Hull was walking, and attentively observing every movement of his adversary), and inquired of his commander whether he should not return the fire of the enemy. He said the men were very eager to fire, and that it was difficult to restrain their ardent desire to commence the action. His answer to his Lieutenant was, not to fire till he gave the order, or in plainer English, “Mr. Morris I'll tell you when to fire, therefore stand ready, and see that not a shot is thrown away." At this moment the naval hero was watching the exact position of the two ships, and as the Constitution gradually ranged up within half pistol shot, and began to double on the quarter of his opponent, Captain Hull peremptorily ordered Mr. Morris to give him the first division. "The next, sir, pour in the whole broadside," was the reiterated order. He saw the effect of this terrible broadside, and at the same moment exclaimed to those about him, "by Heavens that ship is ours."

As the two frigates now lay nearly abreast of each other, they both kept up a constant cannonading for about ten minutes, when the mizzen-mast of the Englishman was shot away not far above the deck. The Constitution still continued to range slowly ahead of his adversary, keeping up a tremendous fire. She then luffed short round the bows of the Guerriere to prevent being raked, when unfortunately, in executing this manœuvre, she shot into the wind, got stern-way upon her, and fell foul of her antagonist, so that the Guerriere's bowsprit came in contact with the mizzen shrouds of the American frigate. In this situation both parties prepared to board, but as each ship kept up a brisk fire of musketry, while they were in collision, Lieutenant Morris, Mr. Alwyn, the sailing-master, Mr. Bush, the marine officer, and others, sprang upon the taffrail to board or

repel boarders. Several of them were shot. Mr. Morris received a musket ball in the abdomen, but remained at his post. Mr. Bush fell dead by a musket ball passing through his head, and Mr. Alwyn was wounded in the shoulder. At this moment there was considerable sea on, when the fore and main masts of the English frigate went by the board, leaving the Guerriere a helpless wreck, wallowing in the trough of the sea.

The two ships soon separated, when the Constitution at once made sail, hauling on board her fore and main tacks, and ran off a short distance to windward, when she rove new braces, and cleared ship to renew the action.

The Guerriere having the stump of the.mizzen-mast still standing, hoisted upon it an English jack, and when Captain Dacres saw his adversary preparing to come down athwart his bows to give him the raking coup-degrâce, he very wisely hauled down his flag, and surrendered to the frigate. Thus ended the first naval battle of any consequence in the war of 1812; but which was the prelude to many other glorious victories.

After the flag was struck, Captain Hull sent Mr. Reid, his third Lieutenant, on board the prize to ascertain what ship it was, when the boat was immediately sent back to report that the captured ship was the Guerriere, 38, Captain James R. Dacres, one of the frigates that had so lately chased the Constitution off New York.

Captain Hull remained near his prize during the night to watch over her safety. The next morning at daylight, the officer in charge of the prize hailed to say, that the Guerriere had four feet water in her hold, and that there was much danger of her sinking. Consequently, the first thing to be done was, to remove all the wounded prisoners to the Constitution as soon as possible, for the first impulse of a brave man, after the battle is over, is to com

fort and soothe the wounded and the dying. Captain Hull accordingly sent all his boats, and commenced transporting the officers and men of the Guerriere to his own ship, and, as the weather had now become moderate, by noon on the 20th this duty was accomplished. At three o'clock in the afternoon the prize crew was recalled, having previously set the wreck on fire, and in a quarter of an hour after she blew up.

The disparity between the two ships in killed and wounded was almost unparalleled in the history of naval battles, and was by the official accounts as follows: -The loss of the Guerriere in killed was 15; missing, 24: wounded, 62. Total killed and wounded, and missing, 101. The loss on board the Constitution was 7 killed and 7 wounded.

REMARKS ON THIS IMPORTANT ACTION.

Captain Dacres was the son of a British Admiral, and no doubt a brave, highminded, honorable man, but unfortunately for him, he made three grand mistakes in this affair. The first was, in holding his enemy too cheap, a very common fauit among his countrymen, even down to the present day. Witness the attack of the British light-cavalry at the battle of Balaklava. The second error was, in boasting, before the battle. Had he remembered the injunction of the infallible old book, "Let not him that girdeth on his armor boast himself as he that putteth it off," it would, doubtless, have saved him much pain and mortification throughout his after life. The third mistake was, in firing too soon, for it is agreed on all hands, that he threw away two entire broadsides. This last mistake evinced a great want of cool, deliberate judgment.

On the part of Captain Hull, I should say, as a nautica!

man, he also made one mistake in allowing the Constitution to get into the wind, and, consequently making a stern-board, she should have been kept under good steerage-way, for under some circumstances this getting foul of the enemy might have involved the safety of his ship. I will not, however, judge too severely, perhaps it was unavoidable. The wheel-ropes might have been injured, or some other cause connected with the steering of the ship may have occurred, which has not been related in the official account of the action.

With respect to the relative size of the two ships, there can be no doubt that the Constitution was the heavier, and that the weight of metal was also in favor of the American frigate. Still, under these circumstances, it would not have made a shade of difference if the Guerriere's main-deck guns had been twenty-fours in lieu of eighteens.

It matters not how large a shot may be, if it is badly directed and thrown into the water, or, the gun so elevated as to have the shot pass through the upper air, or the lofty sails of the enemy. It will be observed, that Captain Hull received the random shot of his adversary as he closed in with him. He, no doubt, expected to suffer some damage before he should, as it were, crush his enemy, for it will be recollected, his guns were all double-shotted, viz., with round grape and canister, and as soon as he poured in the first destructive broadside he saw that the game was his, and, that he had given the Guerriere a death blow.

Hair-splitting casuists may weigh straws and solve probable results, and cavil about the great disparity of the two ships, but the common sense conclusion is, that the English had met a new enemy in the American seamen, and were disappointed and confounded; they

found the American officers and men fully equal in bravery and seamanship to themselves.

They had for years been accustomed to vanquish the French and Spanish ships-of-war, by their superior skill in sailing and manoeuvring their ships: not that they excelled the French in bravery, for there is no braver people on the face of the earth: neither can the English excel them in gunnery, for they are great cannoneers, and can vie with them in everything pertaining to war, except practical seamanship. It had long been the custom with the English, in their engagements with the French and Spanish, both in fleets and with single ships, as they approached their adversaries, to fire a gun or two as feelers, to ascertain whether they were near enough for their shot to take effect, and then manoeuvre so as to rake their enemy, and gain the victory with but little loss to themselves. It is therefore more than probable, that Captain Dacres acted on the same old principle with the Constitution, not dreaming that she would so soon close in with him, with a determination to conquer or sink.

From the commencement to the end of the war, the same practice and determination were carried out with all our ships-of-war. The old-fashioned way of playing at long balls, for several hours with their enemy, does not suit the nature or taste of the Americans. They make up their minds on a subject, and then, to use a familiar phrase, "go-ahead," regardless of consequences. And so it will ever be with republicans, each individual feels as though the honor of the flag and of the country rested upon his shoulders; that he is a citizen of the United States; is fighting for the land that gave him birth, and not for a tyrannical master, who has no feelings in common with him.