PIRACY, 



75 



atrocity, punislimeiit m so uncertain, and, when it does 

 fail, S30 ti-aiisicnt, as just to add the chann of speculation 

 aud excitement to the other clianns of piracy- Casting 

 about for sucli an eUgible cniising-gixjund, the expelled 

 of tlie PhilUppines aud the Celebes find it exactly to their 

 mind in tliosc seas where commerce has the strongest 

 claims to the protection of the British flag — the flag of 

 that hmnane, iiicredtiloim nation, Tvhich will beheve oo 

 harm of those poor men in " boats," and wiU take a 

 strict account of any one who injures them. 



Surely when Spain, who&o trado is so insignificant, 

 compared i^ith ours,— when Ilollajid, whose timlc, if it 

 equals, certainly does not exceed our own, — when tlicso 

 nations find it true economy to proyide sjstematicafly and 

 effectually against tho evils of fiiracy, surely Engluud, the 

 nation of ahopkeepcrsj mistress of the seas — England 

 -who expends her niilhous in a more doubtful cause on the 

 coast of Africa— might expeml something (and I think it 

 need not be much) in a cause which offers more substantial 

 teinptjitions, which promiseB, on tho experience of other 

 nations, more satfefi^ictory residts, which invokes questions 

 of slaver i/ mid mamicre, ami which demands of us in the 

 name of commerce and lumiamtj such pcrmancfti arrange- 

 ments, as shall make it impossible for any of those commu- 

 nities within our reach, — and Avhere would they be beyond 

 it, if we were in earnest t — to gain eo much by a lawless 



* "It appeared, fmm lh@ tlam uf Tx^in mud by tb& lljak^j ih&t it wu 

 impge^iblc ihej could ha pkaUs,** — Mb. Udmk. 



