navy, I am pleased with everything which promises to improve them.’  Whether ‘improved’ or not, these gunboats were found worse than useless as a substitute for ‘the ruinous folly of a navy.’  They failed egregiously to stop Jefferson’s own countrymen from breaking his Embargo Act of 1808; and their weatherly qualities were so contemptible that they did not dare to lose sight of land without putting their guns in the hold.  No wonder the practical men of the Navy called them ‘Jeffs.’

When President Madison summoned Congress in 1811 war was the main topic of debate.  Yet all he had to say about the Navy was contained in twenty-seven lukewarm words.  Congress followed the presidential lead.  The momentous naval vote of 1812 provided for an expenditure of six hundred thousand dollars, which was to be spread over three consecutive years and strictly limited to buying timber.  Then, on the outbreak of war, the government, consistent to the last, decided to lay up the whole of their sea-going navy lest it should be captured by the British.

But this final indignity was more than the Navy could stand in silence.  Some senior officers spoke their minds, and the party politicians gave way.  The result was a series of victories which, of their own peculiar kind, have never been eclipsed.  Not one American ship-of-the-line was ever afloat during the war; and only twenty-two frigates or smaller naval craft put out to sea.  In addition, there were the three little flotillas on Lakes Erie, Ontario, and Champlain; and a few minor vessels elsewhere.  All the crews together did not exceed ten thousand men, replacements included.  Yet, even with these niggard means, the American Navy won the command of two lakes completely, held the command of the third in suspense, won every important duel out at sea, except the famous fight against the Shannon, inflicted serious loss on British sea-borne trade, and kept a greatly superior British naval force employed on constant and harassing duty.

The American Privateers.  Besides the little Navy, there were 526 privately owned vessels which were officially authorized to prey on the enemy’s trade.  These were manned by forty thousand excellent seamen and had the chance of plundering the richest sea-borne commerce in the world.  They certainly harassed British commerce, even in its own home waters; and during the course of the war they captured no less than 1344 prizes.  But they did practically nothing towards reducing the British fighting force afloat; and even at their own work of commerce-destroying they did less than one-third as much as the Navy in proportion to their numbers.