Now, it would have been an easy thing for any one of the Christian nations interested to send a fleet into the Mediterranean, which, speaking figuratively, would have wiped those miscreants off the face of the earth; but such an enterprise would have cost a good deal of money, so, instead of punishing the wretches as they deserved, the countries paid them a yearly sum of money on their promise not to disturb vessels when they ran across them.

So it was that, year after year, we sent a good round gift to those barbarians.  You know our Government is often slow in meeting its obligations, and it happened now and then we were late in sending our tribute to the swarthy rulers.  When that occurred, the Dey, or Bashaw, imposed a heavy fine to remind us of the expense of trifling with him.  We meekly bowed our heads, paid it, and tried to be more prompt afterward.  Then, too, the mighty ruler sometimes expressed a wish to receive naval stores instead of money, and we were happy to oblige him.  Of course, he set his own valuation on what he received, which was generally about one-half of what they cost our Government, but we made no complaint.

It came about that the Dey of Tripoli got the idea into his head that we were not paying him as much as we did his neighbors.  In his impatience, he decided to give us a lesson as badly needed as it was in the case of France, to which I have alluded.  So he declared war against the United States.  It would be interesting to know what ideas the Dey had of the Republic on the other side of the Atlantic.

One good thing resulted from our flurry with France.  A number of good ships had been added to our navy.  Better still, many young officers, brave, skilful and glowing with patriotic ardor, were serving on those ships.  They eagerly welcomed the chance of winning glory.  To them the war with Tripoli offered the very opportunity for which they longed.

Among these was William Bainbridge, who was born in 1774 and died in 1833.  He began life as a sailor at the age of fifteen, and was in several engagements before he was appointed to the navy in 1798, during our war with France.

Another was Stephen Decatur, born in Maryland in 1779 and killed in a duel with Commodore Barron in 1820.  His father was a gallant officer in the Revolution, and his two sons were among the bravest officers who ever trod the quarter deck.  Both entered the service in 1798, and Stephen is generally regarded as the best type of the young American naval officer during the early years of the present century.

Still another was Charles Stewart, born in Philadelphia in 1778, and, like those whom I have named, he entered the navy as lieutenant in 1798.  It will always be one of my pleasantest recollections that I was well acquainted with Stewart, and spent many hours talking with him about the stirring scenes in which he took part.  He lived to be more than ninety years of age, dying in 1869, and for a good many years occupied