expressly designed by nature to hold the
whole American coast in command. While little men with great names are
wrangling about southwestern acquisitions, and north-eastern boundaries,
that are of no real moment to the growth and power of the republic, these
islands, that ought never to be out of the mind of the American statesman,
have not yet entered into the account at all; a certain proof how little
the minds that do, or ought to, influence events, are really up to the
work they have been delegated to perform. Military expeditions have twice
been sent from this country to Canada, when both the Canadas are not of
one-half the importance to the true security and independence of the
country--(no nation is independent until it holds the control of all its
greater interests in its own hands)--as the Bermudas. When England asked
the cession of territory undoubtedly American, because it overshadowed
Quebec, she should have been met with this plain proposition--"Give us the
Bermudas, and we will exchange with you. You hold those islands as a check
on our power, and we will hold the angle of Maine for a check on yours,
unless you will consent to make a fair and mutual transfer. We will not
attack you for the possession of the Bermudas, for we deem a just
principle even more important than such an accession; but when you ask us
to cede, we hold out our hands to take an equivalent in return. The policy
of this nation is not to be influenced by saw-logs, but by these manifest,
important, and ulterior interests. If you wish Maine, give us Bermuda in
exchange, or go with your wishes ungratified." Happily, among us, events
are stronger than men; and the day is not distant when the mere force of
circumstances will compel the small-fry of diplomacy to see what the real
interests and dignity of the republic demand, in reference to this great
feature of its policy.

Roswell Gardiner and Daggett had several discussions touching the manner
in which they ought to pass those islands. There were about four degrees
to spare between the trades and the Bermudas; and the former was of
opinion that they might pass through this opening, and make a straighter
wake, than by going farther north. These consultations took place from
quarter-deck to quarter-deck, as the two schooners ran off free, steering
directly for the islands, as a sort of compromise between the two
opinions. The distance from the main to the Bermudas is computed at about
six hund