Under such circumstances a nation proud of its rights and conscious of
its strength has no choice but an exertion of the one in support of the
other.
To this determination the best encouragement is derived from the success
with which it has pleased the Almighty to bless our arms both on the
land and on the water.
Whilst proofs have been continued of the enterprise and skill of our
cruisers, public and private, on the ocean, and a new trophy gained in
the capture of a British by an American vessel of war, after an action
giving celebrity to the name of the victorious commander, the great
inland waters on which the enemy were also to be encountered have
presented achievements of our naval arms as brilliant in their character
as they have been important in their consequences.
On Lake Erie, the squadron under command of Captain Perry having met the
British squadron of superior force, a sanguinary conflict ended in the
capture of the whole. The conduct of that officer, adroit as it was
daring, and which was so well seconded by his comrades, justly entitles
them to the admiration and gratitude of their country, and will fill an
early page in its naval annals with a victory never surpassed in luster,
however much it may have been in magnitude.
On Lake Ontario the caution of the British commander, favored by
contingencies, frustrated the efforts of the American commander to bring
on a decisive action.
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