altimore"
were sent to their quarters.

But, having done this, he became doubtful as to the course for him to
pursue. Successful resistance was out of the question; for he was
surrounded by five British vessels, one of which carried ninety-eight
guns, while the smallest mounted thirty-two, or twelve more than the
"Baltimore." Even had the odds against him been less great, Capt.
Phillips felt grave doubts as to his authority to resist any armed
vessel. He had sailed under instructions that "the vessels of every
other nation (France excepted) are on no account to be molested; and I
wish particularly to impress upon your mind," wrote the Secretary of
the Navy, "that should you ever see an American vessel captured by the
armed ship of any nation at war, with whom we are at peace, you cannot
lawfully interfere, for it is to be taken for granted that such nation
will compensate for such capture, if it should prove to have been
illegally made." After some deliberation over this clause in his
instructions, Capt. Phillips concluded that for him to make even a
formal resistance would be illegal; and accordingly the flag of the
"Baltimore" was lowered, and the British were told that the ship was
at their disposal. They immediately seized upon fifty-five men from
the American crew, who were taken away to the British fleet. But in
this wholesale impressment they did not persist. Fifty of the men were
sent back; and the squadron set sail, carrying away the five pressed
men, and leaving the men of the "Baltimore," from the captain down to
the smallest cabin-boy, smarting under the sense of an indignity and
insult offered to the flag under which they served.

Capt. Phillips hoisted his flag again, and continued his cruise. News
travelled slowly in those days; and the tidings of this latest
British insult did not reach the United States until the "Baltimore,"
returning home, brought it herself. Hardly had the ship reached port,
when Capt. Phillips hastened to Philadelphia, then the national
capital, and laid his report of the affair before the Government. In a
week's time, without even the formality of a trial, he was dismissed
from the navy.

After the lapse of more than eighty years it is impossible to look
back upon this affair without indignation, mortification, and regret.
That the naval officers of Great Britain should have been able, by the
mere force of arms, to inflict so cruel an insult upon our flag, can
but arouse indign