Copy 2 
 
 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 0DDDSDai3T7 
 
 % 
 

 
 °o 
 
 <S> ^o-o. -rS» 
 
 <!^ '■'..• 
 
 
 <^ .-. o. * 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ♦ 
 
 ^/ '^^ "%> 
 
 .** ,'^%i^. t.. .^ z^-, %„^,^* y^£^, u.^ /Ji^-, *^,„^/ • 
 
 o • 
 
.■4-'^ vV 
 
 '^^i^' 
 
 iVA, 
 
 
 
 
 <• ^. .^ *-^^iM^'. -^, ^-^- *>^^/y:- ^^. .^<^" *' 
 
 ^o>.i*^ • 
 
 
 "''\"- ./V^iA c°/>^'°o /.i^>\ c! 
 
 O^ • , , o ' . O *! 
 
 "«> ''•^^x^' 
 
 
 
 V ^^-n^^ V 
 
 
 ^ ■^"^ •«<* " 
 
 ^ ^^^ ^T^rS ^<^^' ^o. ''T?^-' nO ' 'it.. '*^^^f'* .4.^' Oo 'T^.' qO 
 
 0^ r'^'' "^c 
 
 ^o 
 
 
 
 
 
 .^■^"^^e. ". 
 
 <^^ *'T7;^« .0^ 
 
 
 
 ♦ aV •^>. . 
 
 4^ ' 
 
 «^^ *" 
 
 '\ ''Wm'y-^^ .^/ J'\ '-ym' ^•^ % '-^s ./%. --^ 
 
 4^ 
 
 V . » • 
 
 >^ ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 o" 
 
 
 o V 
 
 
 
 P^.^^%'^^ 
 
 °o 
 
 
 ^^.^ 
 
 . -^0^ 
 
 
 ^oV^ ° 
 
 n '-n.o^' :^^ 
 
 '^bv^ 
 
 
 . »" A 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ;♦ <lK 
 
LETTERS RELATING TO THE 
 NEGOTIATIONS AT GHENT, 
 
 1812-1814 
 
 REPRINTED FROM THE 
 
 VOL. XX., No. I OCTOBER, 1914 
 
DOCUMENTS 
 
[Reprinted from The American Historical Review Vol. XX., No. i, Oct., 19 14.] 
 
 DOCUMENTS 
 
 Letters relating to the Negotiations at Ghent, 1812-1814 
 The history of the negotiations at Ghent is already so fully 
 known that we are not to expect the discovery of new documents 
 which will alter it in its essential features. Certainly it is not imag- 
 ined that the papers which follow do this ; yet it may be thought that, 
 when brought together from a variety of repositories, they cast an 
 interesting light on some aspects of the negotiation, and especially, 
 since nearly all are private letters, upon the state of mind of the 
 commissioners at different periods in their task. 
 
 For the first two we are indebted to Professor Frank A. Colder 
 of the State College of Washington, who has been exploring the 
 materials for American history in the archives of St. Petersburg, on 
 behalf of the Department of Historical Research in the Carnegie In- 
 stitution of Washington. They show the Russian chancellor, Count 
 Romanzoff, sending offers of mediation to Great Britain, through 
 Russia's representative in London, three days before his interview 
 with Adams on September 21 (N. S.), 1812, in which he proposed it 
 to the United States in terms much the same as those of the letter 
 here printed. Romanzoff told Adams that he had already made the 
 offer to Cathcart, British ambassador, who was to transmit it to his 
 government,^ but the present letter is not mentioned. 
 
 Of the other letters, seven are derived from the Crawford Tran- 
 scripts in the Library of Congress, a small but interesting series of 
 photostat facsimiles of originals in the possession of Miss Fannie 
 Crawford, of Columbus, Mississippi. Crawford, American min- 
 ister in Paris 1813-1815, was the nearest, of all American public 
 men of the first rank, to the commissioners at Ghent. It was natural 
 that they should write freely to him, and, as Mr. Henry Adams has 
 shown in his Life of Gallatin,- Crawford was able to perform some 
 substantial services to them. One of his letters is here printed, de- 
 rived from the papers of Jonathan Russell in the library of Brown 
 University. The letter of Russell to Crawford printed below is of 
 curious interest as anticipating in spirit, and to some extent in sub- 
 
 1 Adams, Memoirs, II. 401-404. 
 
 2 Pp. 510-513 ; se^ di.\so Writings of Gallatin,!. 6ig, 622. Copies of these same 
 letters of Crawford and Lafayette are among the Jonathan Russell Papers in the 
 library of Brown University. 
 
