Beginnings of the American Navy
IN a special message to Congress, dated December 5, 1793, President Washington said that "the vexations and spoliation understood to have been committed on our vessels and commerce by the cruisers and officers of some of the belligerent powers appear to require attention."
The turmoil of the French Revolution was at its height; the war between France and England was waged with a bitterness rarely exceeded in international conflicts. In their aggressions both powers ruthlessly disregarded the rights of neutrals, and of these none was more "timid and feeble" than the United States.
Indeed, so timid and feeble was the American government at this time that in the month of October preceding this message the corsairs of the Dey of Algiers had captured eleven American merchantmen and enslaved 109 men; he was hoping to extort blackmail from the new republic—and his hope was well founded.
But the humiliation of the United States was but just begun. The spoliations by the French increased from year to year, and in the period between July 1, 1796, and June 2, 1797, no less than 308 American merchantmen were captured by French cruisers and privateers. The commissioners of the French government in San Domingo openly boasted that, "knowing the unfriendly disposition of the Americans," eighty-seven cruisers had been sent out from that island, with the result that "American vessels were taken daily," and "the administration had subsisted and individuals had been enriched with the products of the prizes."
Even these facts do not quite complete the story. In response to Washington's message of 1793 Congress had ordered (in March, 1794) the building of six frigates for the purpose of chastising the Dey of Algiers, but before the ships could be launched peace was purchased. The United States by treaty agreed to pay the Dey an annual tribute of $21,600, besides giving him presents. This treaty was approved by the American Senate on March 2, 1796, and immediately the work on the frigates was stopped. On January 4, 1797, it appeared that this treaty had cost already $992,463 25.
Envoys sent to France in 1797 to negotiate for justice were told that they would not be received by the Directory unless the sum of $200,000 was first given as douceur to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the members of the Directory, and this was to be followed by a loan of some millions to the nation.
This scandalous demand was laid before Congress in a special message on April 3, 1798, and then the tide turned—as the tide turns in the Bay of Fundy.
On April 7 the exportation of arms and ammunition was prohibited. On April 27 the President was authorized to build, purchase, or hire twelve ships of not more than twenty-two guns each, and on April 30, 1798, the Navy Department, as a distinct branch of the government, was established. President John Adams appointed Benjamin Stoddert as its Secretary. Government foundries for making cannon and other arms were authorized on May 4, and on the same day a number of small vessels to be equipped as "gallies" and to be used as porcupine quills were provided for. Jefferson was then Vice-President, and the bill originated in the Senate. Jefferson's ideas of war were plagiarized from the sphingurinœ.
On May 28 our naval ships were authorized "to seize, take, and bring" in any vessel that had committed degredations on our commerce, or was "hovering" on our coasts for such a purpose, and the next day President John Adams
