The Constitution and the Guerriere: Frolic and Canada
The loss of the Constitution was seven killed and seven wounded, while that of the Guerriere was fifteen killed and sixty-four wounded, a disparity that shows with how much more precision the American had fired. It is impossible, at this period, to give an adequate idea of the excitement this victory produced. In the first place, it was fought three days after the surrender of General Hull, the uncle of the gallant captain. The mortifying, stunning news of the disaster of the Northwestern army met on the seaboard the thundering shout that went up from a people delirious with delight over this naval victory. From one direction the name of Hull came loaded with execrations, from the other overwhelmed with blessings. But not only was the joy greater, arriving as the news did on the top of disaster, but it took the nation by surprise. An American frigate had fearlessly stood up in single combat on the deep with her proud foe, and, giving gun for gun, torn the crown from the "mistress of the sea." The fact that the Constitution had four guns more and a larger crew could not prevent it from being practically an even-handed fight. The disparity of the crews was of no consequence, for it was an affair of broadsides, while the vast difference in the execution done proved that had the relative weight of metal and the muster-roll been reversed the issue would have been the same.
This victory was but the beginning of a striking series of naval conquests which filled England with astonishment and dismay. On October 25 the frigate United States met the English frigate Macedonian, and, after dismasting her and cutting her hull to pieces, forced her to lower her flag. About the same time the Wasp met the brig Frolic, of nearly her own strength, and captured her after a desperate fight. On boarding the Frolic it was found that the terrible "hulling" fire of the Americans had killed and wounded nearly one hundred of her crew. On October 29 the Constitution, now under Commodore Bainbridge, met the frigate Java, and forced her to lower her flag in a two hours' fight. In the succeeding January the Hornet met the English brig-of-war Peacock, and sent her to the bottom after a sharp battle.
The thrill of exultation that passed over the land at the announcement of the first naval victory was alloyed by the reflection that it was but an isolated instance, and hence could hardly justify a belief in our naval superiority. But as frigate after frigate and ship after ship struck, all doubt vanished, and the nation was intoxicated with delight. The successive disasters that befell our land-forces along the Canada line could not check the outburst of enthusiasm on every side. As the news of one victory succeeding another was borne along the great channels of communication, long shouts of triumph rolled after it, and the navy, from being unknown and uncared for, rose at once to be the bulwark and pride of the nation. All faces were turned to the ocean to catch the first echo of those resistless broadsides that proudly asserted and made good the claim to "free trade and sailors' rights." Where we had been insulted and wronged the most, there we were chastising the offender with blows that astounded the world. If the American government had been amazed at the failure of its deep-laid schemes against Canada, it was no less so at the unexpected triumphs at sea. Saved from the deepest condemnation by the navy, which it had neglected, forced to fall back on its very blunders for encouragement, it could say, with Hamlet,--
"Let us know,
Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well
When our deep plots do pall."