 (108) 
 
. Negotiations at Ghent, 1812-181^ 109 
 
 stance, his virulent attack on Adams, in a letter of the next year 
 to Clay.^ 
 
 Two letters, to which the editor's attention was called by Pro- 
 fessor Ulrich B. Phillips of the University of Michigan, are from the 
 Adams manuscripts in the custody of the Massachusetts Historical 
 Society. Two are from the papers of James A. Bayard, possessed 
 by his great-grandson, Richard H. Bayard, Esq., of Baltimore; and 
 one, also of Bayard, is from the cabinet of the Historical Society of 
 Pennsylvania. A much fuller exhibit of Bayard's relation to the 
 whole mission will be presented by the ample publication of his 
 papers, as the next volume of the Historical Manuscripts Commis- 
 sion, in the forthcoming Annual Report of the American Historical 
 Association for 1913. 
 
 Cordial thanks are offered to all those possessors or custodians 
 of manuscripts who have contributed to the present collection — 
 Air. Sergius Goriainov, chief of the archives of the Imperial Rus- 
 sian Ministry of Foreign Afifairs, Dr. Gaillard Hunt, chief of the 
 Division of Manuscripts in the Library of Congress, Professor Harry 
 L. Koopman, librarian of Brown University, Mr. Worthington C. 
 Ford of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Mr. Richard H. 
 Bayard, and Dr. John W. Jordan, librarian of the Historical Society 
 of Pennsylvania. 
 
 I. Count Romanzoff to Baron P. de Nicolay.* 
 Monsieur le Baron, 
 
 La Paix de la Russia avec TAng-leterre paroissait presenter cet im- 
 mense benefice au Commerce de presque tous les peuples navigateurs, 
 qu'elle affranchissait leur relations de cette gene, de cette tourmente 
 continuelle a la quelle il etoit sans cesse livree depuis quelques annees. 
 L'Empereur consideroit avec plaisir un resultat aussi conforme a toutes 
 Ses pensees et qui se presentoit comme n'etant pas douteux. II le devient 
 cependant par la guerre qui s'allume entre I'Angleterre et I'Amerique. 
 
 Sa Majeste Imperiale voit a regret que cette nouvelle episode va 
 placer de si grandes entraves a la prosperite Commerciale des Nations. 
 L'amour de I'humanite et ce qu'elle doit a Ses peuples, dont le Commerce 
 a deja asses souffert, Lui commande de faire tout ce qui dependra d'Elle, 
 pour ecarter les maux que prepare cette guerre aux Peuples meme qui 
 n'y prendront pas de part. Sa Majeste, qui Se plait a rendre justice a la 
 
 3 The letter alluded to, dated Stockholm, October 15, 1815, was printed as a 
 broadside for political use by the Jackson men in 1827, and is reprinted in the 
 Proceedings of the Massachusetts Historical Society, XLIV. 308-317. 
 
 4 This document is classified in the Archives of the Ministry of Foreign 
 Affairs in St. Petersburg as " Londres, 1812, no. 23, Exp." Baron Nicolay was 
 Russian charge d'affaires at London in the absence of Count Lieven, the ambas- 
 sador. The language of the letter resembles very closely that which Adams reports 
 Romanzoff as using in an interview with him three days later, September 21. 
 Adams, Memoirs, II. 401-403; American State Papers, Foreign Relations, 111. 625. 
 
1 1 o Documents 
 
 sagesse du Cabinet de St. James, est convaincu qu'il a fait tout ce qu'il 
 pouvait, pour empecher que cette scission n'eclatat ; mais en traitant 
 directement il etoit a cette negociation ce qu'elle pouvoit avoir d'impar- 
 tial. Dans une discution directe, tout devoit offrir une sorte d'aliment 
 aux preventions et a I'aigreur des partis. Sa Majeste, afin d'obvier a 
 cet inconvenient et charmee de pouvoir donner une preuve de Son amitie 
 a S. M'te le Roy de la Grande Bretagne et egalement aux Etats Unis 
 d'Amerique, leur offre Sa mediation : Elle vous charge, Monsieur, de la 
 proposer et si elle est acceptee par la Cour de Londres, I'Empereur fera 
 faire la meme offre aux Etats Unis et la negociation, pour un si utile 
 rapprochement, pourroit s'ouvrir a Petersbourg, sous les auspices et la 
 sollicitude directe de Sa Majeste. 
 
