Introductory 45 



his own country and largely throughout Europe, 

 and has furnished the basis for every subsequent ac 

 count by British authors. From Alison to Lieuten 

 ant Low, almost every English work, whether of a 

 popular character or not, is, in so far as it touches 

 on the war, simply a "rehash" of the works written 

 by James. The consequence is that the British and 

 American accounts have astonishingly little resem 

 blance. One ascribes the capture of the British frig 

 ates simply to the fact that their opponents were "cut 

 down line-of-battle ships" ; the other gives all the 

 glory to the "undaunted heroism," etc., of the Yan 

 kee sailors. 



One not very creditable trait of the early Ameri 

 can naval historians gave their rivals a great advan 

 tage. The object of the former was to make out 

 that the Constitution, for example, won her victo 

 ries against an equal foe, and an exact statement of 

 the forces showed the contrary; so they always 

 avoided figures, and thus left the ground clear for 

 James* careful misstatements. Even when they 

 criticised him they never went into details, confin 

 ing themselves to some remark about "hurling" his 

 figures in his face with "loathing." Even Cooper, 

 interesting though his work is, has gone far less into 

 figures than he should, and seems to have paid little 

 if any attention to the British official statements, 

 which of course should be received as of equal 

 weight with the American. His comments on the 

 actions are generally very fair, the book never being 

 disfigured by bitterness toward the British ; but he is 



