[2] In 1801 Robert Fulton, of Pennsylvania, proposed to Napoleonthat he should build warships propelled by steam.  The proposal was submitted to a committee of French scientists, who reported that it was absurd.  Had Napoleon acted on Fulton’s suggestion, his descent on England might have been successful. [3] Cape Trafalgar, on the southern coast of Spain.

Two days later he descried the enemy at daybreak.  Both sides felt that the decisive struggle was at hand.  With the exception of a long, heavy swell the sea was calm, with a light breeze, but sufficient to bring the two fleets gradually within range.

“As they drifted on their path
There was silence deep as death;
And the boldest held his breath

              For a time."[4]

[4] Campbell’s “Battle of the Baltic,” but applicable as well to Trafalgar.

Just before the action Nelson ran up this signal to the masthead of his ship, where all might see it:  “England explects Every Man to do his Duty.”  The answer to it was three ringing cheers from the entire fleet, and the fight began.  When it ended, Napoleon’s boasted navy was no more.  Trafalgar Square, in the heart of London, with its tall column bearing aloft a statue of Nelson, commemorates the decisive victory, which was dearly bought with the life of the great admiral.

The battle of Traflagar snuffed out Napoleon’s projected invasion of England.  He had lost his ships, and their commander, in his despair, committed suicide.  The French Emperor could no longer hope to bridge “the ditch,” as he derisively called the boisterous Channel, whose waves rose like a wall between him and the island which he hated (S14).  A few years later, Napoleon, who had taken possession of Spain and placed his brother on the throne, was driven from that country by Sir Arthur Wellesly, destined to be better known as the Duke of Wellington, and the crown was restored to the Spanish nation.

558.  Second War with the United States, 1812-1815.

The United States waged its first war with Great Britain to gain an independent national existence; in 1812 it declared a second war to secure its rights upon the sea.  During the long and desperate struggle between England and France, each nation had prohibited neutral powers from commercial intercourse with the other, or with any country friendly to the other.

Furthermore, the English Government had laid down the principle that a person born on British soil could not become a citizen of another nation, but that “once an Englishman always an Englishman” was the only true doctrine.  In accordance with that theory, it claimed the right to search American ships and take from them and force into their own service any seaman supposed to be of British birth.  In this way Great Britian had seized more than six thousand men, and notwithstanding their protest that they were American citizens, either by birth or by naturalization, had compelled them to enter the English navy.