. And in the war of the Revolution, as in
every war in which the United States has taken part since, there was
manifested the wonderful ability of the American people to rush into a
conflict half prepared, and gain daily in strength until the cause for
which they fight is won. In 1776 that cause was liberty, and in its
behalf none fought more bravely than the lads who wore the blue
jackets of the American navy.

CHAPTER XV.

THE NAVY DISBANDED. -- AGGRESSIONS OF BARBARY CORSAIRS. -- A
DISGRACEFUL TRIBUTE. -- BAINBRIDGE AND THE DEY. -- GEN.
EATON AT TUNIS. A SQUADRON SENT TO THE MEDITERRANEAN. --
DECATUR AND THE SPANIARDS. -- THE "ENTERPRISE" AND THE
"TRIPOLI." -- AMERICAN SLAVES IN ALGIERS.

Peace having been signed with Great Britain in 1783, the nucleus of a
navy then in existence was disbanded. Partly this was due to the
disinclination of the sturdy Republicans to keep a standing
establishment, either naval or military, in time of peace. The same
tendency of the American mind to disregard the adage, "In time of
peace, prepare for war," is observable to-day. But the chief reason
for the dissolution of the navy lay in the impossibility of collecting
funds to pay for its maintenance. The states had formed themselves
into a confederacy, but so jealously had each state guarded its
individual rights, that no power was left to the general government.
The navy being a creation of the general government, was therefore
left without means of support; and in 1785 the last remaining frigate,
the "Alliance," was sold because there was not enough money in the
treasury to pay for her needed repairs.

For eight years thereafter the nation remained without a navy. But
gradually there sprung up a very considerable maritime commerce under
the flag of the United States. The stars and stripes began to be a
familiar sight in sea-ports as far away as China and Japan. But as far
as it afforded any protection to the vessel above which it waved, that
banner might have been a meaningless bit of striped bunting. In 1785
the Dey of Algiers, looking to piracy for his income, sent his
piratical cruisers out into the Atlantic to seize upon the merchantmen
of the new nation that had no navy to enforce its authority. Two
vessels were captured, and their crews sold into disgraceful slavery
in Algiers.

When the first Congress of the United States under the present
Constitution assembled, President Washington call