96 FINAL CONFERENCES AND ACCEPTANCE OF TREATY. sissippi in exchange for the use of the fisheries, and Clay made no further protest.* This proposal was sent to London, and as the British Cabinet was now bent on peace, Lord Bathurst on December 6 yielded to the wishes of the Americans and offered to leave the question of the fisheries and the navigation of the Mississippi open to future negotiation. This suggestion This suggestion was communicated to the Americans. The offer implied that both rights were forfeited or subject to forfeiture by war- an implication Adams could not concede, but which the other commissioners could not challenge. Still the Americans were unwilling to yield without another struggle and refused the British offer as inconsistent with the basis of the status ante bellum. A conference held with the British commissioners on December 12 resulted in nothing. During December 13 and 14 Adams pressed his colleagues to assert the American's natural right to the fisheries, insisting on the permanent character of the treaty of 1783. Gallatin, however, refused to make that point an ultimatum. Though all the commissioners save Adams had now resigned themselves to the sacrifice of the fisheries, Gallatin decided to make one more effort, and on December 14 drew up a note rejecting the British stipulation because it involved waiving a right by offering either to be silent *American State Papers, Foreign Relations, vol. iii., p. 742. † Morse, John Quincy Adams, p. 91. regarding both matters or to admit a general reference to further negotiation of all subjects in dispute.* Thus Gallatin's patience and judgment, aided by Bayard's support, carried all the American points without sacrificing the interests of any section of the United States. The note, dated December 14, was received by Lord Bathurst, who replied on December 19 that, as there seemed to be no prospect of agreeing regarding the fisheries, the disputed article might be omitted altogether. Accordingly these matters were dropped and on December 24 the commissioners met for the last time to sign the treaty. It was duly ratified and confirmed on February 17, 1815, and the next day was publicly proclaimed by the authority of the President. † *American State Papers, Foreign Relations, vol. iii., pp. 743-744; Adams, United States, vol. ix., pp. 48-50; McMaster, vol. iv., pp. 272-273; Diary of J. Q. Adams, vol. iii., pp. 79–120. United States Statutes-at-Large, vol. viii., p. 218 et seq.; American State Papers, Foreign Relations, vol. iii., pp. 745-748; U. S. Treaties and Conventions, pp. 399-405; Revised Statutes Relating to the District of Columbia, pp. 287-292 (ed. 1875); Snow, Treaties and Topics in American Diplomacy, pp. 74-76; MacDonald, Select Documents, pp. 192–198. For the most important articles see Appendix I. at the end of the present chapter. Much of the correspondence is preserved in the Documents Relating to the Negotiations for Peace (Philadelphia, 1814). One of the commissioners later published The Duplicate Letter, the Fisheries, and the Mississippi; Documents relating to Transactions at the Negotiations of Ghent, collected and published by John Quincy Adams (Washington, 1822). Cf. Daniel Chapman, Crisis On the Origin and Consequences of Our Political Discussions, to which is annexed the Treaty (Albany, 1815). THE TREATY OF GHENT. As finally signed the treaty contained eleven articles and provided for peace between the two belligerents and for a speedy restoration of prisoners, property, archives, etc.; for the pacification of the Indians; for a better definition of the boundaries; for the restoration of all our territory, save such islands in Passamaquoddy Bay as were in dispute; and both governments pledged themselves to promote the abolition of the slave trade. Three boards of commissioners were to be appointed to determine and define the boundaries, one of these boards to meet at St. Andrews, New Brunswick, and decide in which country the ownership of Deer, Moose, Dudley, and Grand Menan Islands was vested. If these commissioners failed to agree, the matter was to be referred to arbitration. 97 The second commission was to settle the boundary from the St. Croix River to the St. Lawrence at latitude 45° N.; and the third was to take the line from that point to Lake Superior and from St. Mary's River to the Lake of the Woods. While the treaty was not all that could be desired, yet it was fairly satisfactory to both countries,* neither getting any concessions not offset by gains to the other. The Americans lost their claims for British spoliations and were obliged to admit to question their right to Eastport and their fisheries in BritishAmerican waters; while, on the other hand, the British failed to establish their principles of blockade and impressment and admitted to question their right to trade with the Indians and to the navigation of the Mississippi.t APPENDIX TO CHAPTER XXV. ARTICLE I.-There shall be a firm and universal peace between His Britannic Majesty and the United States, and between their respective countries, territories, cities, towns, and people, of every degree, without exception of places or persons. All hostilities, both by sea and land, shall cease as soon as this treaty shall have been ratified by both parties, as hereinafter mentioned. All territory, places and possessions whatsoever, taken by either party from the other during the war, or which may be taken after the signing of this treaty, excepting only the islands hereinafter mentioned, shall be restored without delay, and without causing any destruction or carrying away any of the artillery or other public property originally captured in the said forts or places, and which shall remain therein upon the exchange of the ratifications of this treaty, or any slaves or other private property. And all archives, records, deeds, and papers, either of a public nature or belonging to private persons, which, in the course of the war, may have fallen into the hands of the officers of either party, shall be, as far as may be practicable, forthwith restored and delivered to the proper authorities and persons to whom they respectively belong. Such of is, in * Gallatin said: "The treaty my opinion, as favorable as could be expected under existing circumstances, so far as they were known to us. The attitude taken by the State of Massachusetts, and the appearances in some of the neighboring States, had a most unfavorable effect."