Martinsburgh gazette. [volume] (Martinsburgh, Va. [W. Va.]) 1810-1825, 1825-12-15

gicissitudes of success, adverse and
favorable.
Similar motives have rendered expe-
dent the keeping ola ike force on the
coasts of Perue and Chill on the Pacific.
The Irregular and conclusive character
of the war upon the shores, has been
extended to the conflicts upon the ocean
An active warfare has been kept up
for years, with alternate success, though
generally TO the advantage of the Ame-
rican Patriots Bat their naval forces
have not always been under the con
trout of their own governments -
Bloc kades, unjus.itiable upon any ac-
know edged principles of international
Law, have been proclaimed by officers
in command and though disavowed by
the supreme authorities, the protection
of our own commerce against them has
been made cause OF complaint and OF
erroneous imputations upon some of the
most gallant officers Of our Navy.
Complaints equally greundless have
been made by the commanders of the
Spanish Royal forces in those seas /;
but the most effective protection tn our
commerce has been the flag and firm
ness of our com aDd,ng officers. The
cessation of the war, By the complete
triumph of the Patriot cause, has re-
moved. it is hoped, all cause of dessen-
ton with one party, and all vestage of
force of the other. But an unsettled
coast of many degrees Of latitude. form
ing a part Of our own territory, and a
flourishing commerce and fishery, ex
tending to the Islands of the Pacific s.
TO China, still require that the protec-
ting power of the Union should be dis
played under its fla as well upon the
ocean as upon the land.
The objects ofihe West India squad
ron have been, to carry into execution
the laws for the suppression of the
African slave Trade , Tor the protec-
ton of our commerce against vessels Of
pratical character, though bearin 2
commissions from either Of the bellig-
erent parties for its protection against
open and unequivocal pirates. These
objects during the present year have
been accomplished more effe ctually
than at any former period. The Afri.
can Slave Trade has long been exclud-
ed from the use of our flag: and if
some few citizens of our country have
continued to set the laws of the Union,
as well as those of Nature aud Human
lily, at defiance, by persevering in that
abominable traffic, it has only been by
sheltering themselves under the ban
neis of other nations, less earnest for
the total extinction Of the trade than
ours. The irregular privateers have,
within the last year, been in great
measure banished from those seas. and
the pirates for months past appear to
have been almost entirely swept away
from the borders aud the shores of the
two Spanish islands in those regions.
The active, persevering, and uhremtted
energy of Captain Warrington, and of
the officers s. men under his command
on that trying and perilous service, have
been crowned with signal success, and
are entitled to the appreciation of their
country But experience has shown
that not even a temporary suspension or
relax alton from assIduity can be indul-
ged on that station without re-produ-
cling piracy and murder in ali their hor-
rors: nor is it probable that for years
to come our immensely valuable con
mcrce in these seas can navigate in Sc
curity. without the steady contin uauce
of an armed force devoted to its protec
ton.
1t were indeed vain and dangerous
Illusion to believe, that in the present,
or probable condition of human society,
or commerce so extensive and so rich
as ours could exist and be pursued in
safety, without the continual support of
military marine the only arm by
which the power of this confederacy
can be estimated or felt by foreign
rations, and the only standing military
force which can never be dangerous to
our own liberties at home. A perma-
nent naval peace establishment, there
fore, adapted to our present condition,
and adaptable to that gigantic growth
with which the nation is advancing in
its career, is among the subjects which
have already occupied the foresight of
the last Congress, and which will de-
serve your serious deliberations Our
Navy, commenced at an early period
OF our present political organization,
upon a scale commensurate with the
incipient energies, the scanty resources
and the comparative indulgence of our
infancy, was even then found adequate