Lordships’ commands to acquaint you, that your request cannot be complied with. I am, &c.
“To Captain Forman, R.N.”
The next is a letter addressed by Captain Forman to Viscount Melville, just before the conclusion of the war with America.
“My Lord, – As I conceive it to be the duty of every Englishman to impart whatever observations may tend to promote the good of his country, I do not hesitate to address myself to your Lordship upon a subject which, if not the most important, at least affects the honour and national feelings of this country more, perhaps, than any other possibly could, – mean the ascendency which the American men-of-war seem to possess, individually, over the ships of His Majesty’s navy. If we may credit newspaper reports, the American corvette Wasp recently sustained an engagement with His Majesty’s brig Avon for nearly two hours; and then, after receiving two broadsides from the Castilian (another English man-of-war), sheered off, without apparently having received any material damage, while her opponent was left in a sinking state.
“This wonderful success, my Lord, on the part of the Americans, cannot be solely attributed to disparity of force. The difference of a few guns was not an object of calculation during the French war, and cannot possibly be the principal cause of the results which we now so often witness. Had the guns of His Majesty’s brig, in this encounter, produced the same effect in the Wasp, proportioned to their number and weight of metal, as the guns of the Wasp did in her, her opponent (the Wasp) would have been, very nearly, in as helpless a condition as herself, and might easily have been captured by the Castilian. Either these two vessels fought at some distance from each other, and the guns of the Wasp were plied with greater precision than those of the English brig, or, if they were close alongside of each other, there must have been some cause, independent of a trifling superiority of force, which gave the American corvette so great an advantage over her English antagonist. As I do nor happen to be acquainted with any of the officers that have been engaged with the Americans, I have no means of proving the justice of my opinion; but as it is clear that the ships of both nations are composed of the same materials, the same force ought to make the same impression on both sides, which does not appear to have been the case in some of our recent naval engagements with the Americans. It is therefore very natural to conclude, that the effect of our guns must either have been weakened by having been overloaded, or else (in compliance with an order which was once issued by the Admiralty respecting carronades) our ships’ carronades, when closely engaged with the enemy, have been loaded solely with grape and canister, which will not penetrate a ship’s side, while the Americans