- Gallatin's Writings, vol. i., p. 645. † Adams, Life of Gallatin, p. 546; Stevens, Albert Gallatin, p. 335 et seq.; McMaster, vol. iv., pp. 273-274. 98 THE TREATY OF GHENT. the islands in the Bay of Passamaquoddy as are claimed by both parties, shall remain in the possession of the party in whose occupation they may be at the time of the exchange of the ratifications of this treaty, until the decision respecting the title to the said islands shall have been made in conformity with the fourth article of this treaty. No disposition made by this treaty as to such possession of the islands and territories claimed by both parties shall, in any manner whatever, be construed to affect the right of either. ARTICLE II.- Immediately after the ratifications of this treaty by both parties, as hereinafter mentioned, orders shall be sent to the armies, squadrons, officers, subjects and citizens of the two Powers to cease from all hostilities. And to prevent all causes of complaint which might arise on account of the prizes which may be taken at sea after the said ratifications of this treaty, it is reciprocally agreed that all vessels and effects which may be taken after the space of twelve days from the said ratifications, upon all parts of the coast of North America, from the latitude of twenty-three degrees north to the latitude of fifty degrees north, and as far eastward in the Atlantic Ocean as the thirty-sixth degree of west longitude from the meridian of Greenwich, shall be restored on each side: that the time shall be thirty days in all other parts of the Atlantic Ocean north of the equinoctial line or equator, and the same time for the British and Irish Channels, for the Gulf of Mexico, and all parts of the West Indies; forty days for the North Seas, for the Baltic, and for all parts of the Mediterranean; sixty days for the Atlantic Ocean south of the equator, as far as the latitude of the Cape of Good Hope; ninety days for every other part of the world south of the equator; and one hundred and twenty days for all other parts of the world, without exception. ARTICLE III.-All prisoners of war taken on either side, as well by land as by sea, shall be restored as soon as practicable after the ratifications of this treaty, as hereinafter mentioned, on their paying the debts which they may have contracted during their captivity. The two contracting parties respectively engage to discharge, in specie, the advances which may have been made by the other for the sustenance and maintenance of such prisoners. ARTICLE IV.- Whereas it was stipulated by the second article in the treaty of peace of one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three, between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, that the boundary of the United States should comprehend all islands within twenty leagues of any part of the shores of the United States, and lying between lines to be drawn due east from the points where the aforesaid boundaries, between Nova Scotia on the one part, and East Florida on the other, shall respectively touch the Bay of Fundy and the Atlantic Ocean, excepting such islands as now are, or heretofore have been, within the limits of Nova Scotia ; and whereas the several islands in the Bay of Passamaquoddy, which is part of the Bay of Fundy, and the Island of Grand Menan, in the said Bay of Fundy, are claimed by the United States as being comprehended within their aforesaid boundaries, which said islands are claimed as belonging to His Britannic Majesty, as having been, at the time of and previous to the aforesaid treaty of one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three, within the limits of the Province of Nova Scotia: In order, therefore, finally to decide upon these claims, it is agreed that they shall be referred to two commissioners to be appointed in the following manner, viz: One Commissioner shall be appointed by His Britannic Majesty, and one by the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof; and the said two Commissioners so appointed shall be sworn impartially to examine and decide upon the said claims according to such evidence as shall be laid before them on the part of His Britannic Majesty and of the United States respectively. ARTICLE V. Whereas neither that point of the highlands lying due north from the source of the river St. Croix, and designated in the former treaty of Peace between the two Powers as the northwest angle of Nova Scotia, nor the northwesternmost head of Connecticut River, has yet been ascertained; and whereas that part of the boundary line between the dominions of the two Powers which extends from the source of the river St. Croix directly north to the abovementioned northeast angle of Nova Scotia, thence along the said highlands which divide those rivers that empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence from those which fall into the Atlantic Ocean to the northwesternmost head of Connecticut River, thence down along the middle of that river to the forty-fifth degree of north latitude; thence by a line due west on said latitude until it strikes the river Iroquois or Cataraquy, has not yet been surveyed: it is agreed that for these several purposes two Commissioners shall be appointed, sworn, and authorized to act exactly in the manner directed with respect to those mentioned in the next preceding article, unless otherwise specified in the present article. THE TREATY OF GHENT. ARTICLE VI.