powers have ruined property belonging to the northerns
valued at upwards of three millions of money; whose actions very nearly
involved these countries in war with the United States. The Americans
are indignant that the ship was built by British hands, of British oak,
armed with British guns, and manned by British sailors."

Numerous inaccuracies, suppressions, exaggerations, and discrepancies
exist in most of the accounts of this renowned naval engagement. The
first reports published in Europe were characterized by contradictions
sufficient to confuse any reader. This variance was noted by the London
_Daily News_ in the following manner: "The sceptic who called history a
matter-of-fact romance, should have lived in our day, when a naval
action is fought off Cherbourg on a Sunday, and reported to the London
and Paris newspapers on the Monday morning, no two reports agreeing in
any single fact, except in the result. In our enlightened epoch of
incessant, instantaneous, and universal inter-communication, the
difficulty of getting at the simple facts of any passing incident, in
which conflicting sympathies are concerned, increases in proportion to
the increasing celerity and certainty with which the materials of
history are gathered. Some allowance, no doubt, may be made for
eyewitnesses on shore of a naval engagement seven miles out at sea.
Their 'powerful glasses' are liable to that peculiar inaccuracy of sight
which distance, excitement, and smoke produce. A French gentleman, for
instance, who from Cherbourg Breakwater looked on at the American duel
on Sunday last, wrote a graphic letter to the _Debats_, with a
postscript to the effect that he had just discovered that the account in
his letter was entirely wrong."

Here ends the present story of the Kearsarge and Alabama. It is the
truth told honestly.

* * * * *

Transcriber's note

A few obvious typographical errors have been corrected, and they are
listed below.

Page 20: "Hopital de la Marine" changed to "Hopital de la Marine".

Page 24: "which which broke a link" changed to "which broke a link".

Page 27: "postcript to the effect" changed to "postscript to the effect".

End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Story of the Kearsarge and Alabama, by
A. K. Browne

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK KEARSARGE AND ALABAMA ***

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