 L'Empereur le confesse, II eprouveroit une grande satisfaction, si 
 au gre de Ses voeux, II parvenoit a eteindre cette guerre nouvelle, des 
 son Origine. 
 
 Je Vous recommande. Monsieur le Baron, de me faire part de la 
 maniere dont Mylord Castlereagh aura accueilli la proposition que vous 
 etes charge de faire. 
 
 Agrees je vous prie I'assurance renouvellee de la Consideration tres 
 distinguee avec laquelle j'ai I'honneur d'etre, 
 
 Monsieur le Baron 
 
 Votre tres humble et tres 
 Obeissant Serviteur 
 
 Le Comte de Romanzoff. 
 St. Petersbourg 
 
 ce 6/18 Septembre 
 1812. 
 
 II. NicoLAY TO Romanzoff.^ 
 Monseigneur, 
 
 Je n'ai pas neglige de profiter de la premiere occasion que m'offrait 
 mon entrevue avec Lord Liverpool pour lui faire part, en attendant 
 I'arrivee de Mylord Castleragh,'^ de la depeche de Votre Excellence qui 
 contient la proposition de la Mediation de Sa Majeste I'Empereur entre 
 la Grande Bretagne et les Etats Unis. Le Premier Ministre en me 
 temoignant d'avance la sensibilite avec la quelle une pareille marque 
 d'amitie de la part de Sa Majeste Imperiale devait etre reciie ici, m'a 
 represente qu'apres toutes les mesures conciliatoires qui avaient ete 
 adoptees envers les Etats Americains, Mr. I'amiral Warren, commandant 
 en chef en Amerique, avait en dernier ressort ete muni encore de Plein- 
 pouvoirs de retablir la paix entre les deux Pays;''' que Ton pouvait en 
 attendre quelque resultat dans un Mois d'ici, et que jusques la il serait 
 peutetre plus sage de ne rien entreprendre de nouveau. Le debut assez 
 desastreux qu'ont eprouve les operations militaires des Americains, les 
 nouvelles elections qui commencent le mois prochain, enfin I'esprit public 
 en Amerique qui se prononce asses fortement contre la guerre, toutes ces 
 circonstances paraissent encore entretenir ici de I'espoir pour le retour 
 
 5 This letter bears no date, except the words, in Russian, at the top of the 
 first page, "Received 4 November 1812 ". It may be referred to as "Londres, 
 1S12, no. 3, Rec." 
 
 6 Liverpool was prime minister at the time, Castlereagh foreign secretary. 
 " See Warren to Monroe, September 30, in Am. St. P., For. Rel., III. 595. 
 
Negotiations at Ghent, i8i^ 1 1 1 
 
 prochain des relations amicales avec les Etats Unis. Si Mr. Madison 
 venait a etre reelu Ton s'attend a une separation entre les Provinces du 
 Nord et celles du Sud. 
 
 J'ai pense, Monseigneur, joindre ici pour cette fois le Courier 
 d'Angleterre parcequ'il contient un Article des Etats Unis qui est regarde 
 ici comme tres interessant. 
 
 Je suis avec le plus profond respect, 
 Monseigneur, 
 
 de Votre Excellence, 
 
 le tres-humble et tres 
 obeissant Serviteur 
 
 LE B'ON P. DE XlCOLAY. 
 
