Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1860-09-28

"Forty-seven years ago yesterday, in the b,.,.
OF lake Erie, Oliver Hazard Perry by great II.
tory, virtually ended second and last war 81
Great Britain. Like the capture Of CorDz,I,.-
in the war of the revolution, 10 fixed the dat, ~
the decline Of British supremacy. Relieving ~.
Inland waters from the presencs and power ~
superior foe and rssoIing the northern fr5-.;..
alike from British and Indians invaders, he no..
for his country peace, and for himself. v0u7,-.
even than his country, unborn when the c,!cr.,.
declared their Independence ren0vn im7sri,s.
bic as her history"
The above we cut from an editorial in p.
New YORK World, It IS remarkable that n,
article 50 singularly inaccurate should ha,-
found place in Il paper Of 50 much jntar
cence and character. It assumes almost N.
AIR ofburlesque. PerrT's victory was Won
drous event that placed an immortal crow
upon his own brow and eliminates one -t
the brightest pages Of our national his.1--
1t possessed, however, nothing Of the ma--.-
tuco although complete IN itself, n0r dIr
effect the consoq genceS here imputed 70 IT,
1t occurred in the second year Of the war.ars
was the precursor of most OF the great even.
which sigullizs d the struggle. In the sg-.
ceeding and last campaign nearly al .fs
marked incidents OF the war took Tle,-
In that year the glorious campaign On .ts
Niagara frontier was achieved. Washi1-..7
was burnt, BlltimOre defended, and -s l,-.
ties of Plat sburgh fought The vic.lr7 e
MaeiOnOugh was equally as impOrfar. In
its political and military results IS the tr..
umph on Lake Erie. The success on Llk.
Erie could have exerted no influence IN ths
promotion Of Peace, for it happened on tis
threshold Of the real contest, while other
events led to the paeifeati0n. Il tbs con.
mand OF that Lake threw shield ever ou-
northwest territory, it is equally true tia.
tho triumph in the By ct Phttsb Ugh %.
PEELED the invasion of the most fJrmjd41.s
army that penetrated our borders during d,
war, and hurled it back broken and demlr.
aliz d. There wlsa romance in the achieys.
ment Of Perry, and n chivalric heroism tia.
excited the admiration and shed about It
brilliant lustre, but in earnest vliOr. endu--
auce, as well as strategy and tlctical skill. F..
did not eclipse the glory Of Mlcd9n0u-h's
Tars. nor his own science. The mnst stirring
incident of Perry's & sht, his transit from the
Lawrence 70 the Niagara, was, we believe.
fully emulated by the deeds ola stripping her
who still lives in hOnored AMI unpretentiOu5
retirementamoDgu US and who passed in smal.
boat during the hottest Of the fight, leaving
orders along the whole line of NaedOnOugh =
a-et and exposed to the FIRE Of the entire
British battery.
We refer to this subject because We b.
lieve that the just fame Of this pre-emlnen.
hero of our naval annals will Be prejudlce1
nv these artificial and untounded enc5niums
His true fame is full and respendent. We
would not pluck single leaf from the chap
let that adorns the immortal name Of Perry.
bat if we had the power would render It still
m ore glorious and amaranthine. We on.T
desire to vindicate the truth of history.
We will simply add that Lake Ontari-,
the most important of our inland waters, was
not exempt during the war from tho p-,s-
cnce Of the foe-but was the theatre Of
contest which tested rather the
energy of the dock yard than the -treng;i O..
ships or the proves of man.-PIats5uv5
Republican.