Morocco, you
perceive, will be at peace with us. Were the honor and advantage of
establishing such a confederacy out of the question, yet the necessity
that the United States should have some marine force, and the happiness
of this, as the ostensible cause for beginning it, would decide on its
propriety. It will be said, there is no money in the treasury. There
never will be money in the treasury till the confederacy shows its
teeth. The States must see the rod; perhaps it must be felt by some
one of them. I am persuaded, all of them would rejoice to see every
one obliged to furnish its contributions. It is not the difficulty of
furnishing them, which beggars the treasury, but the fear that others
will not furnish as much. Every rational citizen must wish to see an
effective instrument of coercion, and should fear to see it on any other
element than the water. A naval force can never endanger our liberties,
nor occasion bloodshed: a land force would do both. It is not in the
choice of the States, whether they will pay money to cover their trade
against the Algerines. If they obtain a peace by negotiation, they must
pay a great sum of money for it; if they do nothing, they must pay a
great sum of money, in the form of insurance; and in either way, as
great a one as in the way of force, and probably less effectual.
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