sources of the United States Navy are inferior to those of Messrs. Laird Brothers.
These facts ought to remove the faintest shadow of apprehension from the most timid and anxious minds. The mercantile marine is an essential element of naval strength. No fighting navy has ever been maintained without the support of a busy maritime commerce. Lord Bolingbroke has truly said:—'By trade and commerce we grow a rich and powerful people, and by their decay we grow poor and impotent. As trade and commerce enrich, so they fortify our country. The sea is our barrier, ships are our fortresses, and the mariners that trade and commerce alone can furnish are the garrisons to defend them. Like other amphibious animals, we must come occasionally on shore; but the water is more properly our element, and on it, like them, as we find our greatest security, so we exert our greatest force.'
LONDON : PRINTED BY
SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE
AND PARLIAMENT STREET
