minds back to several interesting periods of American history; and after commending Dr. Harris's fidelity and discretion in not allowing himself as a biographer to be tempted too far away to subjects of an historic nature, we unblushingly claim for ourselves, in the notice of the volume, the reviewer's great privilege of digression. We are ex officio discursive. The remark, in the passage above quoted from the preface, that Commodore Bainbridge's career in the navy has been nearly contemporaneous with its origin, though true, may, without some slight qualification, leave an unjust impression, inasmuch as it appears wholly to overlook the naval history of the revolutionary war. The maritime affairs of that contest were in many instances brilliant, but they were all of a subordinate character. naval engagements were of necessity only incidental to the great struggle. A war of independence must be waged upon the land-it is the soil, and not the wave, that will be incarnadined. When the purpose is freedom, the mailed hand of war will be thrust into the casements of men's houses-his bloodstained foot will be in their streets, and over their fields-upon the threshold, and at the hearth. The news of victory or of defeat is not then brought upon the sea-breeze from a distant ocean, for men walk forth to battle from their homes. The navy organized by the old congress was merely temporary in its design; and, its purposes being accomplished, the remainder of its history is briefly told. The ships which had survived the war were sold, and retired, we presume, like many a veteran, into the placid channels of civil life. When, not many years afterwards, the navy was revived by the first act of congress under the present constitution, which authorized the construction of vessels of war in 1794, its history became continuous. Commodore Bainbridge's first commission as a lieutenant bears date very nearly at the commencement of that era-a period when it was necessary for the country to look to the merchant service for its supply of officers. The professionally educated officer is a luxury of a more advanced season of national existence. In the olden time, a man was officially born to rank, which now-a-days, by the tedious process of promotion, he arrives at only after many years of service, and after much faith, hope, and charity.

William Bainbridge was born in 1774, at Princeton, New Jersey, and at the age of 15, having discovered that his vocation was to be a sailor, he shipped in a merchant vessel at the port of Philadelphia. His worth raised him, while yet in his minority, to the command of the ship in which he made several voyages. The merchant service of the country was at that period dependent upon its own resources for defence and security, and consequently partook of a mixed character of traffic

and of warfare. During one of his voyages, Captain Bainbridge had an opportunity of shadowing forth the future victor of the Java by his courage and skill in a very pretty affair, in which he compelled a British schooner of superior armament to strike her flag, after having commenced the attack upon his ship. We cannot dwell upon this part of Commodore Bainbridge's career longer than to advert to one occurrence which may serve to recall the indignities and oppressions to which the American flag was once subjected by the practice of the British claim of impressment, a subject which, after having been discussed for more than a quarter of a century, and by word, by pen, and by powder, has not yet been definitively settled.

"On a returning voyage from the north of Europe, he was boarded by a lieutenant of a British line of battle ship, who, in accordance with the odious practice of impressment, commanded him to muster his crew, and show his shipping articles; an indignity to which the commanders of all merchant vessels were at that time compelled to submit, rather than by resistance, in most cases necessarily unavailing, expose their vessels and cargo to the danger of capture and condemnation in the British courts of admiralty. The first man examined was Allen M'Kinsey, who from his name was pronounced a Scotsman. Captain Bainbridge stated to the lieutenant that he was born in the city of Philadelphia, and was his first mate. The boarding officer affected to doubt the truth of this declaration, became very insolent, and when about to seize M'Kinsey, Captain Bainbridge intimated to him to repair to his cabin, where he would find a sabre and pistols to defend himself.

"The mate quickly availed himself of the intimation, and as he descended the companion-way, boldly declared that he would kill the first man who attempted to force him from the ship. The officer, judging of M'Kinsey's determined purpose from his manner, prudently refrained from a pursuit. Another young man was then seized and ordered into the barge. Captain Bainbridge remonstrated against this outrage, stating that this man, claimed as a British subject, was a native of the United States, and had a wife and children in Philadelphia. He added, that as his vessel was feebly manned, her safety would be endangered by any diminution of his crew. Finding expostulations of no avail, he told the officer, in a spirited tone, that he would supply the place of this seaman by seizing one out of the first British merchantman he met, provided she was not of superior strength. The lieutenant observed, with a contemptuous sneer, that an American merchant captain would not dare to impress one of his majesty's subjects, and, nodding disdainfully, carried off his victim.