 III. Clay to W. H. Crawford.^ 
 
 Ghent 2d July 1814 
 My Dr Sir, 
 
 I reached this place on tuesday last after a journey^ for the most 
 part excessively unpleasant, and found here three of my colleagues, from 
 one of whom I had the pleasure to receive your agreeable favor of the 
 loth ulto. I also had for the first time an opportunity of reading your 
 interesting communications to the joint mission, and I beg you to accept 
 my individual thanks, as you deserve those of your Country, for the 
 exertions you have made in promoting the [hlot^ of our labours. On the 
 subject of our instructions, in relation to the great question on which the 
 War has turned, my opinion is, that they do not leave us at liberty to 
 conclude a treaty without a relinquishment on the part of the enemy of 
 the pretension complained of. Still I do not believe, in the actual con- 
 dition of things, that if the continuance of the War depended upon that 
 single point, the American Government would persist in their demand of 
 the abandonment of what is now a mere theoretic pretension, the prac- 
 tical evil having for the present ceased; and if I were persuaded that the 
 interests of our Country demanded of me the personal risk of a violation 
 of instructions I should not hesitate to incur it. But the determination 
 of this question depends on the enquiry whether nozv or a few months 
 hence, when we could certainly hear from home, is the most favorable 
 time for us to negotiate. A more unfavorable moment than the present 
 certainly never could occur, and in this statement you appear to concur, 
 as every [other?] person must. Will the condition be worse a few months 
 hence ? On the other side of the Atlantic every thing we hear is cheer- 
 ing — the Creek war terminated^"- — 10 millions of the loan filled on terms 
 highly encouraging — rapid progress made on Ontario in the construc- 
 tion of vessels which will give us the ascendancy there; and everv 
 reasonable prospect, from these and other circumstances which I will not 
 trouble you with enumerating, of a successful issue to the Campaign. 
 I do not believe, whatever efforts the British Government may make, 
 that they can throw any considerable force into America so as to affect 
 materially the present Campaign. No treaty that we can now conclude 
 can arrest the progress of this campaign. 
 
 8 Crawford Transcripts, Library of Congress. 
 
 9 From Gothenburg. 
 
 10 By Jackson's victory at the Horseshoe Bend, March 29, 1814. 
 
1 1 2 Documents 
 
 On this side of the Atlantic is the aspect of affairs likely, by the 
 delay I have supposed, to become worse for us? I think, my dear Sir, 
 affairs here are far from being settled. This Country (I mean the Low 
 Countries) appears to be about to be occupied by the British. For what? 
 It will at least as to us have the effect of giving occupation to a portion 
 of that force which might be sent agt. us. We know that all the great 
 interests of Germany are unsettled. Altho' peace has been made, all the 
 difficult points seem to have been put over to the Congress at Vienna. 
 Is even France, conquered France, satisfied? When she has heaved 
 from her bosom the immense foreign armies that now weigh her down, 
 and her own shall have taken their place, will she not seek to efface the 
 disgrace which her Arms have incurred? 
 
 If the negotiation is brought to the single issue, all other questions 
 being disposed of, that we must now, without waiting to hear from 
 America, sign a treaty, waiving the relinquishment of the pretension of 
 impressment, I confess I should pause before I consented to a total 
 rupture of the negotiation. But, my friend, it appears to me, holding 
 the opinion that I do, on the subject of a short delay, that it will be our 
 interest so to manage the negotiation as to take advantage in the turn 
 of events here or at home. I should like to have your views on this 
 matter, which it is not necessary to add, would have great influence with 
 me. I confess I am inclined to think that the British Government will 
 have no difficulty in making a peace leaving Impres't untouched. They 
 will doubtless set up many claims— they will lay their d[emands?], but 
 rely upon it ultimately (and that even without any change here or in 
 America) they will be content to cast us and make us go hence etc. 
 Why shd. they not? Undoubtedly, if we say nothing about impressment, 
 they triumph in the contest. 
 
 As to acknowledging their right, our governmt. would neither permit 
 us to sign, nor would I ever sign, a treaty embracing such a stipulation. 
 
 Mr. Wilson's project is very much that which Mr. Jeff'rey, Editor of 
 the E. Review, ^1 when in America, suggested. Altho' it would probably 
 be better for the victims of this tyranny than the existing practice, my 
 opinion is that as it respects the nation, it is not a subject of compromise 
 — there is no midway point on which honor can rest between abandon- 
 ment of the practice, and total silence in relation to it. 
 
 I agree heartily with you that if we can make no peace it is a solemn 
 duty enjoined by our situations so to conduct the negociation as to 
 satisfy the nation that a vigorous and united exertion alone will pre- 
 serve it. 
 
 I thank you for your attention to my request relative to my purposed 
 visit to Paris, and to my friend Mr. Carrol. ^^ I long much to see you, 
 but I cannot yet say when I shall have that gratification. 
 
 This place is quite comfortable, infinitely more so than Gottenburg. 
 But what think you of our being surrounded by a British garrison? 
 
 I confide this letter, which I shd. not trust to the mail, to Mr. Connell, 
 whom I have found a genuinely intelligent and confidential American. 
 
