged on that station without
reproducing piracy and murder in all their horrors; nor is it probable
that for years to come our immensely valuable commerce in those seas can
navigate in security without the steady continuance of an armed force
devoted to its protection.
It were, indeed, a vain and dangerous illusion to believe that in the
present or probable condition of human society a commerce so extensive
and so rich as ours could exist and be pursued in safety without the
continual support of a military marine--the only arm by which the power
of this Confederacy can be estimated or felt by foreign nations, and the
only standing military force which can never be dangerous to our own
liberties at home.
Pages:
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62