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HISTORY OF MARINE ARCHITECTURE.

were brought in contact with those of their antagonists. Except in pettv actsof warfare against the Knights of Malta, and petty they may be fairly styled,when the comparative condition and numbers of the Turks and Maltese is con-sidered, the history of the Grand Signior’s navy would occupy but a very un-interesting page in that of the world. The Porte was not, however, destitute ofwhat was considered a fleet, and a fleet sufficient to its necessities, but it seemedrather as an ornamental appendage to the state, than as constituted for thepurpose of rendering it any effectual service. Venice, the antient antagonist tothe court of Constantinople, had long rested satisfied with the zeal she had, informer times, displayed for the religion of her anceftors ; she had sunk consider-ably in political weight, and manifested not the smallest disposition towardsmaking any attempt towards forcibly regaining it, because, perhaps, she possessedsufficient political discernment to discover that the attempt would be unattendedwith success. She was content with the profits of her commerce, she aban-doned ambition to the possession of those who were better qualified to gratify it,and left the defence of the Catholic faith against the inroads of Mahometanismto those who were more capable of protecting it. The Genoese were exactly ofthe same opinion, and had resolutely persevered in it for the same space oftime. America, so far as was subject to the British dominion, which certainlycomprised the whole of its northern division, was almost in an infantine state inrespect to commerce. Plentiful as were all the requisites for the construction ofa navy or marine, considered purely in a civil light, it was found totally unequalto the talk. Its inhabitants, dispersed over an immense tract of country, weretoo scattered to become formidable, even when protected by the fostering aidof Britain, except in the petite guerre. Their vessels were diminutive ins;ze; and though their numbers, when collected into one amount, together withtheir tonnage, conveyed an imposing idea of consequence, yet, it faded on in-\ estigation. The proclaimed myriads of vessels swarming from the ports ofNorth America, certainly did honour to the exertions of a people, having re-ference to their numbers only ; but when compared to the extent of the countrythey inhabited, proved most contemptibly inferior to the powers of Europewhen calculated, as is generally the case, according to the same square of sur-face. This circumstance is mentioned solely for the purpose of showing howthe human mind, in the height of argument, is apt to be warped from the truepoint on which it ought to rest. The Spanish mariue, on the opposite coast

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