On the Lakes 185 



in the others. So there can be no doubt that in all 

 but very smooth water the schooners could almost 

 be counted out of the fight. Then the question 

 arises in any given case, was the water smooth? 

 And the testimony is as conflicting as ever. 



It is not too easy to reconcile the official letters 

 of the commanders, and it is still harder to get 

 at the truth from either the American or British his 

 tories. Cooper is very inexact, and, moreover, paints 

 everything coulcur dc rose, paying no attention to 

 the British side of the question, and distributing so 

 much praise to everybody that one is at a loss to 

 know where it really belongs. Still, he is very use 

 ful, for he lived at the time of the events he nar 

 rates, and could get much information about them 

 at first hand, from the actors themselves. James is 

 almost the only British authority on the subject ; but 

 he is not nearly as reliable as when dealing with 

 the ocean contests, most of this part of his work be 

 ing taken up with a succession of acrid soliloquies 

 on the moral defects of the American character. 

 The British records for this extraordinary service 

 on the lakes were not at all carefully kept, and so 

 James is not hampered by the necessity of adhering 

 more or less closely to official documents, but lets his 

 imagination run loose. On the ocean and seaboard 

 his account of the British force can generally be re 

 lied upon; but on the lakes his authority is ques 

 tionable in everything relating either to friends or 

 foes. This is the more exasperating because it is 

 done wilfully, when, if he had chosen, he could have 



