that ever sailed out of a French port;* and Mr. Baring complained, in the House of Commons, that American privateers came into the Chops of the Channel and carried off British vessels, without the ability of the Admiralty Board to stop them; that they infested the waters of the greatest naval nation in the world, and that the equinoctial gales alone cleared the coast of the enemy. The extraordinary activity of an American cruizer was displayed by Porter in the Essex, who captured every British whaler in the great South Seas; and though it may be alleged that all the prizes which he made were retaken but one, yet how great must have been the expense incurred of the salvage paid to the re-captors. But the most conclusive proof of the successful operations of American vessels against the commerce of Great Britain is to be drawn from the rates of insurance on her merchantmen, which are greater in a war with the United States, than with any other maritime nation. April 1. The price of Cotton, which had fallen at Charleston and Savanna, in contemplation of the British blockade of the American coast, has risen 20 per cent. iu consequence of the manifest inefficacy of that measure. 2. The Americans now trade to France in sharp-built fast-sailing schooners, insured at the rate of from 50 to 60 per cent. on which they calculate an adequate profit by the arrival of one out of three; and, in this way, trade is tolerably brisk in all their towns. * See an enumeration of the captures by the Argus in a preceding page. 3. The activity of the American Government in its naval equipments is altogether unprecedented. The Independence, of 74 guns, is nearly ready for sea at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The Washington, of 74 guns, is in a very forward state of equipment at Boston. The Franklin, of 74 guns, is receiving her cannon on board at Philadelphia; and the new frigates Guerriere and Java, mounting 32 pounders on the main-deck, have got their lower masts in. The infant Hercules is acquiring strength in his cradle; for the State Navy Yard, at New York, exhibits oak and pine plank, beams and ledges, long combing and ranging timber, knees and transoms, mast-stuff keels and keelson pieces, sufficient for seven ships of the line, and four frigates of the largest dimensions. 4. The following notification has been issued by the President of the United States: "It is enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in Congress assembled, that during the present war with Great Britain it shall be lawful for any person or persons to burn, sink, and destroy any British armed vessels of war, except vessels coming as cartels or flags of truce, and for that purpose to use torpedoes, submarine instruments, or any other destructive machines whatever; and a bounty of one-half the value of the armed vessels so burnt, sunk, or destroyed; and also one-half the value of the guns, cargo, tackle, and apparel, shall be paid out of the Treasury of the United States to such person who shall effect the same otherwise than by the armed or commissioned vessels of the United States. "H. CLAY, "JAS. MADISON." THE EXPLODING OF A TORPEDO. Whence, and what art thou execrable fiend? MILTON, 25. A Virginian, of the name of Mix, has lately made several daring attempts to destroy with a Torpedo a British 74, lying in Lynnhaven Bay, abreast of Cape Henry light-house. In a large open boat this devilish visitor got, during the darkness of the night, within a few yards of the ship's bow, and directly under her jibboom; but in the act of dropping his torpedo was hailed by the centinel on the fore-castle with " boat ahoy," and saluted with the discharge of his musket. Blue lights were then burnt, and rockets thrown in different directions, which brilliantly coruscating, betrayed the position of the son of Satan, making off with great despatch; when the seventy-four opened, though unsuccessfully, a heavy fire from her guns with the hope of blowing out of the water a miscreant who sought her overthrow not by the magnanimity of conflict, but the insidiousness of explosion. Mr. Mix repeated his visits for three nights in succession; the encouragement held out by Congress probably "spurring the sides of his intent;" but the ship, having taken the alarm, changed as often her anchorage, and baffled his attempts. On the fourth night, however, he succeeded in finding her out, and dropped his infernal machine just as the centinel at the gangway was crying" All's well!" It exploded happily for the seventy-four a few minutes too soon to cause her annihi、 lation. It is impossible to describe the effect of its going off, of the sombre light that preceded it, of the submarine thunder that followed it, of the long and powerful shakes communicated to the Chesapeake, and of the pyramid of water thrown up enveloped in a blast more dark and pestilential than that of Avernus.. April 20. The American sloop of war, Frolic, is taken, off Cuba, by the Shelburne and Orpheus. ACTION BETWEEN THE EPERVIER AND PEACOCK, The cession of the Floridas of Spain by the United States constitutes an æra in the history of the American Republic: it was obtained by purchase; and it would have been cheaply bought at the price of all the money in the Treasury at Washington. The transfer of this vast territory consolidates and strengthens the North American Union, by uniting the destinies of the Western and Atlantic States; and while they become identified in interest, and inseparable in policy, the nation rises in maritime dignity by the accession of a long line of coast indented with bays for the reception of fleets, and covered with inexhaustible forests of live oak for their construction. The memorable assertion of the Quarterly Reviewers, that "local circumstances will prevent the formation of an Ame"rican Navy, as the whole southern coast of America is desti “tute of harbours,”* when quoted ironically in Congress by Mr. Clay, provoked an obstreperous peal of laughter from a full house; and that the more especially, as in the same Number of their periodical Journal they accuse the Américan Executive of dullness, and triumph in the superi ority of their own discernment. The Floridas abound with the noblest harbours on the globe, and supply positions to secure and render efficient the largest naval establishment. West Florida, presenting a line of coast that extends along the Mexican Gulph, comprehends the entrance of the navigable river Perdido, the noble harbour of Pensacola, the capacious bay of Appalachie, and the magnificent one of Spiritu Santo, which includes that of Tampo, affording a spacious harbour, completely sheltered from the influence of the north-west wind, and capable of receiving at anchor the whole of the British Navy. Below Spiritu Santo, distant about 70 miles, is Charlotte Harbour, of inferior importance, yct highly desirable to the trade and influence of East Florida. Chatham Bay, extending to Cape Sable, is too near the vortex of the gulph stream for the safe resort of larger vessels, but for small craft is advantageously situated. But passing * See the Quarterly Review, Vol. 21, p. 15. Where it is also advanced, that If America had a fleet in the only ports that will admit one, the whole might be (dii, deæque) very leisurely destroyed!!! Credat Judæus Apella, non ego. Before the descendants of Englishmen on the American shores would be the tame spectators of the destruction of their ships, protected by forts and bastions, there must be first extinguished their spirit of independence, their noble pride, their generous sense of glory. But the fact is, that INCREDULUS ODI is the charm against the page of the Quarterly Reviewers, whether they make it a vehicle of abuse against America, or of panegyric on their own virtues. |