detachment to Champlain to destroy
the barracks and blockhouse. At Swanton the object of the expedition
was accomplished, and the expedition returned without casualty.

Public opinion had its effect upon the Admiralty, notwithstanding the
stubborn resistance of the old Lords, who still privately persisted in
the notion that an old tub, manned by monkeys, if commanded by an
officer in the royal navy, was a match for the best American frigate
that ever floated. There had for some time back been considerable
activity in the English dockyards. Several vessels were commenced on
the model of the American frigates, and the commanders of frigates and
sloops of war, on the American coast, were cautioned not to expose
themselves to certain destruction by attacking large and heavily armed
vessels, only nominally of the same rank or class as themselves. There
was to be a real, not an apparent equality. There was to be an equality
in tonnage, an equality in the number of guns, an equality in the
weight of metal, an equality in the thickness of a ship's sides, and
above all an equality in men, so far as such equality could be
ascertained. Equality in sailing power was of great importance, but
where it was wanting, the superior sailor, if superior in metal and men
had an advantage which nothing but a calm or a lucky hit aloft could
destroy. The crews of every ship on the North American Station were to
be exercised in gunnery. Wisdom had been luckily forced upon the
Admiralty. And the result was good. Sir John Borlase, the naval
commander, in North America, blockaded every harbour in the United
States. American commerce was ruined. The carrying trade of the
Atlantic was no longer in American hands. The public revenue sank from
twenty-four millions of dollars annually, to eight millions. Even had
the Americans possessed the means of building new frigates, the
expenditure would have been useless, while Sir John Borlase had the
command of the sea. Congress did authorise the commencement of four new
seventy-fours, and of four forty-four gun frigates, with six new sloops
for the ocean, and as many vessels of every description, as
circumstances would show the necessity for, on the lakes.

Admiral Cockburn, at the head of a light squadron, was most annoying to
the Americans. Not only did he blockade the Chesapeake and Delaware
inlets, but he scoured every creek and river. Every now and then
gun-boats were sent on excursions, and marines lan