 Yr. [illegible] 
 
 H Clay 
 
 1814 
 
 T-'^ Edinburgh Review; Francis Jeffrey. 
 
 12 Mr. Carroll was Clay's private secretary. 
 
Negotiations at Ghent, 1814 113 
 
 IV. Bayard to Andrew Bayard.'^ 
 
 Ghent 6 August 1814. 
 My dear Andrew 
 
 Since my arrival in this place. which was on the 27th of June I have 
 had the pleasure to receive your letter of the 22d of March. You 
 rightly remark that when one is far removed from home, that nothing 
 is more grateful than communications from our friends. During the 
 Six months that I remained at St. Petersberg the only letters I received 
 from the U. States were one from you and one from my son Richard^* 
 and they were written shortly after I had left the Country. In fact 
 more than a year had elapsed before I received a line from my wife, tho 
 I did not doubt what I have since found to be true that she had written 
 to me frequently. I wrote to you from Amsterdam, since which time I 
 have visited London and Paris. 
 
 I arrived in London for an American at a very inauspicious moment.^^' 
 The allies were at Paris and they had just received the news of the 
 abdication of Bonaparte. The whole nation were delirious with joy 
 which was not indulged without bitter invectives against their remaining 
 enemies the Americans. The time of declaring the war had stung them 
 more than the act itself. They considered it as an aid given to their 
 great enemy at a moment when his power was most gigantic and most 
 seriously threatened the subjugation of the continent as well as of them- 
 selves. They thirst for a great revenge and the nation will not be satis- 
 fied without it. They know little of our Parties. It was America that 
 fell upon them at the crisis of their struggle and it is America now that 
 is to be made to feel the weight of their undivided power. Such is the 
 public voice but what the British Cabinet may think wise or prudent to 
 be done, I can as yet collect only from distant and doubtful inferences. 
 
 Nothing favorable can be augured from the delay in sending their 
 Commissioners to the rendezvous agreed to at their instance as the seat 
 of the negociation. Our Commissioners have all been here more than a 
 month and we have not yet heard that theirs are even preparing to quit 
 London. We expect them daily, but so we have done for twenty days 
 past, and so we shall do till they arrive, or till we learn that they do not 
 mean to come at all. 
 
 I assure you between ourselves, my hopes of peace are very slender. 
 The government of England affect to despise us, but they know that we 
 are a growing and dangerous rival. If they could crush us at the 
 present moment they would not fail to do it. And I am inclined to think 
 that they will not make peace, till they have tried the effect of all their 
 force against us. An united firm and couragious resistance upon our 
 part alone in my opinion can furnish hopes of a safe and honorable 
 peace to the United States. 
 
 I wish I could present you with different views but what does it avail 
 to deceive ourselves? By shutting our eyes upon danger we may cease 
 to see it, while in fact we are encreasing it. What I doubt is that if the 
 olive branch be presented to us by one hand, a cup of humiliation and 
 
 13 Bayard Papers. Andrew Bayard (1762-1833), an eminent merchant of 
 Philadelphia, was a first cousin of James A. Bayard, being the son, while James 
 was the nephew and foster-son, of Colonel John Bayard of the Revolutionary army. 
 
 14 The eldest son, Richard Henry Bayard, U. S. senator 1836-1845. 
 
 15 Bayard and Gallatin reached London, from Holland, on April 9. 
 
 AM. HIST. REV., VOL. XX. — S. 
 
114 Documents 
 
 disgrace will be held out in the other and altho I should rejoice to carry 
 the former to the U. States, yet I shall never consent to be the Bearer of 
 the latter. 
 
 Farewell my dear Andrew, I wish you and your family all manner 
 of prosperity and happiness and beg you will all accept the assurance of 
 my best and warmest friendship. 
 
 J. A. B. 
 
 P. S. August 2oJ^ The British Commissioners have been here since 
 the 6th. inst. and we have had several conferences. At the last such 
 terms were prescribed as put an end to all hopes of peace. Nothing has 
 been said about Maritime rights nor in fact has any former point of 
 dispute been brought into question. The sovereignty of the lakes and 
 large cessions of territory etc are the price demanded for peace. If the 
 terms proposed are not acceded to, the negociation is to end. The terms 
 will certainly be rejected and the negociation will terminate in a 
 few days. 
 
