As our country became a better settled, and as well-armed revenue cutters began to cruise up and down our Atlantic coast for the protection of our commerce, pirates became fewer and fewer, and even those who were still bold enough to ply their trade grew milder in their manners, less daring in their exploits, and -more important than anything else - so unsuccessful in their illegal enterprises that they were forced to admit that it was now more profitable to command or work a merchantman than to endeavor to capture one, and so the sea robbers of our coasts gradually passed away.