Page:Australian views of England.djvu/46

  the kind known of other countries in former times. There are thousands of men, who sail under the stripes and stars, who possess the adventurous spirit and desperate courage which fit the privateer for his peculiar kind of aggressive operations in a naval war. You had better lose no time in preparing for your own defence. Do not lull yourselves into a false sense of security by depending too much upon the naval superiority of England. American privateers will be recruited from sources independent of the supplies to the Federal fleet. But the Northern States, under the pressure of the new crisis, will soon have a powerful fleet afloat. The boasts of some American writers may not be fulfilled; she may not have 100,000 sailors and 10,000 guns afloat in six months. But it is a delusion to suppose that the Washington Government has exhausted its resources or will be unable to present a defiant front in the impending conflict. Sydney and the surrounding districts ought to muster 5000 volunteers.