Edwardsville spectator. [volume] (Edwardsville, Ill.) 1819-1826, 1826-01-07

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to many virtues, must be deeply reluctant 10
give. The result has been, that some among
The least deserving have been retained, and
some in whom the requisites both OF worth
and want were combined, have been stricken
from the list As the numbers of these vene-
rable relics of an age gone by diminish as
the decays of body, mind, and estate Of those
that survive, must in the common course OF ma
ture increase, should not more liberal por-
ton of indulgence be dealt out to them May
not the want in most instances, be inferred
from the demand when the service can be du-
lv proved; and may not the last days of hu-
man nfirnity be spared the modification of
purchasing pittance of relief only by the ex-
posture of its own necessities FL submit to
Congress the expedency either of providing
for individual cases of this description by spe-
ca enactment. or of revising the Act of 1st
May, 1920, with view to mitigate the rigor of
its exclusions, in favor OF persons to whom
charity now bestowed can scarcely discharge
the debt of justice.
The portion of the Naval force ofthe Union
in actual service, has been chiefly employed
on three stations The Mediterranean, the
coasts of South America bordering on the Pa
cifc Ocean, and the West Indies. An occa-
sional cruiser has been sent to range along the
African shores most polluted by the traffic of
slaves; one armed vessel has been stationed
on the coast of our eastern boundai y, to cruize
along the fishing grounds in Hudson's Bay,
and on the coast of Labrador; and the first
service Of new frigate has been performed
in restoring to his native soil, aud domestic
enio,ments the veteran hero whose youtRful
blood and treasure had freely flowed in the
cause OF our Conntry's Independence, and
whose whole life had been a series of services
and sacrifices to the Improvement of his fell
low-men. The visit of Gen. La Fayette, alike
honorable to hmselfand to our country, closed,
as il had commenced, with the most affecting
testimonials of devoted attachment on his part,
and OF unbounded gratitude Of this People to
him in return. 1t will form, hereafter, apleas-
ing incident in the annals of our Union, giving
to real history the intense interest of romance,
and signally marked the unpurchasable tribute
of great Nations social affections to the dis
interested champion of the liberties of human
kind.
The constant maintenance of small squad
ron in the Mediterranean is necessary sub
stitute TOR the humiliating alternative of pay
ing tribute for the security of our commerce
i'll that sea- and for precarious peace, at the
mercy of every caprice of four Barbary States,
DN NTOH1 " WAS ilaDit 10 DC NlOldtcu. AH al
dtional motive for keeping a respe ctable
force stationed there at this time, is found in
the maritime war raging between the Greeks
and the Turks: and in Which the neutral ma
yigalion of this Union is always in danger of
outrage and depreciation. A few instances
have occurred Of such depredations upon our
merchant vessels by privateers or pirates wear
ing the Grecian flag, 1t without real authori-
ty tp,,t ht.( ipea nra 6t orr pt
The heroic struggles of the Greeks themselves,
in which our warmest sympathies as freemen
and christians have been engaged, have con-
tinted to be maintained with vlscissitudes of
success adverse and favorable. Similar mo-
tives have rendered expedient the keeping of
Ike force on the coasts OF Peru and Chill on
the Pacific. The irregular and convulsive
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 American Patriots. But
their naval forces have not always been nnder
the control Of their own governments. Block
AIDES, unlustfable upon any acknowledged
principle Of international law, have been pro-
claimed by officers in command; and though
disavowed by the supreme authorities, the
protection OF our own commerce against them
has been cause of complaint and of erroneous
imputations upon some of the most gallant OF
fcers of our Navy. Complaints equally grond-
less have been made by the commanders of
Spanish Royal forces in those seas-but the
most effective protection to our commerce has
been the flag and 6rmness of our commanding
officers. The cessation of the war, BY the
complete triumph Of Patriot cause, has remov-
ed, it is hoped, all case of dissention with one
party, and all vestage Of force of the other.
But an unsettled coast of many degrees of la
titude, forming part of our own Territory,
aud hourishmg commerce and fishery ex-
tending to the Islands of the Pacific and to
China, still require that the protecting power
of the Union should be displayed upder its
flag as well upon the ocean as upon the land.
The objects of the West India squadron
have been, to carry into execution the laws
for the suppression OF the African Slave Trade :
for the protection of our commerce against
vessels of pratica character, though bearing
commissions from either of the belligerent
parties: for its protection against open and
unequivooal pirates. These objects during
the present year have been accomplished,
more etfectualIy than at any former period.
The African Slave Trade has long been ex-
cluded 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 and Humanity at defiance, by perse-
vering in that abominabe traffic, it has been
only by sheltering themselves under the BAN
ners of other nations, less earnest for the total
extinction Of the trade than ours. The irregu-
lar 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 bor-
ders and the shores of the two Spanish islands
| in those regions. The active, persevering, and
unremitting energy of Captain Warrington,