f the
official reports, as well British as American, concerning the New
Orleans Expedition. So also does James in his "Military Occurrences" and
"Naval Occurrences" of the War of 1812. Regarded in outline, as is
attempted in the text, the operations are of a simple character,
presenting no difficulties.

[460] Captains' Letters. Navy Department MSS.

[461] Ibid., Sept. 26, 1814.

[462] Decatur to Navy Department, April 9, 1814. Captains' Letters.

[463] A razee is a ship cut down, and reduced from her original rate.
The "Majestic" had been a seventy-four, and probably was the same vessel
which under that name and rate took part in the battle of the Nile. The
expedient of razeeing had been adopted by the British Government, in
order rapidly to prepare vessels superior to the American forty-fours,
yet less costly in crews than ships of the line. These razees were rated
as carrying fifty-six guns.

[464] Deposition of Commodore Decatur at Bermuda. Naval Chronicle, vol.
xxxiii. p. 371.

[465] Decatur's Report. Niles' Register, vol. viii. p. 8. In his
deposition Decatur says "the 'Tenedos' did not fire at the time of such
surrender."

[466] The loss of the "President" was twenty-four killed, fifty-five
wounded. (Decatur's Report.) That of the "Endymion," eleven killed and
fourteen wounded. (Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxiii. p. 262.)

[467] Naval Chronicle, vol. xxxiii. p. 370.

[468] Captain Hayes' Report. Niles' Register, vol. viii. p. 175. Naval
Chronicle, vol. xxxiii. p. 261.

[469] Niles' Register, vol. viii. p. 147.

[470] The armament of the "Cyane" is that reported by Lieut. Hoffman,
U.S. Navy, who brought her to the United States. Niles' Register, vol.
viii. p. 134.

[471] The "Cyane" reached a United States port, but the "Levant" was
recaptured by a British squadron. Both names remained in the United
States Navy till the Civil War. A "Levant," built in succession to the
one captured, was lost at sea in 1860--never heard from.

[472] The account given in the text depends upon Stewart's "minutes of
the action" (Niles' Register, vol. viii. p. 219), compared with the
"Constitution's" log (Navy Department MSS.), of which the minutes are a
development.

CHAPTER XVIII

THE PEACE NEGOTIATIONS

The Government of the United States had been honestly loath to declare
war in 1812, and had signalized its reluctance by immediate advances
looking to a restoration of peace. These were made through Jonathan