- Whereas by the former treaty of peace that portion of the boundary of the United States from the point where the forty-fifth degree of north latitude strikes the river Iroquois or Cataraquy to the Lake Superior, was declared to be "along the middle of said river into Lake Ontario, through the middle of said lake, until it strikes the communication by water between that lake and Lake Erie, thence along the middle of said communication into Lake Erie, through the middle of said lake until it arrives at the water communication into the Lake Huron, thence through the middle of said lake to the water communication between that lake and Lake Superior;" and whereas doubts have arisen what was the middle of the said river, lakes, and water communications, and whether certain islands lying in the same were within the dominions of His Britannic Majesty or of the United States: In order, therefore, finally to decide these doubts, they shall be referred to two Commissioners, to be appointed, sworn, and authorized to act exactly in the manner directed with respect to those mentioned in the next preceding article, unless otherwise specified in this present article. * ARTICLE IX.- The United States of America engage to put an end, immediately after the ratification of the present treaty, to hostilities with all the tribes or nations of Indians with whom they may be at war at the time of such ratification; and forthwith to restore to such tribes or 99 nations, respectively, all the possessions, rights, and privileges which they may have enjoyed or been entitled to in one thousand eight hundred and eleven, previous to such hostilities: Provided always that such tribes or nations shall agree to desist from all hostilities against the United States of America, their citizens and subjects, upon the ratification of the present treaty being notified to such tribes or nations, and shall so desist accordingly. And His Britannic Majesty engages, on his part, to put an end immediately after the ratification of the present treaty, to hostilities with all the tribes or nations of Indians with whom he may be at war at the time of such ratification, and forthwith to restore to such tribes or nations respectively all the possessions, rights, and privileges which they may have enjoyed or been entitled to in one thousand eight hundred and eleven, previous to such hostilities: Provided always that such tribes or nations shall agree to desist from all hostilities against His Britannic Majesty, and his subjects, upon the ratification of the present treaty being notified to such tribes or nations, and shall so desist accordingly. ARTICLE X.- Whereas the traffic in slaves is irreconcileable with the principles of humanity and justice, and whereas both His Majesty and the United States are desirous of continuing their efforts to promote its entire abolition, it is hereby agreed that both the contracting parties shall use their best endeavours to accomplish so desirable an object. CHAPTER XXVI. 1811-1818. CURRENCY: BANKING: COMMERCE INDUSTRY: TARIFF. Operations of the Mint - Attempts to circulate bank credit-bills - Efforts to secure charters for the American Bank and the Bank of America Banking in Massachusetts and other States - The attempt to secure a charter for a bank in the District of Columbia - The suspension of specie payment - Depreciation of bank notes The Treasury circular Action of the Virginia legislature - Establishment of the second Bank of the United States The resumption of specie payment - The revival of commerce after the war Demands for protection to American industries - Madison's message on the tariff — Discussion and passage of the tariff of 1816-British schemes to secure American market - Petitions and memorials to Congress Negotiation of a commercial convention with England - The passage of the "Plaster of Paris" ActThe tariff of 1818. The war had ended and peace was restored. It was the dawn of a new era of reorganization, reconstruction and consolidation. The trials were still great and numerous, it is true, but they were concerned with the regular pursuits of peace rather than with the honors (and horrors) of war. 100 THE PROBLEM OF THE CURRENCY. Of all the problems confronting the Nation, probably the most important was that of the currency, for it had fallen into a serious and alarming state, caused in part by the war and in part by the mania for State banks which then afflicted the entire country. In 1811 small notes and bills of individuals and corporations constituted the chief circulating medium of the country. In the vicinity of the State banks, many of which had now sprung into existence, bills issued by them passed for currency. Here and there were remains of the old State paper money of 1785, and much foreign gold and silver coin which had been made legal tender by Congress was still in circulation. After 1811 $5,000,000 in notes of the Bank of the United States had been called in and redeemed. Of the coins in circulation, those of the United States were the rarest. The requirements were made up chiefly by the currency supplied by the State banks, by change bills, and notes put out by individual bankers, banking associations, corporations and the remonetized foreign coins. Finally these changed bills and notes became so plentiful as to be a positive evil, and in 1809 two States attempted to suppress it. North Carolina in that year fixed a limited time during which no promissory notes less than ten shillings should be drawn, and named a day after which their currency as money was to cease altogether. In Pennsylvania various individuals and Among the numerous petitions presented in 1812 was one under the name of the American Bank. The charter of the Bank of the United States having expired, the stockholders took the name of the American Bank, capitalized it at $5,000,000, and asked that a charter for 29 years be granted. They offered to give the State $375,000 to be used for building roads and bridges, subsequently raising this cash bonus to $500,000, and offering to loan the State $500,000 for internal improvements. At this time, however, the petition was not granted, but it aroused much eagerness for local banks. This tendency alarmed the governor, who, in his message to the legislature of 1812-1813, cautioned that body against what he saw was the inevitable outcome. But the people were determined to have their way, and before the legislature adjourned 31 applications for charters had been made and a bill passed |
