Excerpt from Memoir on the Dangers and Defences of New York City, Addressed to the Hon.: John B. Floyd, Secretary of WarNotwithstanding the clearness of the case, however, it seems that there needs some foil or contrast, to set off vividly representations of it, which, alone, would fail of receiving an attentive and re¿ective examination.In a word, I can think of no better way of enabling the reader to judge of the magnitude, concentrated strength, and celerity of the present style of naval military warfare, than by presenting him with a condensed summary of the most celebrated maritime expeditions, since by re¿ecting on the means of national aggression developed in these, and on the causes which in¿uenced their success, and by considering afterwards the mutations which these causes have under gone, especially within the present century, we will naturally come to conclusions that will be better founded and more certain than could result from inferences, however logical, drawn merely from the events that have passed within our own knowledge.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.