Patterson, James, esq.

Parry, William, esq.

Pearson, J. esq.

Phillips, J. esq.

Plenderleath, lieutenant-colonel, C.B.

Powell, John, esq.

Pratt, William, esq.

Price, James, esq.

Pudner, captain.

R.

Reynolds, Mr. William, St. John's, New Brunswick,

Thompson,, esq. captain R. N.

Thurston, Thomas, esq.

Times newspaper, proprietors of the.

Torrens, major-general sir Henry, K.C.B.

Torrington, rear-admiral the right hon. viscount, D.C.L. F.R.S

Vivian, major-general, sir Hussey, K.C.B.

Walker, James, esq.

Warner, Edward, esq.

Warren, Frederick, esq. captain R.N.

Wellington, field-marshal his grace the duke of, K.G. and

G.C.B.

Welsh, James, esq.

, Thomas, esq.

Wright, lieutenant-colonel, royal engineers.

Y.

Yeo, sir James Lucas, captain R.N. and K.C.B.

York, field-marshal his royal highness the duke of, K.G. and

G.C.B.

PREFACE.

THE length of time that has elapsed since the appearance of the work to which this bears so close a relation, has arisen out of the delays and difficulties experienced by the author in collecting materials; few of which were in his possession, when he promised the public to extend his labors, beyond the naval, to the military, occurrences of the late American war.

Immediately on the publication of his former volume, he transmitted copies to some of the principal reviewers in the United States; hoping to have it in his power, through the medium of the present work, to correct any mistatements that he may have made, upon a topic so interesting to the two nations. Beyond one or two newspaper paragraphs, first misnaming, and then calumniating, the

author, nothing of the kind has yet reached him. He has, however, been favored with the sight of an American periodical work, entitled, Analectic Magazine and Naval Chronicle;' which contains, among its pages, some very copious remarks upon an article in the British Naval Chronicle,' headed"SYNOPSIS OF NAVAL ACTIONS BETWEEN THE SHIPS OF HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY AND OF THE UNITED STATES, DURING THE LATE WAR; BY A BRITISH

6

NAVAL OFFICER ON THE AMERICAN STATION:

the latter consisting of extracts from a series of letters, signed Boxer,' forwarded by the author, (but who had neither designated himself as, nor can claim the honor to be, a British naval officer,') from Halifax, Nova Scotia; and becoming, afterwards, the groundwork of the author's pamphlet in Halifax,* and subsequent volume in this country.

As the present is a military work, the author, after bestowing a passing glance of admiration upon the flashy vignette of *An Inquiry, &c.'

gamboling dolphins, tridents, wreaths of laurel, &c. displayed, as if in terrorem, at the commencement of every fresh quotation from the 'Synopsis,' will digress no further, than till he has exposed some half a dozen of the American reviewer's mis-statements; thence submitting, as a fair inference, what degree of credit is due to the remainder of that gentleman's

assertions.

Not being a 'naval officer,' the author could have no esprit de corps to bias his judgment. All inuendoes on that head, and pretty numerous they are, may therefore be blotted out of the piece. The same fate, for (as one may suppose) the same reason, must attend the commencing charge, that the 'production came abroad under the sanction of the admiralty."

*

Any railing at the author's affected arithmetical precision' can but create a smile, when the American reviewer is compelled,

* Analectic Mag. and Naval Chronicle, Vol VII. p. 295. + Ibid. 302.