or despite overwhelming
odds. I have in my possession a list of the British and American vessels
at the outbreak of that war; and if I were to represent them by
something tangible in order to indicate the proportions of each, I would
say, taking this box lid for example (illustrating with the stem of a
rose upon the cover of a discarded flower box), that if you were to draw
a line across here, near the top, you would have sufficient space in the
narrow strip above the dividing line to write the names of all the
American ships, while the entire remaining space would not be more than
sufficient for the English fleet, which was more than thirty times the
size of its antagonist. The ships which under Nelson had fought at the
Nile and had won imperishable glory at Trafalgar, coming into our
waters, struck their flags time and again. The glorious old "Ironsides"
(the _Constitution_) captured the _Guerriere_, the _Java_, the _Cyane_,
and _Levant_. The _United States_ took the _Macedonian_; the _Wasp_
destroyed the _Frolic_, while on the lakes we point with pride to the
victories of Perry and MacDonough. When battle after battle had been
fought it was found that, of eighteen fixed engagements, seventeen were
victories for the Stars and Stripes. And this over the greatest maritime
war power of the world!

Philadelphia is honorably associated with the glories of our navy. Our
early battleships, though not all built here, were planned and
constructed by Joshua Humphreys, a Philadelphian, the predecessor of our
great shipbuilder of to-day, Charles H. Cramp.

Need I speak of the navy from 1861 to 1865, or tell of the exploits of
those gallant fleets which clove a pathway down the valley of the Ohio,
of the Tennessee, and of the Mississippi, in order that liberty might
ride unvexed from the lakes to the gulf? Need I dwell upon the part
taken by the guest of this evening, who was an officer who fought under
Farragut?

In our recent war with Spain there were some who, in doubting moments,
yielded to that atrabilious disposition which has been so well described
by Mr. Tomkins; who thought that our ships were not strong enough to
hazard an encounter with the fleets of Spain. But meanwhile there was
doubling "around the Horn" a battleship, with a captain and a crew whose
marvelous voyage was attracting the eyes of the world. Night after night
we took up the map, traced his course from port to port, and our hearts
beat high, our lips we