work under the Stars and Stripes; while the mere want of any enemy
to fight for the command of the sea after Trafalgar had tended to make
the British get slack.

But, even after making all allowances in favour of the British and
against the Americans, there is no denying that the Yankee ships fought
exceedingly well. Their skilful manoeuvres and shattering broadsides
deserved to win; and the U.S. SS. _Constitution_, _Hornet_, _Wasp_, and
_United States_ richly deserve their place of honour in the story of
the sea. The turn of the tide came on the 1st of June, 1813, when the
U.S.S. _Chesapeake_ sailed out of Boston to fight H.M.S. _Shannon_.
These two frigates were about equal in size and armament. The
_Chesapeake_ carried fifty more men; but her captain, the very gallant
Lawrence, was new to her, like his officers and men, and the crew as a
whole were not nearly such veterans as the _Shannon's_, whom Broke had
trained to perfection for seven years. The duel lasted only fifteen
minutes. Every single British shot struck home; and when Broke led his
boarders on to the _Chesapeake's_ deck the fight had been won already.

[Illustration: THE _SHANNON_ AND THE _CHESAPEAKE_.]

The British government, never wanting this war, and doing all they
could to avoid it without endangering the side of freedom against
Napoleon, had not even now put forth their real naval strength. But in
1814 they blockaded all the ports in the United States that the War
Party could shut against them; whereupon, so far as these ports were
concerned, American sea trade simply fell dead. They also burnt the
American Government buildings at Washington as a reprisal for the
Canadian Government buildings the Americans had burnt at Newark and
Toronto.

Those two splendid Americans, Commodores Perry and Macdonough, than
whom the British never met a better or more generous foe, won the
command of Lakes Erie and Champlain, thus partly offsetting British
victories elsewhere. The American peace delegates were, however, still
more favoured by the state of Europe at the end of 1814, when they were
arranging the Treaty of Ghent with the British; for, while they had no
outside trouble to prevent them from driving a hard bargain, the
British had half the other troubles of the world on their shoulders as
well.

The end of it all was that things were left as before. The Treaty said
nothing about the claims and causes for which the United States had
made the