This or

"Five days afterwards Captain Bainbridge fell in with an English armed merchant brig of eight guns and twenty men, which, after preparing for action, he brought to by firing a gun across her bow. He kept the guns of the Hope bearing on the brig, while he ordered his first mate to seize and bring on board an able unmarried seaman. der was promptly, though with some difficulty executed; after which, the English captain was hailed, and informed, 'that he might report, that Captain William Bainbridge had taken one of his majesty's subjects, in retaliation for a seaman taken from the American ship Hope,

by Lieutenant Norton, of the Indefatigable Razee, commanded by Sir Edward Pellew,' afterwards the celebrated Lord Exmouth.

"This seaman was allowed full wages, and on his arrival in the United States was regularly paid, discharged, and not dissatisfied with either the service or country into which he had been forced."-p. 21.

Upon this transaction, so far as Captain Bainbridge was concerned, we have a brief comment to make, and that is, to say in the words of an old and pious writer, that his proceeding was "a clear case in sea-divinity." We do not feel called upon to carry it up into any department of transcendental ethics.

Dr. Harris, in a note on the subject of impressment, after referring to some of the negotiations of the American and British governments upon the subject, adds

"Although the war conferred great benefits on this country, in awakening a proper national spirit-in proving the great importance of a navy as a means of national defence-in showing our ability to repel maritime aggressions, still it failed in compelling Great Britain formally to abandon her offensive claim to her 'right of search.'

"The interests of both nations and the cause of humanity require that the claims of each should be amicably adjusted by a timely negotiation, before events should recur to call into action a practice to which thousands of our citizens have been victims, and which our honour, interest, and sovereignty, will compel us to resist to the last extremity. If the settlement of the principle was important in the days of Mr. Jefferson, it is certainly not less so at this time."-Note, p. 24.

Although the claim has not, it is true, been formally renounced by Great Britain, has not, we would ask, the question been actually and virtually settled? With great respect for the wisdom and ability of the various statesmen by whom this question has been discussed, we hold that the best and most successful negotiation on the subject, because producing most of a result, has been that which, with little regard to the superfluity of courtesy which distinguishes diplomacy, was held upon the open sea. What has been accomplished? It has been shown that the country will deem as adequate cause for war the impressment of her citizens, whether naturalized or native, from her ships. It has been shown, in the second place, that the country can send forth a navy able to compete with the first maritime power in the world. Now what more is needed? Suppose England involved in a European war, the only contingency in which she would have occasion to renew her claim to impress from our vessels; and does it come within the range of reason, that she would seek to gather up a few seamen at the certain cost of multiplying her enemies, and enlarging the sphere of her hostilities? The question was really settled by the reputation which our navy gained during the late war, and is not likely to be disturbed so long as the country is true to itself, and the navy sustains its character. Whenever, by

process of law, permanent allegiance to the country is received from a foreigner, it becomes the right of the country to protect him, for the simplest of all reasons, because it is the duty of the country to protect him. Whether that which constitutes a perfect and absolute right be a fit subject for negotiation, may well be doubted-certainly that which is also a duty cannot be under any circumstances, and it would be humiliating to solicit it by diplomacy.

