ation in the breast of every true American. And the
humiliation was great enough, without having added to it the obviously
hasty and unjust action of the authorities, in dismissing, without a
trial, an officer who had faithfully served his country. It is indeed
possible that Capt. Phillips erred gravely in his course; but justice
alone demanded for him a fair trial, and the nature of his
instructions certainly afforded him some justification for his action.

The years that opened the nineteenth century were full of events that
exerted the greatest influence over the growth of the United States.
The continuance of the Napoleonic wars in Europe, our own war with the
Barbary powers, the acquisition of Louisiana,--all these had their
effect on the growth of the young Republic of the West. But, at the
same time, England was continuing her policy of oppression. Her
cruisers and privateers swarmed upon the ocean; and impressment of
seamen and seizure of vessels became so common, that in 1806 memorials
and petitions from seamen and merchants of the seaport towns poured in
upon Congress, begging that body to take some action to save American
commerce from total destruction. Congress directed the American
minister in London to protest; but to no avail. Even while the
correspondence on the subject was being carried on, the British gave
renewed evidence of their hostility to their former Colonies, and
their scorn for the military or naval power of the United States. From
the far-off shores of the Mediterranean came the news that boats from
the fleet of the British Admiral Collingwood had boarded the United
States gunboat No. 7, and taken from her three sailors, under the
pretence that they were Englishmen. But an occurrence that shortly
followed, nearer home, threw this affair into oblivion, and still
further inflamed the national hatred of the English.

A small coasting sloop, one of hundreds that made voyages along the
American coast from Portland to Savannah, was running past Sandy Hook
into New York Bay, when she was hailed by the British ship "Leander,"
and ordered to heave to. The captain of the coaster paid no attention
to the order, and continued on his way, until a shot from the cruiser
crashed into the sloop, and took off the head of the captain, John
Pearce of New York. This was murder, and the action of the British in
firing upon the sloop was gross piracy. Such an outrage, occurring so
near the chief city of the Unite