The Republican journal., 1910-05-19
alton with no friendly nation to help us.


war to protect their own commerce
Spain and Portugal protected themselves
as best they could by blockading the
Straits of Gibraltar;and all of them were
urging the barbarians to rob us because
we were little fellow and could moi
help ourselves. But there soon came q
time when retribution was to be deal,
out to those pirate States, and dealt out
by the weakest and most remote power.
In the first decade of this country the
barbarians were taken in hand in good
earnest. The first ships were sent there
in 1902, and were the President, frigate,
Commodore Dale, who was LIST Lieut..
with Paul Jones on board the Bonnie
Homme Richard mentioned in my first
article; the frigate Philadelphia, Capt.
Barron; frigate Essex, Captain Balm
bridge, and schooner Enterprise. Lieut..
Starrett. Commodore Dale was in COM
mand of the fleet, and in obedience to
orders he appeared with his fleet off AL
giers, Tunis and Tripoli in the winter of
( 1902.
For three hundred years these pirates
had been permitted to ravage the COM
merce of the Mediterranean sea, and as
l have previously stated England had
been the only power strong enough to
suppress them. But in order to maintain
her dominance as Mistress of the Seas
she permitted them to keep on in their
vllllanous work, and so continue to be
scourge to the other European powers.
She emphasized such a policy by paying
to those barbarians tribute so great
that other nations would be greatly en-
barrassed if they attempted to buy i'm
munity from their .punderings, and when
we became a nation our exasperated
mother included US in the category of
weak powers who must submit to the
exactions, the robberies, and the cruel
ties of those recognized, and in some
sense petted, corsairs.
| had a great uncle, one Nathaniel
Odiorne Of Portsmouth, N. H.. who
was taken out of his fathers ship and
held for a ransom, and was put to work
IN saltpetre mine. He was there when
the gallant Preble captured Tripoli and
sent detachment of marines to relieve
these captives from their bondage. One
afternoon while these American slaves
were at work in the mines one of them
suddenly exclaimed: 81 swear | hear
Yankee Doodle! | work no more!' He
was correct, and all of them were re-
leased. | understand that the mine was
eighteen miles from the coast. But am
anticipating, am getting ahead of my
story, and so will bear away and run
down to leeward and take up my proper
position in the squadron.
Said Lord Sheffield in 1873, Just after
we had gained our independence, at is
not probable that the American States
will have very free trade in the Medi-
terranean. 1t will not be for the interest
of any of the great maritime powers to
protect them from the Barbary States.
The Americans should not be encouraged
to be carriers. The Americans cannot
protect themselves. They cannot pre-
tend to navy, having lost all their ships
in the war with US, just closed"
So that when we attempted to nego-
tate with the Barbary States the diplo-
matte hand and the cloven foot of Great
Britain were in evidence in all directions.
But we had great men at the head of our
affairs, as we'll as brave men to handle
our ships. Listen to the poet of that day,
who writes:
Never since the argo foated in the middle sea
Such noble men and valiant have sailed in COM
pany
AS the men who went with Preble at the siege
of Tripoli.
Ste-art cambridge, Hull, Decatur
How their names ring out like gold.
Lawrence Porter, Trippe, McDonough,
And score or more as bold.
Every star that lights their banner
Tolls the story that they won.
But one common sailors glory a.
Is the glory of the sun.
The story Of the siege and capture of
Tripoli is somewhat vague and uncertain,
as no official records were properly kept.
In August, 1901, the Enterprise, Lieut..
Starrett, fell in with Tripolitan ship of
war of equal force. The corsair fought
bravely, and even desperately, for more
than three hours. But better seamanship
and good gunnery gave us the victory.
Our loss was reported light, while their
loss was fifty. This was the first ship of
any nation that surrendered to the flag
of the United States. Subsequently quite
large number of such crafts were cap
tured by us during that war. Some of
them undertook to deny that they were
sailing under the orders from their re-
spective governments, but Captain Balm
bridge took the starch out Of one of them
and after that they never undertook to
deny to what government they belonged
and under whose orders they were acting.
This particular case was as follows: Cap
tain cambridge in the frigate Philadel-
phia while cruising up the Mediterranean,
off the coast of Spain, near Cape de Gate,
sighted a ship carrying only her foresails
and with brig in tow. 1t was in the