The fidelity and courage displayed by Captain Bainbridge in the discharge of his commercial trusts, induced the secretary of the navy, in the year 1798, to offer him the commission of lieutenant and commander. On accepting it he was ordered to the command of the schooner Retaliation, a prize recently taken from the French; and he sailed upon a cruise in the West Indies, with a small fleet under the command of Commodore Murray. The first of Bainbridge's professional misfortunes befell him during this voyage, his vessel being captured by the French frigate Insurgent and carried into Guadaloupe. The Retaliation was subsequently restored and the prisoners released, after enduring a severe and cruel confinement. During the period of his detention on the island, the sound sense and manly firmness of Bainbridge were abundantly tested in a sort of semidiplomatic intercourse with the French governor, Desfourneaux, who wished to secure certain commercial advantages for the port of Guadaloupe alone, and endeavoured, by holding out some private advantages to him, to obtain Lieutenant Bainbridge's co-operation. There is something very pleasing in witnessing the discomfiture of a veteran and artful diplomatist by the intelligence and decision of a candid and unsophisticated negotiator. A naval commander may sometimes find himself in controversies that do not come exactly within his proper professional sphere-cases not anticipated in his instructions, and in which neither chart nor compass will guide him. Not only the honour of the flag, but the rights and interests of individuals may be at stake. The knowledge of some leading principles of international law may be of importance to him, but more than that it is neither necessary nor desirable for him to aim at. In such emergencies we would commend a naval officer to his own judgment-to his own sense of justice, and of propriety. But let him not seek to fortify himself by citations from Vattel and Puffendorf and Bynkershoek. It is a sorry sight that-a sailor among his law books! It would be better wisdom for him to hold sweet counsel with the gunner. If his difficulties continue or increase, let him overhaul the armament and practise the crew at the guns. If the question he is called upon to discuss be especially perplexing-if he should find himself more and more involved in the dark-he will be rather more

likely to be illuminated by an old battle-lantern than by poring over the pages of the most learned of the civilians.

In the year 1800, Lieutenant Bainbridge was promoted to the rank of captain. His first voyage after promotion was noted for some incidents of a delicate and mortifying character, which, though resulting solely from the degrading subordination of the country to a barbarian power, were at the same time calculated deeply to wound the feelings of a high-minded and sensitive officer. It is due to the memory of Bainbridge that the events alluded to should be fully and fairly stated, for, with the growing difficulty of realizing the actual state of our maritime weakness at that period, there would arise a disposition to cast censure most unmerited upon his character:

"In the month of May, 1800, Captain Bainbridge was ordered to take command of the frigate George Washington, for the purpose of carrying the tribute which the United States, by existing treaties, were bound to send annually to the regency of Algiers.

"After the George Washington had arrived at Algiers, in September, and placed the tribute into the hands of the United States consul, an extraordinary request was made of Captain Bainbridge, by the dey, that he would carry his ambassador and presents to Constantinople, in order to conciliate the Grand Seignior, whom he had offended by concluding a treaty of peace with France, at a time when Turkey and her British ally were carrying on a war in Egypt against the French army under Bonaparte. He considered it necessary to make every exertion to appease the anger of the Ottoman Porte, and thus avert the chastisement which he so much dreaded. Captain Bainbridge obtained an interview with the dey, and expressed his regret that he could not comply with his request without violating his orders. The dey intimated to him that he must recollect, the frigate was sufficiently in his power to compel an obedience to his demands. Bainbridge, supported by Richard O'Brien, the American consul, who had been at a former period a prisoner at Algiers, a sagacious and intelligent man, and well acquainted with the policy of this regency, made a spirited remonstrance against this arbitrary procedure, which was so revolting to his feelings, and which violated every principle of national law, which, however, had no effect, as the determined purpose of the relentless barbarian remained unaltered. Anchored under the batteries, escape was impossible, and as vengeance was threatened in case his requisition was further opposed, and as a valuable unprotected trade was in danger, it was thought prudent to yield to his arbitrary demands. Captain Bainbridge has stated, in the subjoined extract of a letter, the reasons which influenced him to pursue this

course.

"The Dey of Algiers, soon after my arrival, made a demand that the United States ship, George Washington, should carry an ambassador to Constantinople, with presents to the amount of five or six hundred thousand dollars, and upwards of two hundred Turkish passengers. Every effort was made by me to evade this demand, but it availed nothing. The light in which the chief of this regency looks upon the people of the United States, may be inferred from his style of expression. He remarked to me,-You pay me tribute, by which you become my slaves, I have, therefore, a right to order you as I may think proper.

"The unpleasant situation in which I am placed must convince you