The Battle of New Orleans 273 



and 82 men, captured the Quidproquo, of 8 guns, 4- 

 and 8-pounders, and 98 men. The schooner Mil- 

 brook, of sixteen i8-pounder carronades and 47 

 men, fought a draw with the privateer Bellone, of 

 24 long 8's and six 36-pound carronades. Finally, 

 six months after the Vengeance had escaped from 

 the Constellation (or beaten her off, as the French 

 say), she was captured by the British frigate Seine, 

 which threw a broadside about 30 pounds more than 

 the American did in her action, and had some 29 

 men less aboard. So that her commander, Cap- 

 tain Milne, with the same force as Commodore 

 Truxton, of the Constellation, accomplished what 

 the latter failed to do 



Reviewing all these actions, it seems pretty clear 

 that, while the Americans were then undoubtedly 

 much superior to the French, they were still, at 

 least slightly, inferior to the British. 



From 1777 to 1782 the state of things was very 

 different The single combats were too numerous 

 for me to mention them here; and besides it would 

 be impossible to get at the truth without going to a 

 great deal of trouble the accounts given by Cooper, 

 Schomberg, and Troude differing so widely that 

 they can often hardly be recognized as treating of 

 the same events. But it is certain that the British 

 were very much superior to the Americans. Some 

 of the American ships behaved most disgracefully, 



