1. The original thirteen States were all on the Atlantic coast, and had each one or more sea ports. They were naturally given to commerce, and the second Continental Congress, in December, 1775, resolved to form a navy of thirteen vessels of war. Eight were soon fitted out; but the superiority of England on the sea, and the great financial difficulties with which Congress had to struggle during, and for some years after, the Revolutionary War, made it impossible to give any great degree of development to naval affairs. The sea swarmed with American privateers during the war, and many hundreds of English merchant vessels were captured; but Congress never was able to collect a formidable fleet. The daring exploits of Paul Jones, in European waters, and the bold and successful raids of Privateersmen under Letters of Marque and Reprisal gave indication of what might be looked for in the future, but they could not cope with British fleets. 2. The Navy Department was for some time under the control of the Secretary of War; but, as the finances began to improve, care was taken to develop this important branch of national power, and a special Secretary appointed. In the war of 1812 with England 25 years of peace had unfitted the people for great immediate success in the army; but the navy was the pride and glory of the nation. The disasters attending military operations for the first year or two were more than compensated by the brilliant and solid advantages gained by our men of war.
[307]
3. This gave a great impulse to the naval tendencies of the nation, and it soon became the settled determination of the people to supersede England as the strongest naval power. She had been Mistress of the Seas; there were strong reasons for our ambition to become Masters, at least in American waters. We had an extensive line of coast, and our “Monroe Doctrine,” that Americans ought to rule America, and that European governments should never be permitted to acquire a preponderating influence in North America, rendered a strong navy important. Our people, however, are so largely commercial that skillful mariners are always at command; and the government has never maintained, in time of peace, a very large naval force.
4. What they can do in time of need was demonstrated during the Civil War, when the navy was increased in two years by more than 400 vessels—many of them very expensive and powerful; proving in actual conflict the inability of the strongest land fortresses to resist them. The thousands of miles of the Atlantic and Gulf coast blockade, that was rendered so effective as to smother the Confederate government, so to speak, destroying its finances by rendering its cotton unavailable, is the best comment on the naval resources of the United States. The extreme boldness and vigor with which the Confederate cruisers that managed to escape the blockade fell on our merchant vessels, and laid waste our commerce, is another point in the argument; for they were Americans, and demonstrated the natural prowess of Americans on the sea, of which we could well be proud but that it did fatal harm to our mercantile marine.
5. Not half of the vessels belonging to the navy are, however, now (in time of peace) in commission—that is,............