 J. A. B. 
 
 V. Clay to Crawford.^' 
 
 Ghent nth Aug. 1814. 
 My Dear Crawford, 
 
 The deep interest you have taken, and I have no doubt continue to 
 feel, in the result of our negotiation induces me to communicate to you 
 the present state of it, as briefly as possible, reserving for a future 
 occasion more ample details. 
 
 The British C[ommissioners] are instructed to insist upon as a sine 
 qua non to the conclusion of any treaty of peace that the pacification 
 shall include the Indian allies of G"[reat] i?[ritain] ; and that anjndian 
 boundary shall be fixed by the treaty, setting apart a country for them to 
 create a permanent barrier between the British provinces and the U S 
 withlm?'] zvJiich neither the U S nor G. B. are to be at liberty to pur- 
 chase from the Indians. 
 
 They have further informed us that the rights of fishing etc. within 
 the jurisdiction of G. B. which were granted to America by the Treaty 
 of peace will not be continued without an equivalent. 
 
 They have asked if zve are instructed on those tzuo points, to which 
 we answered in the negative. Nevertheless we expressed a willingness 
 to take up those subjects, with the other matters of negotiation, and 
 receive the British views upon them, and to communicate our ozvn in 
 return. This they declined doing, without zve would give, what we 
 would not give, an assurance that a discussion might lead to some pro- 
 visional article which we would agree upon subject to the future de- 
 cision of our government. In this state of things, they have referred 
 the subject to their government for its further orders, and in the mean 
 time our conferences are suspended. 
 
 From the expressions and manner of the B[ritish] C[ommissioners] 
 I inferred a willingness on their part to pass over in silence if we were 
 
 16 This postscript is found among the Bayard Papers detached from the letter 
 to which it belongs, but is believed to belong to the letter of August 6 to Andrew- 
 Bayard. 
 
 17 Crawford Transcripts, Library of Congress. The words here printed in 
 italics are in cipher in the original. 
 
Negotiations at Ghent^ i8i^ 1 1 5 
 
 willing to do so, the suhject of impressment. This we are nozv author- 
 ized eventually to do by our late instructions.^^ 
 
 I think it probable that the B. C. will be instructed to persist in their 
 sine qua non with the view of getting us to refer the subject to our 
 government. On such a state of things an important question will arise, 
 upon which I should like to have your opinion, Shall we break off the 
 negociation? 
 
 I reed, your kind letter by Mr. Myers. I shall never cease to retain 
 the most lively sense of your very friendly offer in relation to myself. 
 Upon that and other subjects I will hereafter communicate with you. 
 
 The John Adams will sail in the course of ten or twelve days, if we 
 receive her passport, now daily expected from London. You will do well 
 to prepare the despatches which I presume you intend to expedite by her. 
 
 The B. C. have taken a house in town. 
 
 Yr friend, 
 
 H Clay 
 P. S. The cypher used is that of which 
 Mr. S. informs me he lately furnished you 
 a Copy. 
 
 VI. Bayard to Robert Goodloe Harper.^^ 
 
 Ghent 19 August 1814 
 My dear Harper, 
 
 I know you would wish me to answer the question " are you likely to 
 make peace or is the war to continue." Let me tell you, that this ques- 
 tion is as doubtful at Ghent at present as it can be at Baltimore. It 
 depended solely upon Us to make the war, but there is another Party to 
 consult in making peace. 
 
 In forming your calculations on the subject, you will confine your 
 considerations to the motives solely which Great Britain may be sup- 
 posed to have to continue the war. Knowing the terms upon which we 
 are authorized to make peace and are disposed to make it, you would 
 say in one moment if these are not acceded to, " let the fate of battles 
 decide the conditions to which we must submit ". 
 
 If the war continues it is no longer the war of our administration It 
 will be in its character as well as in its operations a defensive war. The 
 views of the British Cabinet are undoubtedly altered by the great changes 
 which have taken place on this Continent. While the power of Bona- 
 parte existed Great Britain had employment for all her resources on this 
 side of the Atlantic. 
 
