July 3, 1863, The New York Herald
Two years have now passed since Semmes commenced his piratical cruise in the Sumter, since which time about one hundred and fifty of our vessels — valued, with their cargoes, at ten millions of dollars — have been captured by vessels under the Confederate flag, and still nothing effectual has been done by our immense navy to put a stop to their wholesale acts of rapine, plunder and piracy. From the first appearance of the little schooner Jeff. Davis they have gone on increasing in numbers, strength and power, until, by their numerous swift, heavily armed steamers, the confederate navy has become the terror of our entire mercantile marine. Their vessels are found in every part of the Atlantic; they even capture and burn our vessels within sight of our commercial marts, and still escape (if escape it may be called) from vessels which never seem to pursue, or at least never find them. Still nothing is done. Occasionally, when news comes of the wholesale destruction of a dozen or more of our ships and vessels, the Department, under the influence of a sudden spasm, orders all the idle vessels lying at our navy yards in hot pursuit of the pirates; and, to make the raid certain and effective, a number of old barks and schooners are sent out, which, if by accident they should happen to meet any of the rebel steamers, will fall into their hands, and in turn, like the Tacony, be turned against us. Fast sailing steamers like the Atlantic, Baltic, Ocean Queen and others are left by the Department lying at our wharves, because, forsooth, our merchants will not assume the war risk and pay for them if lost.
This appears like a singular position for our government to take, when by every principle of justice and equity it is bound to protect the interests of its citizens everywhere, and pay all losses sustained by the acts of pirates left to roam for months and years unmolested on our coast. The effect of this apathy or criminal neglect on the part of the Navy Department may be fully realized by a glance at the character and nationality of the vessels that now monopolize the carrying trade at this port, while our own are rotting at our wharves. Our merchants, fully realizing that the flag under which their vessels have so long and proudly sailed can no longer afford them protection in the pursuit of legitimate trade, are compelled to let them lie idle or resort to the disgraceful practice of putting them under the flag of a foreign Power. This practice has been carried on to an almost incredible extent since it has become apparent that they have nothing to hope for or expect at the hands of the Department at Washington.
Since the breaking out of the rebellion three hundred and eighty-five vessels, with an aggregate tonnage of more than one hundred and sixty-six thousand tons, have been transferred to foreigners at this port alone, most of which are now sailing under the flag of Great Britain, our most prominent commercial rival, and ally of the South. At other ports the same practice has prevailed, and it would be fair to estimate the loss of American tonnage under it during the past two years at three hundred thousand tons. This loss to us as a matter of course, involves a consequent increase of the tonnage and power of our rivals.
Again, to show the effect on our carrying trade, let us glance at the commerce of New York during the first six months of the year 1860, as compared with a like period in the present year. During the former period the number of vessels cleared at this port for foreign ports was seventeen hundred and ninety-five, of which eleven hundred and thirty-three were American and six hundred and sixty-two foreign — a difference of nearly one hundred per cent in favor of American vessels; while, during the same period of the present year, there have been twenty-one hundred and ninety-seven clearances, of which fourteen hundred and fifty were foreign and only seven hundred and forty-seven American — showing an increase in the number of foreign vessels and a difference in their favor, as compared with the first named period, of about two hundred per cent.
By this system we not only decrease our tonnage and lessen our power as a commercial nation, but we suffer financially by its operation. The hundreds of vessels which now sail under a foreign flag formerly paid into the Treasury, at every entry at a custom house in the United States, twenty cents per month for every person employed on board, for the use of the United States Hospital. This is now lost to us, and, if paid now, inures to the benefit of the government under whose flag they sail.
It is difficult to imagine where this practice will lead to if some protection be not afforded our merchants and shipowners in the pursuit of their trade. Already are they beginning to arm their vessels, and even the fishermen of the East, who have suffered so much recently at the hands of the privateers, are banding together and arming their little vessels to repel the attacks of the pirates which prowl unmolested around our coast, burning and destroying at their pleasure. If our government cannot furnish protection with the immense navy we possess, let them grant letters of marque, and offer half a million of dollars for the capture of the Alabama, and a proportionate sum for the capture of the others, and there is little doubt that we should be speedily rid of all those vessels which are spreading consternation throughout our entire merchant service by their boldness and their numberless acts of vandalism and piracy.