iv 



PREFACL'. 



the author of the work, and the pubhc, which last 

 has no opportunity of judging betwixt the parties. 



It is not, however, the intention of the author of 

 this Journal, to trouble the pubhc with any com- 

 plaints, or to appeal to its compassion. He is per- 

 fectly aware, that there was enough in his Book, to 

 wound the feelings of Englishmen, since, without 

 intending to do so, the mere relation of actions, in 

 themselves unjustifiable or disgraceful, is often the 

 severest satire. Whatever feehng he may have in- 

 dulged toward an enemy, the mere summary of a 

 few particulars will show that he was not without 

 ample justification. It will be remembered that war 

 existed between the United States and Great Bri- 

 tain ; that the author, while in the strict discharge of 

 his duty, and in the prosecution of a mode of war- 

 fare practised by all maritime nations, had been 

 basely calumniated by the British press ; that he had 

 been treacherously attacked while in a crippled 

 state, and, confiding in the sanctity of a neutral port, 

 guarantied by the pledges of a British Officer, who, 

 of all others, he had reason to believe might be 

 trusted ; ,that on his passage to the United States, 

 under the protection of a cartel, he was detained 

 by Capt. Nash of the British navy, and only esca- 

 ped by taking to an open boat, at great risk, and at 

 a distance of sixty miles from land. It may also 

 be remembered, that he was declared by admiral 

 Cochrane out of the pale of honour, and threatened 

 with ignominious punishment in the event of being 

 taken ; that the terms " Pirate, Freebooter, Buca- 

 nier," &c. were the epithets with which he was 

 usually honoured by the British prints and British 

 partisans ; and that the usual language of both was, 

 that " the scoundrel Porter deserved to be hanged 

 alongside of the scoundrel Madison.'- 



