They may have been of the opinion, that however desirable an extended trade to the United States, it became her, in the infancy of her strength, to avoid uselessly exhausting resources, then unavailing, but hereafter destined under a provident management, to be equal to repelling the injustice" of any nation on earth.

They may have thought that trade is its best protectress, and that those nations actually pay less for the commodities they consume, who abstain from an armed protection of trade, than those that support the most splendid and expensive establishments.

All these considerations may have induced them, as they certainly have many wise men, to think that the true policy of the United States forbade a governmental interference in commercial enterprises, thus permitting her citizens unmolestedly to pursue their own inclinations, without inviting them, by the allurements of a navy, into a situation, where but a feeble protection could be given. In confirmation of this being the deliberate sentiment entertained by many of our best citizens, we may cite the instructions given in one thousand eight hundred by the legislature of Virginia to their Se. nators on the alarming crisis of the public affairs at that period.

"With respect to the Navy," say they, "it may be proper to remind you that whatever may be the proposed object of its establishment, or whatever may be the prospect of temporary advantages resulting therefrom, it is demonstrated by the experience of all nations, who have ventured far inte naval policy, that such prospect is ultimately delusive; and that a navy has ever in practice been known more as an instrument of power, a source of expence, and an occasion of collisions and wars with other nations, than as an instrument of de

fence, of economy, or of protection to commerce. Nor is there any nation in the judgement of the General Assembly, to whose circumstances this remark is more applicable than to the United States.'

After this expression of their opinion, the Gene. ral Assembly instruct the Senators, and request the Representatives of Virginia, " to use their best efforts to prevent any augmentation of the navy, and to promote any proposition for reducing it, as circumstances will permit, within the narrowest limits compatible with the protection of the sea coasts, ports and harbors of the United States, and of consequence a proportionate reduction of the

taxes."

Other eminent authorities, to the same effect, might be added; but we shall prefer taking a view of the measures of the government, with the avow. ed grounds on which they were taken, as the clearest illustration of public opinion.

From the year one thousand seven hundred and eighty-nine, when the government went into operation, to the year 1794, there was no official recommendation of a navy, or steps taken towards its establishment. So far from this being within the contemplation of the government during that period, we find strong proofs of a contrary sentiment. General Washington, in his address at the opening of the third session of the first Congress on the 8th of December 1790, says, "The disturbed situation of Europe, and particularly the critical posture of the great maritime powers, whilst it ought to make us more thankful for the general peace and security enjoyed by the United States, reminds us at the same time of the circumspection with which it becomes us to preserve these blessings. It requires also, that we should not overlook the tendency of a war, and eyen of preparations for a war

among the nations most concerned in active commerce with this country, to abridge the means, and thereby at least enhance the price of transporting its valuable productions to proper markets. I recommend it to your serious reflections how far and in what mode it may be expedient to guard against embarrassments from these contingencies, by such encouragements to our navigation as will render our commerce and agriculture less depen dent on foreign bottoms, which may favor us in the very moments most interesting to both of these great objects. Our fisheries, and the transporta. tion of our own produce, offer us abundant means for guarding ourselves against this evil."

In the spirit of this recommendation, while laws were passed for encouraging our fisheries, and for giving a decided preference to our own over fo reign vessels, no law was enacted that had the most remote relation to the establishment of a naval armament.

The silence of the President, at the ensuing session, to recommend any further measures for the protection of trade and navigation, is a strong evidence that the measures already taken were deemed adequate, and were those which, in his preceding communication, he intended to recommend. A similar silence, at the next session thereafter, strengthens still further this impression.

On the third of December, 1793, the President again invites the attention of Congress to the subject. Let it be recollected that war had for some time prevailed between France and England, and other nations with whom we held intimate relations.

"I cannot," says he, "recommend to your notice measures for the fulfilment of our duties to the rest of the world, without again pressing upon you the necessity of placing ourselves in a condi

tion of complete defence, and of exacting from them, the fulfilment of their duties towards us. The United States ought not to indulge a persuasion, that, contrary to the order of human events, they will for ever keep at a distance those painful ap peals to arms with which the history of every other nation abounds. There is a rank due to the United States among nations, which will be withheld, if not absolutely lost, by the reputation of weakness. If we desire to avoid insult, we must be able to repel it; if we desire to secure peace, one of the most powerful instruments of our rising prosperity, it must be known, that we are at all times ready for war."

The means, by which these desirable ends are to be secured, are stated in the following words, which do not, in the remotest degree, recognise as necessary a naval armament.

"The documents which will be presented to you, will shew the amount, and kinds of arms and military stores now in our magazines and arsenals; and yet an addition even to these supplies cannot with prudence be neglected; as it would leave nothing to the uncertainty of procuring warlike apparatus in the moment of public danger. Nor can such arrangements, with such objects, be exposed to the censure or jealousy of the warmest friends of republican government. They are in

capable of abuse in the hands of the militia, who ought to possess a pride in being the depository of the force of the republic, and may be trained to a degree of energy, equal to every military exigency of the United States. But it is an enquiry which cannot be too solemnly pursued, whether the act, "more effectually to provide for the national defence by establishing an uniform militia throughout the United States," has organised them so as to produce their full effect; whether your own expe

rience in the several states has not detected some imperfections in the scheme; and whether a ma, terial feature in an improvement of it ought not to be, to afford an opportunity for the study of those branches of the military art, which can scarcely ever be attained by practice alone?"

In this earnest language, does our great patriot urge, on his country, as the best security for peace, the necessity of being prepared at all times for war, not by establishing a vast navy, too apt to embroil us in premature hostilities; but by training the militia "to a degree of energy equal to every military exigency;" and by filling our magazines with arms and military stores.

In the winter of 1794, after the suppression of the insurrection, the president addressed Congress in the following animated terms:

"With such demonstrations of affection for our constitution-with an adequate organisation of the militia-with the establishment of necessary fortifications-with a continuance of those judicious and spirited exertions, which brought victory to our western army-with a due attention to public credit, and an unsullied honor towards all nations, we may meet, under every assurance of success, our enemies from within and from without."

Can any language be more decisive than that which announces that, without resorting to a navy, we may meet, under every assurance of success, our enemies from within and from without?

In December 1795, the President draws the following interesting picture of the situation of the United States,

Contemplating the internal situation, as well as the external relations of the United States, we discover equal cause for contentment and satisfaction. While many of the nations of Europe, with their American dependencies, have been involved in