318 LETTERS OF A CITIZEN. 



Are you not aware, sir, that, throughout those wide-spread seas, 

 speckled with countless islands, we have, engaged in the whale- 

 fishery only, nearly one hundred and fifty thousand tons of ship- 

 ping, valued at twelve millions of dollars, and giving employment 

 to not less than ten thousand men, to say nothing of the increas- 

 ing traffic in treasures gleaned from coral reefs, and in the prO" 

 ductions of the islands ? Are you not cognizant of the fact, that 

 the combined interests of all the other commercial nations of the 

 earth do not equal ours alone in those seas? You cannot but 

 know, sir, that these islands are inhabited by every variety of sav- 

 age man ; that our vessels have been wrecked among them, often 

 attacked, and sometimes cut off by them ; our mariners massacred, 

 or, if spared, spared only to wear out a wretched existence, in the 

 captives' hopeless prayer that the honour and justice of their 

 country might be aroused to rescue them. If the supplications 

 of disconsolate and heart-stricken parents, whose sons are in 

 bondage, could move you, how soon would this expedition depart 

 on its errand of mercy, of utility, and national renown ! All these 

 things are known to you, sir, and yet you have not alluded to 

 one of them in your instructions to the naval board, in which you 

 profess to set forth the objects of the enterprise. Why, in the 

 name of all that is high, and noble, and manly, have you thus 

 compromitted your official character ? I feel compassion for you 

 in the unpleasant predicament in which you stand, and, were I to 

 consult my inclinations rather than my duty, would willingly leave 

 you in the hands of the public, and to the bitter reminiscences of 

 your own mind. But this may not be ; you are a public man, 

 and the public good requires that I should go on. 



Is it not within your knowledge, sir, that our whale-ships often, 

 nay, daily, pass by islands in those seas to more distant ports for 

 refreshments ; while those very islands, if surveyed, their har- 

 bours pointed out, and the natives awed into respect by a judicious 

 display of our power, would furnish in abundance the necessaries 

 or refreshments required ? Are you to be informed, sir, that all 

 barbarians estimate the power of others solely by contrasting that 

 power with their own ; and that many of these islanders have 

 learned to distinguish between the flags of different countries, and 

 to deride one nation or fear another, according to the weakness or 

 strength which each displays in its naval armament ? This fact 



