This was the more remarkable when several facts are kept in mind.

Great Britain had been at war so long that she had the most powerful navy by far in the world.

It numbered one thousand and thirty-six vessels, of which two hundred and fifty-four were ships-of-the-line, not one of which carried less than seventy guns of large calibre.

This prodigious navy was manned by one hundred and forty-four thousand sailors, and eighty-five of her war vessels were on the American coast, equipped and ready for action.
In amazing contrast to all this, we had only twenty large war vessels and a number of gunboats that were of little account.

The disparity was so great that our Government, after looking at the situation and discussing the matter, decided that it would be folly to fight England on the ocean, and it was decided not to do so.