WHEN ENGLAND, IN HER EFFORTS TO WREST COMMERCE FROM THE AMERICANS, INCITED THE PIRATES OF AFRICA TO ACTIVITY, SHE COMPELLED THE BUILDING OF THE FLEET THAT WAS, IN THE END, TO BRING HER HUMILITY OF WHICH SHE HAD NEVER DREAMED--DEEDS OF THE BARBARY CORSAIRS--AMERICAN NAVAL POLICY AS LAID DOWN BY JOSHUA HUMPHREYS--THE WONDERFUL NEW FRIGATES--TROUBLES WITH THE FRENCH CRUISERS ON THE AMERICAN COASTS--TRICK OF A YANKEE CAPTAIN TO SAVE A SHIP--A MIDSHIPMAN WHO DIED AT HIS POST--CAPTURE OF THE _INSURGENT_--A LONG WATCH OVER THE FRENCH PRISONERS--ESCAPE OF A TWICE-BEATEN SHIP--THE VALIANT SENEZ--STORY OF ISAAC HULL AND THE LUCKY _ENTERPRISE_. It is with feelings of distress and shame, not unmingled with indignation, that the patriotic American of these days reads such parts of the history of his country as have a bearing upon the navy during the years that followed the Revolutionary war. No sooner was the war over than all the men that remained in the naval service were paid off and turned adrift on the beach, while every ship that remained--even the _Alliance_, that had well demonstrated her efficiency--was sold. The people of the new nation were so fearful of a monarchial form of government, and of everything that in the old world pertained to it, that they went to the remarkable length of sacrificing the one weapon that could defend them from old-world encroachment--the navy--lest scheming politicians use it to enslave their own people.