A P P L E T O N S ' SPRING B U L L K F I N 



EDGAR S. MACLAY. 



fare. The intimate connection between privateers 

 and the navy, the former serving often as a training 

 school for the latter, is brought out in the author's 

 narrative. From forgotten monographs, the records of 

 societies, from unpublished log books, and from de- 

 scendants of noted privateersmen, he has obtained 

 intimate and vivid accounts of the fitting out of the 

 vessels, the incidents of their voyages, and the thrilling 

 adventures of the brave sailors who manned them. 

 Samuel Reid's desperate fight at Fayal is well known, 

 but he was only one of many who shared in adven- 

 tures not dissimilar and faced overwhelming odds 

 with the splendid courage characteristic of American 

 sailors. Mr. Maclay's romantic tale is accompanied by reproductions of 

 contemporary pictures, portraits, and documents, and also by illustrations by 

 Mr. George Gibbs. In his preface Mr. Maclay says: " The history of the 

 United States Navy is so intimately connected with that of our privateers 

 that the story of one would be incomplete without a full record of the 

 other. In each of our wars with Great Britain many of the captains in the 

 navy assumed command of privateers in which thev frequently rendered services 

 of national importance, while the privateersmen furnished the navy with a large 

 number of officers, many of whom became famous. In our struggle for inde- 

 pendence more than sixty American privateers were commanded by men who had 

 been, or soon became, officers in the regular service, and in more than one 

 instance — notably that of the officers and men of the Ranger, Captain John Paul 

 Jones's famous ship, then commanded by Captain William Simpson — almost the 

 entire ship's company of a Continental cruiser turned to privateering. Many of 

 our most distinguished navy officers have pointed with pride to their probationary 

 career in privateers. The mere mention of such names as Truxtun, Porter, 

 Biddle, Decatur, Barney, Talbot, Barry, Perry, Murray, Rodgers, Cassin, Little, 

 Robinson, Smith, and Hopkins will show how closelv related were the two arms 

 of our maritime service." Widespread popularity for this volume and apprecia- 

 tion of its high merit have already been shown. The Philadelphia Public Ledger 

 says, "Every chapter is crowded with incident and adventure that it would be 

 difficult for the novelist to surpass in variety and invention ; " while the char- 

 acterization of the Chicago Evening Post is, *' From beginning to end it is as in- 

 teresting as a novel." Perhaps the wide range of readers to which this book is 

 adapted is best indicated by the comment of The Churchman : " It is hard to see 

 what American this book could fail to interest, from the admiral to the school- 

 boy." 



The White Terror, by Felix Gras, has had the same enthusiastic reception 

 which was given to this popular French author's other romances, " The Reds 

 of the Midi" and "The Terror." When "The Reds of the Midi" was 



