e," I said gravely, "to
take so much responsibility on yourself. Remember my all is embarked in
this ship, and the insurance will not be worth a sixpence, if we are lost
running through such a place as this in broad daylight. Reflect a moment,
I beg of you, if not certain of what you do."

"And what will the insurance be worth, ag'in Halifax, or Bermuda? I'll put
my life on the channel, and would care more for _your_ ship, Miles, than
my own. If you love me, stand on, and let us see if that lubberly
make-believe two-decker dare follow."

I was fain to comply, though I ran a risk that I find impossible, now, to
justify to myself. I had my cousin John Wallingford's property in charge,
as well as my own, or what was quite as bad, I placed Clawbonny in
imminent jeopardy. Still, my feelings were aroused, and to the excitement
of a race, was added the serious but vague apprehensions all American
seamen felt, in that day, of the great belligerents. It is a singular
proof of human justice, that the very consequences of these apprehensions
are made matter of reproach against them.

It is not my intention to dwell further on the policy of England and
France, during their great contest for superiority, than is necessary to
the narrative of events connected with my own adventures; but a word in
behalf of American seamen in passing, may not be entirely out of place or
season. Men are seldom wronged without being calumniated, and the body of
men of which I was then one, did not escape that sort of reparation for
all the grievances they endured, which is dependent on demonstrating that
the injured deserve their sufferings. We have been accused of misleading
English cruisers by false information, of being liars to an unusual
degree, and of manifesting a grasping love of gold, beyond the ordinary
cupidity of man. Now, I will ask our accusers, if it were at all
extraordinary that they who felt themselves daily aggrieved, should resort
to the means within their power to avenge themselves? As for veracity, no
one who has reached my present time of life, can be ignorant that truth is
the rarest thing in the world, nor are those who have been the subjects
of mystifications got up in payment for wrongs, supposed or real, the most
impartial judges of character or facts. As for the charge of an undue love
of money, it is unmerited. Money will do less in America than in any other
country of my acquaintance, and infinitely less than in either Fr