 The war with America was embarrassing and caused a serious diver- 
 sion of her forces. She then wanted peace and would have made it upon 
 terms not wholly satisfactory to Herself. At present there is no Power 
 in this Hemisphere from which she has anything to dread. She has 
 been vexed for many years by the disputes we have had with Her with 
 
 18 Monroe to the commissioners, June 25, 1814. Am. St. P., For. Rel, III. 
 703-704. 
 
 19 Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Dreer Collection, American Lawyers, 
 vol. I. Endorsed as received October 12, 1814. Robert Goodloe Harper, Fed- 
 eralist representative from South Carolina 1795-1801, senator from Maryland 
 1816-1821, had been a colleague and vfdiS an intimate friend of Bayard. At this 
 time he was practising law in Baltimore. 
 
y 
 
 J ^ Documents 
 
 is left without an apprehension of the interterence oi y f 
 
 a mlssa^e from the British Commissioners who des.red to have an n,ter- 
 "" oJr'confo-ences had been suspended for several days in co-eq-nce 
 
 '"If ft"rn"et,ngTe-«.l with which they had attempted before ro 
 cov^; utir design-s was thrown aside. Th^„;^^/;X,Tdi pTe hi: 
 •=Tr"°^th': SubTec:'s"ot a „ me„tr:on:i'd™:tiC. Maritim'e preten- 
 Sns hav beenliCn fa? in the baek ground and concessions of the 
 
 "l-ui-rC^^tht-hrn't^S^eToftre ris"Sr^-y changed 
 
 "thtCf;:: is ntSuSy Z.^, hut Htt,e more remains than 
 
 '^'tZ:i^fZ:i to yo„ this communication from the confidence 
 . which has always subsisted between Us on political subjects. 
 
 Believe me my dear Harper 
 
 with sentiments of great esteem and regard 
 
 Your friend and obt. bert. 
 
 J. A. Bayard 
 
 Robert G. Harper Esqr. 
 
 Vn. Adams to Crawford.^i 
 
 W. H. Crawford Esqr. 
 
 Mimster Plenipotentiary U. S. Pans. ^^^^^ ^^ ^^^^^^^ ^^^^ 
 
 '''Ts^ci'icely know how to apologize to you for having yet to -ply to 
 
 your favour' of 12 July, which was received by me on the i6th. The 
 
 20 See the note of the British commissioners, August 19. An,. St. P., For. Rel., 
 
 ^^^■7^°- . T -u ^f rnr>o-rp<;<; The letter will also be printed, 
 
 vol V The italic. o£ the concluding lines represent words ,n cipher. 
 
Negotiations at Ghent ^ 1S14 117 
 
 simple fact has been, that being without the assistance of a Secretary, 
 and having to dispatch by the John Adams the return of nearly a year's 
 correspondence from our own Country, I postponed from day to day the 
 reply due to you, merely because it could at any day be transmitted, until 
 several weeks have elapsed, leaving the duty still to be performed. 
 
 I have been the less scrupulous in performing it sooner, because I 
 have known that some of our Colleagues were more punctual, and par- 
 ticularly that our excellent friend, Mr Clay, had kept you well informed 
 of the progress of our Negotiation. 
 
 The result has been such as was to be expected. It is natural that 
 we should feel, and we do all fee! a deep disappointment at the failure 
 of the attempt to restore to our Country the blessings of Peace; especi- 
 ally as by changing the grounds upon which the War is to be continued. 
 Great Britain has opened to us the alternative of a long, expensive and 
 sanguinary War, or of submission to disgraceful conditions, and sacri- 
 fices little short of Independence itself. It is the crisis which must try 
 the temper of our Country. If the dangers which now hang over our 
 heads, should intimidate our People into the Spirit of concession, if the 
 temper of compounding for sacrifices should manifest itself in any 
 strength, there will be nothing left us worth defending. But if our 
 Countrymen are not all degenerate, if there is a drop of the blood flow- 
 ing in their veins that carried their fathers through the Revolutionary 
 War, the prolongation of hostilities will only be to secure to us ultimately 
 a more glorious triumph. I have not so ill an opinion of them as to 
 believe they will sink immediately in the struggle before them; but I 
 wish the real Statesmen among us may form what I fear very few of 
 them have yet formed, a true estimate of our Condition. I wish them to 
 look all our dangers in the face, and to their full extent. The rupture 
 of this Negotiation not only frustrates all hope of Peace for the present 
 year, but at least also for the next. All the present preparations in Eng- 
 land are calculated for operation the next Campaign. The forces they 
 have sent out already, and those they are about to dispatch are so large, 
 and composed of such troops that they must in the first instance make 
 powerful impressions, and obtain brilliant successes. The actual state of 
 things both in Europe and America, as well as the experience of our 
 former War, proves this to as full demonstration as if the official Ac- 
 counts were already published in the London Gazette. The Spirit that 
 is prepared for disaster is least likely to be broken down by it when it 
 comes. We must not flatter ourselves with delusive estimates of our 
 dangers, and we must expect to pass through the career of British 
 triumph and exultation at our- Calamities, before we can lead them to the 
 result that they bring our enemy no nearer to his object than his defeats, 
 
