The moral effect of the victory was out of all proportion to its strategic importance.

It was like sunshine breaking through a fog.

Such rejoicing had been unknown, even in the decisive moments of the War of the Revolution.

It served to show how deep-seated had been the American conviction that Britain's mastery of the sea was like a spell which could not be broken.
[Illustration: _COMMODORE STEPHEN DECATUR_ Painting by Thomas Sully, 1811.

In the Comptroller's Office, owned by the City of New York.] [Illustration: _"CONSTITUTION" AND "GUERRIERE"_ An old print, illustrating the moment in the action at which the mainmast of the _Guerriere_, shattered by the terrific fire of the American frigate, fell overside, transforming the former vessel into a floating wreck and terminating the action.