is afforded by the British ship _Confiance_. Supposing that two
ships throw the same broadside weight of metal, one from long guns,
the other from carronades, at short range they are equal; at long,
one has it all her own way. Her captain thus certainly has a great
superiority of force, and if he does not take advantage of it it
is owing to his adversary's skill or his own mismanagement. As a
mere approximation, it may be assumed, in comparing the broadsides
of two vessels or squadrons, that long guns count for at least
twice as much as carronades of the same calibre. Thus on Lake
Champlain Captain Downie possessed an immense advantage in his
long guns, which Commodore Macdonough's exceedingly good arrangements
nullified. Sometimes part of the advantage may be willingly foregone,
so as to acquire some other. Had the _Constitution_ kept at long
bowls with the _Cyane_ and _Levant_ she could have probably captured
one without any loss to herself, while the other would have escaped;
she preferred to run down close so as to insure the capture of both,
knowing that even at close quarters long guns are somewhat better
than short ones (not to mention her other advantages in thick
scantling, speed, etc.). The British carronades often upset in
action; this was either owing to their having been insufficiently
secured, and to this remaining undiscovered because the men were
not exercised at the guns, or else it was because the unpractised
sailors would greatly overcharge them. Our better-trained sailors
on the ocean rarely committed these blunders, but the less-skilled
crews on the lakes did so as often as their antagonists.

But while the Americans thus, as a rule, had heavier and better-fitted
guns, they labored under one or two disadvantages. Our foundries
were generally not as good as those of the British, and our guns,
in consequence, more likely to burst; it was an accident of this