1811	Little-Belt and President	3

this alteration, that they would possess, in an eminent degree, the advantage of sailing ; that, separately, they would be superior to any single European frigate of the usual dimensions ; that, if assailed by numbers, they would be always able to lead ahead ; that they could never be obliged to go into action but on their own terms, except in a calm ; and that, in heavy weather, they would be capable of engaging double-decked ships. These are the principal advantages contemplated from the change made in their dimensions. Should they be realized, they will more than compensate for having materially swelled the body of expenditures."

In the course of the year 1798, two more 44-gun frigates were built ; one, the President, at New-York, the other, the Philadelphia, at Philadelphia. Of the latter we know very little, on account of her loss already mentioned ; * but of the former we are enabled to furnish some far from unimportant particulars. Being constructed of timbers prepared for them alone, these frigates were more handsomely moulded than their two predecessors. The President, indeed, was considered to be the most beautiful and the best sailing, of all the American frigates; and, being lower in the water than either the United-States or Constitution, was a much more deceiving ship. Her scantling is represented not to have been so stout as theirs ; which may have been one reason that she cost only 220,910 dollars, while they cost, as we have seen 300,000.

With respect to the materials of which the ships were constructed and the pains taken in building them, we can but repeat our former remarks on the same subject. Every thing that was new in the navies of England and France was tried, and, if approved, adopted, no matter, it falling so light from the paucity of individuals, at what expense. There were no contractors, to make a hard bargain pay, by deteriorating the quality of the article ; no deputies, ten deep, each to get a picking out of the job. The executive government agreed directly with the artisan ; and not a plank was shifted, nor a long-bolt driven, without the scrutinizing eye of one of the captains or commodores; of him, perhaps, who expected, at no distant day, to risk his life and honour on board the very ship whose equipment he was superintending.

As the number and nature of a ship's guns depend, in a very great degree, upon her size and scantling, we must endeavour to convey an idea of the dimensions of the American 44-gun frigate, before we enter upon the subject of her armament. The United-States, Constitution, and President measure within a few fractions of a ton the same ; namely, from 1444 to 1445 tons American. We say " tons American," because although the American standard of weights and measures, the pound and the

See vol. iii., p. 292.

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