The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1859-09-12
NifhuIpr1 9ispatfter.


MONDAY AlONNiNs. :
s...,,e.. and Brislsh Mars, fsewes', :.
s.s. e..a...,,p RsrieW Of July iast = -
IN i The Invasion OF Ene'ano."
80. s.n,ch we er tract the following sen."ss
'spsn s creat danger Of the present Au-
- ssmmitting the same psanac, az, "a
nreaecsssors in The Anss rigsses Of the old
persisunK. I'm snnent and sending them 70
modct ana sssseis which, though called ri.
ngm. ~ert Of far greater tonnage ana csTrieu
RAN scsxs.sr weight Of broadsfoe metsh
mI ~. ~ this article seems to be sur
-, ,rnorant Of the facts OF tho case
.s,,,r,.,,y OF isiadid not perefst In bnild.
~ q ~ the old model - at least. IL they did,
'..eh newly built frigates were taken by the
Americans, and consequently their persistence
q. ,h,s system was not the cause Of the dis
.-r,,.a Of the British arms. They went to
,rnYk more cunningiy than that. and, as IL
,urned oa. more successfully. They gave or
asrs 10 their frigates not to attack an Ameri-
..a fr,es,e single handed--nay, they even di-
,sc,ed them to run for il, IL they came across
,n.u am order which was strictly obeyea.-
A ',it,,e more than Nifty years previously,
Dr,,;,h Admiral had been shot upon the decks
- Mis- shin for not attacking French heei'
..,sr,v double his own in number OF ships, ana |
- ao,h,e IL in number of guns and weight |
fs...,a, The fraga,es taken by the Americans |
-. IN ma instance new ships, built after the
a., anc.y,uters with the English The Guer- |
-. 81 ,aen taken from the French the
,s.,.,nni,n was new ship, built about two
- ,.ss,re she was taken; the Java had been
.,,,,, ,rohsbly ten years before the commence
$50, ~ the war. These were the only frigates
..s.n nv the Americans; for, after their cap
.u-. .be English frigates always took care to
., an .omnany. Ifthe Admiralty of the day
w,s TO blame for y,hing, i; was for not fore
.se,,y what no man in England dreamed Of
Team Ens!isnman had been told previously TO
tho csn,ure Of the Guerrier, that she could
no, sink any American frigate afioat in half an
hour. he would have considered ii an insult.
The orayado Of Captain DAcREs, the comman-
der Of the Guerrier. who sailed about with
the name of his ship in letters three feet long
diving al the mast head and who, not fort
night before his capture, boarded an American
schooner and wrote on her log book. "Capt.
D.cRgs. Of the ship Guerrier, presents his
compliments TO Capt. RODGERS, of the Presi-
dent. and will be glad to have half an hours
t.,,-a.,.ts with him, or any other vessel of
equal force, off Sandy HOOK was perfectly
indicative of the confident feeling entertained
throughout Great Britain. The whole nation
believed that the capture of every American
frigate that came in contact with an Engilsh
frigsse was inevitable. After the destruction
of the French navy at Trafaiga they had al
WAYS been in the habit of beating the French
n, sea, when there was anything like an equal
itv-nay. where the difference in favor of the
French was much greater than 1t ever was In
favor of the Americans, in their BATTLES with
English frigates. A short time before the
war, the Macedonian was in Hampton Roads,
or the harbor of Norfolk, where the frlgate
United States, to which she afterwards struck,
was lying at the same time. An acquaintance
was struck up between Capt. DECATUR, OF the
United States, and Capt. GARDEN, OF the Mace
DOMAIN, which resulted in reciprocal visits to
the two ships. 1t is well known that Captain
GARDEN expressed to Capt. DECATUR his pref
erence for his own ship, (the Macedonian
and his belief that she could take the United
States. Nor were he and Capt. DAcREs at all
singular in this respect. 1t was the universal
belief in England, and, to some extent, the
same opinion prevailed in this country. The
capture of the Guerrer came upon the British
nation like clap Of thunder in clear sky
The destruction of WELLINGTON and his
whole army in the Peninsula, could hardly
have stirred the public feeling more profound
ly. That feeling deepened into despair, when
two other frigates struck to the Americans
How deep the impression was, may be known
from the singular fact, that when Captain
BROKE. of the British frigate Shannon, with {
crew selected from a large fleet, succeeded in
capturing the American frigate Chesapeake, sc
lately out of port that she was still in view Of
the land, with crew just shipped, many o.
a idnr
able proportion not able to keep the deck from
sea-sickness, the Tower guns were fired in
honor Of the victory; a circumstance entirely
without precedent in the history of Great
Britain. such a demonstration of Joy having
always before been reserved for great victories
gained by whole fleets, or great land battles
gained by large armies.
If the American frigates carried more guns
than they were rated at, they borrowed the
.dodge' ito use a slang phrase,) from the Eng
lish. No small share of the reputation ac-
quired by the English in their conflicts with
France upon the ocean, arose from that very
circumstance From the time of the old
French war, probably earlier, they had already
reduced this practice to system, and as the
French still continued to rate their vessels by
the number of guns actually on board, it il
easy to see what a tremendous advantage il
rave their adyersaries. 1t is well known
now, that the old British "a carried - guns
the "a carried &C. the sO-gun ships 90, the 100
gun ships lbs guns, and so on. In giving an &C
count of one of their great sea-hghts, the Brit
tsh historians invariably calculate the numbe
OF guns their ships are rated at, and make NJ
allowance for the extra guns. Where Their
are dozen ships or more on side, it will
Oh, q, is ,AAk, f,fc
makes an enormous difference. In BAINEs
history Of the Wars of the French Revolu
ton, the author, by pursuing this mode Q
computation with regard to the British yes
sells engaged under Lord HOWE with tn
French Admiral VILLARRT JoyEusE, on III
LIST of June 1894, makes out a balance of abou
three hun dred guns on the side of the French
The edition of the book which we read, how
ever, happened to have an American editor
who seemed to take malicious pleasure il
pulling down the reputation of JOHN Bull
AS fast a. the historian built it up. This man
by simply showing how many guns above tn,
rate each English ship always carried, proved
that tho superiority was on their side In tn,
battle of the Niie we are told the French hac
70 ships of the-line and four frigates; thf
English 13 ships-of- the-line and one 5Q.pun
ship. English writers count every gun ON
board the French fleet, and they put them
down at upwards of 1,2o0. AT the same time
they tell US NELSON'S ships Were all as
Now, at this rate, one of the latter (the Cullo-
den1 having struck upon a reef and become so
tightly fixed that she could not get into the
battle, NELSON Carried into The action but e3s
guns. Take each Of these seventy-fours. how.
ever, at So guns, which each of them carried
and put down the so-gun ship at so guns, and