"To your Obedient, Humble Servant, "March 19, 1794. "HIS EXCELLENCY. [Signature: John Barry]"
A week later, March 27, 1794, Washington signed an Act declaring that "the depredations of the Algerine Corsairs on the commerce of the United States rendered it necessary that a naval force should be provided for its protection."
This Act is the foundation of our present Navy.
Congress ordered the building and equipment of three frigates of forty-four guns and three of lesser weight and tonnage.
On June 5, 1794, public announcement was made of the appointment of six Captains to superintend the construction and to take command of the vessels thus ordered. The notice sent to Captain Barry read:
"_Sir_:--The President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, has appointed you to be a Captain of one of the ships provided, in pursuance of the Act to provide a naval armament, herein enclosed.
"It is understood that the relative rank of the Captains is to be in the following order:
John Barry, Samuel Nicholson, Silas Talbot, Joshua Barney, Richard Dale, Thomas Truxtun.
You will please to inform me as soon as convenient whether you accept or decline the appointment.
"To "HENRY KNOX, CAPTAIN BARRY." _Secretary of War_.
"The honor done me in appointing me Commander in the Navy of the United States is gratefully acknowledged and accepted by,
Sir, Your Most Obedient, Humble Servant, [Signature: John Barry]
The original is in the Force Collection in the Lenox Branch of the New York Public Library.
The commission was not signed nor issued by Washington until February 22, 1797, when the frigate the "United States," built under the superintendency of Barry, was ready for launching at Philadelphia. The original commission is in possession of Barry's grand-niece, Mrs. W. Horace Hepburn, of Philadelphia.
Captain Barney declined appointment because of the rank--the fourth--assigned him. Captain James Sever was appointed but given the sixth place. Captain Nicholson, at Boston, on June 14, 1794, congratulated Captain Barry on his "honorable appointment to the Command of our Navy."
"Captain Barry," says Cooper's _History of the Navy_, "was the only one of the six surviving Captains of the Revolutionary War who was not born in America, but he had passed nearly all his life in it and was thoroughly identified with his adopted countrymen in interest and feeling. He had often distinguished himself during the Revolution and, perhaps, of all the naval Captains that remained, he was the one who possessed the greatest reputation for experience, conduct and skill. His appointment met with general approbation. Nor did anything ever occur to give the Government reason to regret its selection."