48 Naval War of 1812 



whose few officers knew how to play their own parts 

 very nearly to perfection, and, something equally im 

 portant, knew how to make first-rate crews out of 

 what was already good raw material. Finally, a 

 large proportion of James' abuse of the Americans 

 sufficiently refutes itself, and perhaps Cooper's 

 method of contemptuously disregarding him was the 

 best; but no harm can follow from devoting a little 

 space to commenting upon him. 



Much the best American work is Lieutenant 

 George E. Emmons' statistical "History of the 

 United States Navy." Unfortunately it is merely 

 a mass of excellently arranged and classified statis 

 tics, and while of invaluable importance to the stu 

 dent, is not interesting to the average reader. Al 

 most all the statements I have made of the force, 

 tonnage, and armament of the American vessels, 

 though I have whenever practicable taken them 

 from the Naval Records, etc., yet could be just as 

 well quoted from Emmons. Copies of most of the 

 American official letters which I have quoted can be 

 found in Niks' "Register/'' volumes i to 10, and all 

 of the British ones in the "London Naval Chronicle" 

 for the same years. It is to these two authorities 

 that I am most indebted, and nearly as much so to 

 the "American State Papers," Vol. XIV. Next in 

 order come Emmons, Cooper, and the invaluable, al 

 beit somewhat scurrilous, James; and a great many 

 others whose names I have quoted in their proper 

 places. In commenting upon the actions I have, 

 whenever possible, drawn from some standard work, 



