sites of what have become the most important navy yards on the Atlantic coast.1

The popular interest in naval affairs at this time is indicated in a letter of Secretary Stoddert to Commodore Barry: "They [Congress] are disposed to do more for the advantage of the navy, but are afraid of going too fast, wishing public opinion to go along with them. It is very certain, however, that public opinion is getting more and more in favor of the Navy."2 Addresses of both houses of Congress to the President in December, 1798, express this sentiment.

3

1 Nav. Inst. September, 1906, pp. 1024-1029; Letters to President, 77, 83.

2 Barry, p. 377.

8 Richardson, vol. i, pp. 276, 278.

CHAPTER VI

EVENTS OF 1799

THE year 1799 opened with a respectable United States naval force upon the sea, an achievement of some moment when it is considered that much less than a year before there had been not a single national vessel in commission, except a few little revenue cutters and the brig Sophia, a dispatch boat belonging to the State Department.

Lieutenant Bainbridge left Guadeloupe in the Retaliation January 18,' accompanied by an agent of Governor Desfourneaux, who bore a letter from the governor to the President of the United States. It required two other vessels as cartels to convey all the prisoners. They arrived at Philadelphia February 13. The Retaliation was not a cartel, but with her crew reduced to forty was put under the command of Bainbridge, although he protested that he was a prisoner of war and that a French officer should be in command. The governor, however, forced his compliance with this arrangement. Desfourneaux professed to be influenced solely by philanthropy in sending home these captives, expecting no French prisoners in return, on the ground that only in case of a regularly declared war could

1 See above, p. 75.

an exchange of prisoners be effected. In his letter to the President he said that Guadeloupe privateers were to cruise only against enemies and that Americans would be well treated; and further, that the Retaliation would have been released at once had it not been necessary to lay an embargo. "The citizens of the United States may come and exchange their produce," he said, and "will be considered and treated like allies." Desfourneaux's declarations of friendship were commonly thought insincere, although in the opposition party the contrary opinion prevailed. The ill-treatment of prisoners and the depredations of the Guadeloupe privateers had continued many weeks after the governor had assumed control of affairs. His desire for the neutrality of his island and for American trade was believed to have its origin in a hope of private gain rather than of international comity. The sufferings of American prisoners and the impressment of some of them into the French naval service excited resentment in the United States, and led to the passage of an act on March 3, 1799, which required the President "to cause the most rigorous retaliation to be executed on any such citizens of the French Republic" as might fall into American hands. French prisoners in the United States also complained of their treatment. It was said that they suffered from cold, hunger, lack of cooking utensils and of sanitary arrangements. The Secretary of the Navy, in response to inquiry, reported

to Congress, December 24, 1799, that the prisoners' ration was never less than one pound each of bread and vegetables and half a pound of meat, and they were furnished with clothing and blankets and fuel in season. Officers were allowed to commute their rations and also to depart from the United States on parole. From the first it had been the policy of the administration to exchange prisoners whenever possible, and when not possible they were often released, receipts being taken for them from French consuls or other responsible persons. Towards the end of March the Retaliation was sent back to Guadeloupe with French prisoners in exchange for the Americans, and with a letter from the Secretary of State to Desfourneaux saying that intercourse would be resumed with any island in the West Indies when the privateers of that island ceased their depredations.1

The frigate United States, wearing the broad pennant of the senior officer of the navy, Commodore Barry, cruised upon her station among the

1 Bainbridge, pp. 29–35; Barry, pp. 359, 360, 367, 370; Statutes at Large, vol. i, p. 743; Jefferson, vol. vii, p. 357, Letter to E. Pendleton (February 14, 1799), p. 361, to Madison (February 19, 1799); Gazette of U. S. February 20, 1799, Bainbridge to Stoddert (January 3 and 7, February 10, 1799) and Correspondence with Desfourneaux; Mass. Mercury, February 15, 1799, Desfourneaux to President (December 15, 1798); Connecticut Courant, February 25, March 18, 1799; Pickering, vol. x, 488, Pickering to Desfourneaux (March 16, 1799), 643, vol. xi, 183, vol. xxxvii, 365; Gen. Letters, vol. ii, 194; Letters to Congress, 29, Stoddert to Speaker of House of Representatives (December 24,

Windward Islands until spring. A storeship, with provisions for the squadron, was soon sent out from Boston. Early in February the frigate discovered a small French privateer, the pursuit of which is described by an officer on board the United States, thought to be Midshipman Decatur. “On Sunday, the 3d inst., to windward of Martinique, at 8 A. M. gave chase to a schooner, and at 3 P. M. came within two gun shots of her, when, to the astonishment of all hands, she attempted by short stretches to get to windward of us directly under our battery, but in this she failed, for we soon brought her to, our third shot having gone effectually through her, and in a few minutes she filled with water, upon which they hauled down their sails and set up the most lamentable howl I ever heard. . . . Our boats were immediately sent to their relief. I was in the first ; when I came near and found the crew all stript and ready for a swim, I thought it not safe to go on board, but told them the only chance for their safety was to run alongside the ship, which they did, and in a few minutes after the schooner went down. The whole of this crew were saved, amounting to 60 men. ."1 This vessel was called the Amour de la Patrie, and she carried only six guns. At about the same time, probably, the United States fell in with another small privateer and captured her; she was the Tartuffe of eight guns and sixty men. Commodore Barry now had with him a considerable num1 Mass. Mercury, March 26, 1799.