Beaufort lies about two degrees to the northward of the four hundred rocks, islets, and small islands, which are known as the Bermudas; an advanced naval station, that belongs to a rival commercial power, and which is occupied by that power solely as a check on this republic in the event of war.  Had the views of real statesmen prevailed in America, instead of those of mere politicians, the whole energy of this republic would have been long since directed to the object of substituting our own flag for that of England, in these islands.  As things are, there they exist; a station for hostile fleets, a receptacle for prizes, and a depot for the munitions of war, as if 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,