ican rights inherited from old
mother England, who, in a moment of forgetfulness, had sought to deprive
her offspring of liberty. I know of no more thrilling incident in
revolutionary naval annals than the fight between the _Serapis_ and the
_Bon Homme Richard_, when Paul Jones, on the burning deck of a sinking
ship, lashed his yard arms to those of the enemy and fought hand to
hand, man to man, until the British colors struck, and then, under the
very cliffs of Old England, were run up for the first time the Stars and
Stripes--with a field of blue into which the skillful fingers of Betsy
Ross, of Philadelphia, had woven inextinguishable stars; the red stripes
typifying the glory, the valor, and the self-sacrifice of the men who
died that liberty might live; and the white, emblematic of purity, fitly
representing those principles to preserve which these men had sanctified
themselves by an immortal self-dedication. And there, too, in the
Continental Navy was Richard Dale, the young "Middy," who fought beside
Paul Jones; and Joshua Barney; and John Barry; and Nicholas Biddle of
Philadelphia, who later, in the gallant little _Randolph_, in order to
help a convoyed fleet of American merchantmen to escape, boldly
attacked the battleship _Yarmouth_; and when it was found that he was
doomed to defeat, blew up his vessel, perishing with all his crew,
rather than strike the colors of the newly-born republic.

All honor to the navy of the United States! I never can read of its
exploits--peaceful citizen as I am--without my blood bubbling with a
joyous sense of exultation at the thought that the flag which has swept
the seas, carrying liberty behind it, is the flag which is destined to
sweep the seas again and carry liberty, civilization, and all the
blessings of free government into benighted islands far, far from hence.

Why, gentlemen, the story of the exploits of our little fleets reads
like a romance. At the end of the Revolutionary War eight hundred
British ships, fifteen of them battleships, had surrendered to the
prowess of the American navy, together with twelve thousand five hundred
prisoners captured by less than three thousand men; and in that war our
country had produced the boldest admirals that, up to that time,
civilization had known, and the greatest fighting naval heroes that the
world had seen.

Then came the War of 1812, to establish sailors' rights upon the high
seas, when the American navy again proved vict