With the usual annual reports from the Secretary of the Navy and the
Board of Commissioners will be exhibited to the view of Congress the
execution of the laws relating to that department of the public service.
The repression of piracy in the West Indian and in the Grecian seas has
been effectually maintained, with scarcely any exception. During the war
between the Governments of Buenos Ayres and of Brazil frequent
collisions between the belligerent acts of power and the rights of
neutral commerce occurred. Licentious blockades, irregularly enlisted or
impressed seamen, and the property of honest commerce seized with
violence, and even plundered under legal pretenses, are disorders never
separable from the conflicts of war upon the ocean. With a portion of
them the correspondence of our commanders on the eastern aspect of the
South American coast and among the islands of Greece discover how far we
have been involved. In these the honor of our country and the rights of
our citizens have been asserted and vindicated. The appearance of new
squadrons in the Mediterranean and the blockade of the Dardanelles
indicate the danger of other obstacles to the freedom of commerce and
the necessity of keeping our naval force in those seas.
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