44 Naval War of 1812 



fell in with the Belvidera, been cruising alone . . . 

 Commodore Rodgers would have magnified the Brit 

 ish frigate into a line-of -battle ship, and have done 

 his utmost to avoid her," which gives an excellent 

 idea of the weight to be attached to the various 

 other anecdotes he relates of the much abused Com 

 modore Rodgers. 



But it must always be remembered that untrust 

 worthy as James is in anything referring purely to 

 the Americans, he is no worse than his compeers of 

 both nationalities. The misstatements of Niles in 

 his "Weekly Register" about the British are quite 

 as flagrant, and his information about his own side 

 even more valuable. 13 Every little American author 

 crowed over Perry's "Nelsonic victory over a greatly 

 superior force." The Constitution was declared to 

 have been at a disadvantage when she fought the 

 Guerriere, and so on ad infinitum. But these writers 

 have all faded into oblivion, and their writings are 

 not even referred to, much less believed. James, on 

 the contrary, has passed through edition after edi 

 tion, is considered as unquestionable authority in 



13 In Niles, by the way, can be found excellent examples of 

 the traditional American "spread-eagle" style. In one place 

 I remember his describing "The Immortal Rodgers," balked 

 of his natural prey, the British, as "soaring about like the 

 bold bald eagle of his native land," seeking whom he might 

 devour. The accounts he gives of British line-of-battle ships 

 fleeing from American 44*5 quite match James' anecdotes of 

 the latter's avoidance of British 38*8 and 36*8 for fear they 

 might mount twenty-four-pounders. The two works taken 

 together give a very good idea of the war ; separately, either 

 is utterly unreliable, especially in matters of opinion. 



