To  retain  the  navy  for  harbor  defence  was  entertaiocd  at  the  commencement
of  the  last  war  with  England;  the  proposition  to  do  so  sprung  from  the  appre-
hension that  it  could  not  compete  with  the  vastly  superior  English  forces  upon
the  ocean. But  at  that  time  some  brave  and  sagacious  officers  in  the  high  ranks
saved  the  navy  from  the  fate  that  threatened  it,  and  to  these  gentlemen  it  owes
all  its  subsequent  honors,  nsefulnrss,  and  prosperity. If  any  such  ideas  prevail,
at  this  day,  in  or  ont  of  the  profession,  tliose  holding  tliem  would  do  well  to
fanse  and  consider  what  the  nary  would  have  lost,  and  what  the  conntrv  would
nave  lost,  if  our  ships-of-war  had  at  that  eventful  period  lieen  deprived  of  the
opportunity  of  filling  so  bright  a  page  in  the  nation's  history  by  their  achieve-
ments npon  the  ocean. In  this  connexion  an  eloquent  passage  in  the  speech  of
a  gnM  statesman  is  rccaUed,  delivered  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  Btatee  in
tS'JS. After  alluding  to  our  being  at  war  with  England,  at  a  moment  when
she  had  gained  an  ascendancy  on  the  seas  over  the  whole  combined  powers  of
Europe,  and  quoting  the  familiar  verse  of  hor  poet,

"  Her  marcb  U  o'er  the  moimtaln  wave,
Her  borne  is  oa  the  deep."
Mr. Webelcr  aays:  "Now,  sir,  since  we  were  at  war  with  her  I  was  for  inter-
cepting this  march;  I  was  for  calling  upon  her,  and  paying  our  respects  to  her
at  home;  I  waa  for  giving  her  to  know  that  we,  too,  had  a  right  of  way  over
the  seas,  and  that  our  omc«rs  and  our  sailors  were  not  entire  strangers  on  the
bo»um  of  the  deep ;  I  vat  for  doing  tomcthing  m»re  leitk  our  navy  than  to  ke^
U  on  our  thoretjbr  the  proUction  of  our  own  coatt*  and  our  own  harhori;  I  was
far  giving  play  to  its  gallaut  and  burning  spirit;  for  allowing  it  to  go  forth  upon
the  scai>,  and  to  encounter  on  an  open  and  an  equal  field  whatever  the  proudest  or
the  bravest  of  the  enemy  could  bring  against  it. 