It is with great pleasure that I see the political system of almost every power in Europe changing in our favor since the news of our late successes.
I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm's way.
It seems to be a law of nature, inflexible and inexorable, that those who will not risk cannot win.
Since human wisdom cannot secure us from accidents, it is the greatest effort of reason to bear them well.
The situation of America is new in the annals of mankind; her affairs cry haste, and speed must answer them.
Was it proof of madness in the first corps of sea officers to have, at so critical a period, launched out on the ocean with only two armed merchant ships, two armed brigantines, and one armed sloop, to make war against such a power as Great Britain?
