There can of course be no comparison between such forces; nor could there in the long run be any doubt as to the result, but the American navy was to achieve, in the unequal struggle, a series of victories which brought results psychically the equal of victories of great fleets. It is not that we were continuously victorious, but in the main our success was so great and of a character to which the British navy and public were so unaccustomed that our victories were a staggering blow to Britain’s self-sufficiency. It must be remembered that the French navy of Louis XVI’s time had been, so far as officers and morale were concerned, swept out of existence by the French Revolution. The French fleet of the Consular and Napoleonic period was now not only ill-officered, but through the constant blockades of the British had but little of the sea habit by which only a navy can be efficient. The Spanish navy had no real organization or other qualities of success under circumstances of even much worse neglect. The British ships, well officered, well manned, and with constant sea practice, had no real antagonists, for it is absurd to compare in efficiency such organizations as that which fought under Nelson at Trafalgar and those under Villeneuve and Gravina in the same battle. The American navy was to show a different standard. CHAPTER XV There were three important and epoch-making events in the war: the victory of the _Constitution_ over the _Guerrière_, the battle of Lake Erie, and the battle of Lake Champlain. Each of these was of such immense importance that they overshadow all others, picturesque and striking as others were.