or compelled to take refuge up rivers, by the overwhelming force of the enemy, as has already been the case, these smaller vessels might vex every sea. While writing this article, news has arrived of the ravages of the Argus on the coast of Ireland, in those very NARROW SEAS in which the British claim supremacy, and where, in former times, they exacted the compliment of taking in topsails, and striking the flag, from vessels of all nations. The amount of vessels destroyed by her in a few days, is more than taken by several of our larger vessels in cruises of many months, and the loss incurred by the nation in her capture, with the exception of the valuable lives of her commander and officers, amounts not to one half the cost of one of her prizes. May we often find such enterprise among our officers. The heart to dare, and the skill to execute such a cruise, reflects more honour on Captain Allen than the most brilliant victory; and he has shown that if he could not command success, he at least deserved it. But although it is most advisable to increase the number of our smaller rates of vessels during a war, yet on the re-establishment of peace, our government should immediately make arrangements for the equipment of such a navy as will preserve our coasts and trade from insult on any future emergency. It has already been shown that we can command the materials, workmen and crews for the second navy in the world; proper dockyards and stations for its repair and equipment should be provided; and these should be somewhere in the middle states, or Virginia. The other southern states possess no harbours of sufficient depth of water for the larger vessels. In them also the mechanic arts are considered dishonourable, so that the trades connected with shipbuilding are little cultivated. The eastern states are too far from the seat of government; wood, except in the remote province of Maine, is too scarce; it would also be necessary to have dry docks, and we recollect of no navigable stream which will afford a fall of water to supply them. Dry docks are essential to the construction and repair of large vessels; the risk of total loss, and the injury incurred by straining, in the usual American mode of careening, is immense; and the accidents in launching are numeIn Great Britain all vessels are repaired and coppered in dock; in Sweden they are built there. In Europe the docks are rous. filled and emptied by the natural rise and fall of the tide; in this country this must either be performed by pumps or by the natural fall of water. The streams of New-York, Pennsylvania, Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia were all examined by order of the federal administration, to ascertain some situation where wet and dry docks might be established, by the latter method. We believe none were found on the Chesapeake or Delaware; but great numbers on the Hudson. The lofty banks of that river are broken by numbers of considerable streams with falls near their mouths. The nearest of these to the sea is at Philipsburgh, 20 miles above New-York; but this and several others were passed in order to find a situation of greater security from invasion. Such a one was found at Newburgh, about 70 miles from New-York, immediately beyond the impregnable situation of West Point; safe from every attack; in the heart of a populous and plentiful country; on a river of easy navigation, with banks covered with naval artisans. Timber and iron are to be procured in the greatest quantities; the drowned lands on the Walkill will supply abundance of hemp. Masts, though not as plentiful as formerly, are still brought down the Hudson. The harbour of New-York, possessed of two outlets, will require a blockading squadron of double the force, to prevent a fleet lying in it from putting to sea. It is easy of access; has sufficient depth of water; more particu larly in the entrance through the sound. Seamen can be procured in greater numbers than in any port on the continent; in short, it possesses all the advantages necessary for the rendezvous of a large squadron. Besides an arsenal upon the Hudson, there should be one of less extent, calculated for refitting vessels after winter cruises, upon the Chesapeake; the neighbourhood of Norfolk would be best. The present navy-yard at Washington is too distant from the sea; its outlet may be blockaded by a less force than lies in it; and the blockading squadron can safely ride out stormy weather, which would oblige them to abandon northern ports. Seamen must be brought at a great expense from some of the commercial cities; every species of labour is scarcer and more expensive than to the northward. Portsmouth and Boston present many advantages as ports for the construction of ships of war; they, however, are open to sudden attacks from the sea, and docks cannot be easily made at them; all the other eastern ports have more or less of the same disadvantages. So that somewhere upon the Hudson the great naval arsenal of this country will one day be established. Though it is certain that a powerful navy cannot be collected in time of war, yet the formation of one in time of peace will not be attended with any thing like the expense that is usually apprehended. The vessels, to be sure, must be built; their hulks kept in repair; cannon and gunners' stores always in readiness; a stock of masts, sails, and rigging kept on hand; but they need not be manned, they need not be sent to sea; and if they be well built, and carefully preserved from the weather, their duration will be greater than if exposed to all the vicissitudes of actual service, and still greater than if laid up, as done in the British service, at their anchors, in ordinary, as it is called. A small squadron only need be in constant commission, to have a certainty of always procuring skilful officers; and for having them in greater numbers, a plan, similar to that used in Denmark, might be adopted; where, in times of peace, there is always in service a vessel manned, with the exception of the petty officers and a few old seamen of tried skill and conduct, by cadets, who are on the same footing in that service as our midshipmen. Any declaration of war or interruption of commerce would immediately throw out of commercial employ sailors and artisans to equip and man them. To encourage the increase of native seamen, all foreigners should, in time of peace, be rigorously excluded from our vessels. To enforce this, all sailors should be registered in the collection district in which they are born; and no others permitted to serve in the merchant employ. It was by the exclusion of foreign seamen that Great Britain laid the foundation for her unparalleled power, and the employment of them in late years, though perhaps necessary in the present situation of her affairs, is by slow degrees undermining the very existence of that power. The policy of our government has hitherto been widely different; it has perhaps, as yet, added to our commercial riches, but it has not added to our power. Registered seamen, also, will afford a sure and certain resource in case of the failure of voluntary enlistments. A nation has a full right to the service of all her citizens in cases of emergency, on any terms, and a prior right, in any case, on fair and equal terms of pay. This right should always be exercised with caution and tenderness; yet the hardships and sufferings of individuals, though they may render it unpopular, do not render it less a right. As exercised in the impressment by the British navy, without discrimination, and at a pay far below the fair value of the service, it is odious and oppressive in the highest degree; but by a regular system of registry, it may be made mild as to person, and by a proper arrangement of wages, even desirable and advantageous to the individual. Such a system, with fewer advantages than the one proposed, has prevailed in most parts of Europe; and such a system, adopted in time, would have probably saved us from the calamities of the present war. Should any of the above remarks prove advantageous to the rising navy of this country, the object of the author, which was merely to draw attention to so important a subject, will be fully answered. Should they awaken a discussion that will bring to light any of the naval energies of the nation, they will fully attain the end proposed. IN TAKING up the pen to commemorate another of our naval victories, we solicit the patience of our readers if we indulge in a few preliminary reflections, not strictly arising out of the subject of this memoir, though, we trust, not wholly irrelevant. Indeed, we do not pretend to the rigid precision and dispassionate coolness of historic narrative. Excited as we are by the tone and temper of the times, and the enthusiasm that prevails around us, we cannot, if we would, repress those feelings of pride and exultation, that gush warm from the heart, when the triumphs of our navy are the theme. Public joy is at all times contagious; but in the present lowering days of evil, it is a sight as inspiring as it is rare, to behold a whole nation breaking forth into gladness. |