housand dollars every year, and I will let your
ships alone," said the piratical ruler of Algiers. The terms were agreed
to. Congress seemed to think that now all danger to commerce was
overpast, and a navy would be an extravagant toy. But when, not long
afterward, French cruisers seized American ships, and English cruisers
claimed the right (and exercised it) to take seamen from our vessels
without leave, Congress perceived the folly of their humiliating action.

War with France was threatened in the spring of 1798. The startled
Congress ordered the six frigates to be finished, and more to be built
or purchased. A Navy Department was organized, and a Secretary of the
Navy appointed. Recruits were called for. The navy became very popular,
and the ships were soon filled, with the sons of the best families in
the land holding the rank of midshipmen.

The first vessel of the new navy that went to sea was the _Ganges_,
twenty-four guns. She was to protect the ports of New York,
Philadelphia, and Baltimore against French cruisers. Toward midsummer
(1798), Congress authorized the seizure of French armed vessels found
prowling along our coasts. For this purpose Truxton, with the
_Constellation_, and Decatur the elder, with the _Delaware_, immediately
went to sea. Decatur soon returned with the French cruiser _Le Croyable_
as a prize. She was added to the navy, named _Retaliation_, and put
under the command of Lieutenant Bainbridge. Captain Barry, with the
frigate _United States_, soon followed, with many young men who
afterward became distinguished in their country's service. Before the
end of the year nearly the whole American navy was among the West India
Islands, engaged in convoying merchantmen to and from the United States.
This sudden appearance on the sea of a new naval power astonished the
English and the French, and made both more cautious.

[Illustration: FIGHT BETWEEN THE "CONSTELLATION" AND "LA VENGEANCE."]

Early in 1799, Truxton, with the _Constellation_, captured the famous
French frigate _L'Insurgente_, near the island of Nevis, after a severe
battle for an hour. This triumph made Truxton famous. His praises were
on every lip. A song called "Truxton's Victory" was sung everywhere in
public and private. A year later his fame was increased by his combat
with another French frigate, which he had searched for among the islands
of the West Indies. Off Guadeloupe he fell in with a large French vessel
at twilight,