330 Naval War of 1812 



than that of Lake Champlain, fought mainly by 

 British. 



The difference between the American and British 

 seamen on the Atlantic was small, but on the lakes 

 what little there was disappeared. A New Eng- 

 lander and an Old Englander differed little enough, 

 but they differed more than a frontiersman born 

 north of the line did from one born south of it. 

 These last two resembled one another more nearly 

 than either did the parent. There had been no long- 

 established naval school on the lakes, and the British 

 sailors that came up there were the best of their 

 kind; so the combatants were really so evenly 

 matched in courage, skill, and all other fighting 

 qualities, as to make it impossible to award the palm 

 to either for these attributes. The dogged obstinacy 

 of the righting, the skilful firing and manoeuvring, 

 and the daring and coolness with which cutting-out 

 expeditions were planned and executed, were as 

 marked on one side as the other. The only un- 

 English element in the contest was the presence 

 among the Canadian English of some of the de- 

 scendants of the Latin race from whom they had 

 conquered the country. Otherwise the men were 

 equally matched, but the Americans owed their suc- 

 cess for the balance of success was largely on their 

 side to the fact that their officers had been trained 

 in the best and most practical, although the smallest, 

 navy of the day. The British sailors on the lakes 

 were as good as our own, but no better. None of 

 their commanders compares with Macdonough. 



