Concluding Operations 155 



porting his theory, James brings up all the instances 

 where the American wounded bore a larger propor 

 tion to their dead than on board the British ships, 

 but passes over the actions with the Reindeer, Eper- 

 vier, Penguin, Endymion, and Boxer, where the re 

 verse was the case. One of James's most common 

 methods of attempting to throw discredit on the 

 much vilified "Yankees" is by quoting newspaper 

 accounts of their wounded. Thus he says (p. 562) 

 of the Hornet, that several of her men told some of 

 the Penguin's sailors that she lost 10 men killed, 16 

 wounded, etc. Utterly false rumors of this kind 

 were as often indulged in by the Americans as the 

 British. After the capture of the President articles 

 occasionally appeared in the papers to the effect that 

 some American sailor had counted "23 dead" on 

 board the Endymion, that "more than 50" of her 

 men were wounded, etc. Such statements were as 

 commonly made and with as little foundation by one 

 side as by the other, and it is absurd for a historian 

 to take any notice of them. James does no worse 

 than many of our own writers of the same date; 

 but while their writings have passed into oblivion, 

 his work is still often accepted as a standard. This 

 must be my apology for devoting so much time to it. 

 The severest criticism to which it can possibly be 

 subjected is to compare it with the truth. When 

 ever dealing with purely American affairs, James's 



