Excerpt from The Historical Register of the United States, Vol. 2 From the disadvantages under which the army has laboured, the little navy of America has been entirely free. The previ' ous embarrassments of commerce rendered it easy for our naval officers to supply themselves with a sufficient number of seamen, and with men too who had all their lives been engaged in simi lar pursuits, and under the most rigorous discipline; for we apprehend that but little difference exists as to discipline and general habits between a merchantman and a ship of war. With these circumstances in view, then, while we rejoice over the brilliant exploits of our naval heroes, let us not doubt but that the American army, when it has overcome the difficulties which have arisen from the long peace with which the United States has been blessed, and from the very nature of its free political institutions, will show what can be achieved by freemen by land_as well as by sea. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.