quently excluded from the poſſibility of rivalling her. Africa is in a ſtate of barbariſm; and no power in Europe hath either ſuch an extent of coaſt, or ſuch an internal ſupply of materials. Where nature hath given the one, ſhe has with-held the other; to America only hath ſhe been liberal of both. The vaſt empire of Ruſſia is almoſt ſhut out from the ſea; wherefore her boundleſs foreſts, her tar, iron and cordage, are only articles of commerce.
In point of ſafety, ought we to be without a fleet? We are not the little people now, which we were ſixty years ago; at that time we might have truſted our property in the ſtreets, or fields rather, and ſlept ſecurely without locks or bolts to our doors and windows. The caſe now is altered, and our methods of defenſe ought to improve with our increaſe of property. A common pirate, twelve months ago, might have come up the Delaware, and laid the city of Philadelphia under inſtant contribution for what ſum he pleaſed; and the ſame might have happened to other places. Nay, any daring fellow, in a brig of 14 or 16 guns, might have robbed the whole Continent, and carried off half a million of money. Theſe are circumſtances which demand our attention, and point out the neceſſity of naval protection.Some perhaps will ſay, that after we have made it up with Britain ſhe will protect us. Can we be ſo unwiſe as to mean, that ſhe ſhall keep a navy in our harbors for that purpoſe? Common ſenſe will tell us, that the power which hath endeavored to ſubdue us, is of all others the moſt improper to defend us. Conqueſt may be effected under the pretence of friendſhip; and ourſelves, after a long and brave reſiſtance, be at laſt cheated into ſlavery. And if her ſhips are not to be admitted into our harbours, I would aſk, how is ſhe to protect us? A navy three or four thouſand miles off can be of little uſe, and on ſudden emergencies, none at all. Wherefore if we muſt hereafter protect ourſelves, why not do it for ourſelves? Why do it for another?The Engliſh liſt of ſhips of war is long and formidable, but not a tenth part of them are at any one time fit for ſervice, numbers of them not in being; yet their names are pompouſly continued in the liſt, if only a plank is left of the ſhip; and not a fifth part of ſuch as are fit for ſervice, can be ſpared on any one ſtation at one time. The Eaſt and Weſt-Indies, Mediterranean, Africa, and other parts over which Britain extends her claim, make large demands upon her navy. From a mixture of prejudice and inattention, we have contracted a falſe notion reſpecting the navy of England, and have talked as if we ſhould have the whole of it to encounter at once, and for that reaſon ſuppoſed that we muſt have one as large, which not being inſtantly practicable, have been made uſe of by a ſett of diſguiſed tories to diſcourage our beginning thereon. Nothing can be farther from truth than this, for if America had only a twentieth part of the naval force of Britain, ſhe would be by far an over-match for her; becauſe as we neither have, nor claim any foreign dominion, our whole force would be employed on our own coaſt, where we ſhould, in the long run, have two to one the advantage of thoſe who had three or four thouſand miles to ſail over, before they could attack us, and the ſame diſtance to return in order to refit and recruit. And although Britain by her fleet hath a
