Journal of an African Cruiser by Bridge, Horatio, 1806-1893, Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 1804-1864

The French, like ourselves, having no reciprocal treaties with Spain, Portugal, and Brazil, are equally unsuccessful in making prizes. Eleven of their vessels of war were stationed on the coast, during the period of our cruise, but effected not a single capture. England, by virtue of her treaties with the three nations above mentioned, empowers her cruisers to take slave-vessels under either of their flags. Hence the success of the English commanders; a success which is sometimes tauntingly held up, in contrast with what is most unjustly termed the sluggishness of our own squadron.

Still, the presence of American national vessels, on the coast of Africa, has not been unattended with results that may partly compensate for the sacrifice of human life and health, which the climate renders inevitable. The trade of the United States has been protected. The natives have been taught, that the humblest American merchant-vessel sails under the shadow of a flag, which guarantees security to everything that it covers. The colonies of Liberia have been made more respectable in the eyes of the barbarian nations that surround them. This latter advantage it is creditable to our country to bestow; for the United States demand from Liberia no commercial exemptions, nor anything in return for the countenance which she lends to that growing commonwealth. Never before, perhaps, did a colony exist, so entirely free from vexatious interference on the part of the mother-country, and so carefully fostered by the benevolence that planted it. Slight as is the present political connection between the United States and Liberia, the latest advices inform us that it is in contemplation to sever the silken thread. The Colonization Society, I understand, is discussing the expediency of relinquishing its further control over the government, and allowing the infant colony to take a place among independent nations. Should this event come to pass, and Liberia either find the protection of another maritime power, or prove adequate to protect herself, there will be one reason the less for sending a squadron of gallant ships to chase shadows in a deadly climate.

THE END.

End of Project Gutenberg's Journal of an African Cruiser, by Horatio Bridge