e genuine Yankee character, which is that
of being grateful and tractable by kind usage, but stern, inflexible
and resentful at harsh treatment. One morning as the general and the
captain of the Regulus were walking as usual on the quarter deck, one
of our Yankee boys passed along the galley with his kid of "burgoo."
He rested it on the edge of the hatch-way, while he was adjusting the
rope ladder to descend with his "swill." The thing attracted the
attention of the general, who asked the man, how many of his comrades
eat of that quantity for their breakfast? "_Six Sir_," said the man,
"_but it is fit food only for hogs_." This answer affronted the
captain, who asked the man, in an angry tone, "_what part of America
he came from?_" "near to BUNKER HILL, Sir--_if you ever heard of that
place_." They looked at each other and smiled, turned about and
continued their walk. This is what the English call _impudence_. Give
it what name you please, it is that _something_ which will, one day,
wrest the trident from the hands of Britannia, and place it with those
who have more humanity, and more force of muscle, if not more
cultivated powers of mind. There was a marine in the Regulus, who had
been wounded on board the Shannon in the battle with the Chesapeake,
who had a great antipathy to the Americans, and was continually
casting reflections on the Americans generally. He one day got into a
high dispute with one of our men, which ended in blows. This man had
served on board the _Constitution_, when she captured the _Guerriere_
and afterwards the _Java_. After the two wranglers were separated, the
marine complained to his officer, that he had been abused by one of
the American prisoners, and it reaching the captain's ears, he ordered
the American on the quarter deck, and inquired into the cause of the
quarrel. When he had heard it all, he called the American sailor a
d--d _coward_ for striking a wounded man. "_I am no coward, Sir_,"
said the high spirited Yankee; "_I was captain of a gun on board the_
Constitution _when she captured the_ Guerriere, _and afterwards when
she took the_ Java. _Had I been a coward I should not have been
there._" The captain called him an insolent _scoundrel_, and ordered
him to his hole again. What the British naval commanders call
insolence, is no more than the undaunted expression of their natural
and habitual independence. When a British sailor is called by his
captain, in an angry tone, on to the q