 Mr. Russell and myself have received an instruction of the same 
 tenoiir from the Secretary of State to make a representation against 
 Cochran's proclamation of hlocadc of tzventy fifth April last.-- I sup- 
 pose- you must have received a similar instruction. It would be gratify- 
 ing and perhaps useful for us to know whether this is the case, and if so, 
 whether you have done anything under the instructions, and generally 
 what are the views of this subject entertained at the present court of 
 France. 
 
 You are instructed that zvc have rejected the preliminary sine qua 
 
 22 Proclamation printed in Niles, VI. 182. 
 
1 1 8 Documents 
 
 non to zvhich the adverse party has adhered. IVc are only zvaiting for 
 their official reply and shall not remain here beyond a week or ten days. 
 I am zvith respect etc 
 
 J. Qtr. Adams 
 
 P. S. 31 Augt. The John Adams sailed from the Texel on Sunday. 
 The 5[ritish] P[]enipotentiarie]j have referred our note to their govern- 
 ment. I entreat a line from you by return of the mail if you duly receive 
 this Letter. 
 
 VIII. Crawford to the Commissioners.^^ 
 
 Paris 13th Sept. 1814 
 Their Excellencies 
 
 The Envoys of the United States , 
 
 at Ghent * 
 
 Gentlemen 
 
 The English newspapers continue to speculate on the probable re- 
 sult of the negotiation. They assert that you have submitted a counter- 
 project and have demanded an armistice by sea and land until it shall 
 have been definitively accepted or rejected. I can hardly believe that 
 the negotiation has taken this direction. I cannot conceive how with a 
 sine qua non, which closed the door of discussion at the very threshold 
 of the negotiation, you can have had the address to present to the 
 consideration of the British Envoys, questions which they had deter- 
 mined not to discuss. If this is the case the views of the British ministry 
 must materially have changed since the commencement of the negotia- 
 tion. Perhaps I can give a clue to the labyrinth in which you may 
 be involved. Erick Bolman is now at Paris.--* He came direct from 
 England with a letter from Arbuthnot,-^^ a subordinate member of the 
 British ministry, to Lord Castlereagh. He follows him to Vienna, 
 This philosophic and science-loving man, it seems, has undertaken a 
 voyage from the United States to impart to the chymists and mecanicians 
 of Europe his discoveries in rendering zinc maleable, and is going to 
 Austria, which he has been forbidden to enter, and where patents have 
 never been granted, to establish steam-boats on the Danube. This man 
 
 asserts that he had an interview, the first of this month, with A at 
 
 which Vansitart^s was to have been present, but was prevented by bus- 
 iness. He says that he insisted upon the necessity of making peace 
 with the United States, upon liberal terms, and that if the war was 
 continued on account of the extravagant demands of England that 
 all parties will be united, and the expectations of the ministry 
 completely disappointed. That this course will effectually put down 
 the federal party and exalt the present administration. That the 
 latter has always contended that the British nation was jealous of the 
 
 23 Russell Papers, Library of Brown University. 
 
 24 Erick Bollman (1769-1821), the German physician who made himself 
 famous by the rescue of Lafayette from prison at Olmiitz, and then, migrating to 
 America, was implicated in Burr's conspiracy in 1806, as Burr's agent in New 
 Orleans. The Bayard Papers contain several letters from him of about this time. 
 
 23 No doubt Charles Arbuthnot (1767-1S50). secretary to the Treasury. 
 2fi Nicholas Vansittart (1766-1851), chancellor of the exchequer, afterward 
 Lord Bexley. 
 
Ahgotiations at Ghent ^ iS i^ i 1 9 
 
 prosperity of the United States, and sought every occasion to destro> 
 it, while the other party had a more favourable opinion of her amity ; 
 That the further prosecutiori of the war will verify all the assertions 
 of the former and disappoint all the expectations of the latter. 
 He represented himself as the enemy of the administration and desirous 
 of removing them from power. Being a Hanoverian by birth, and 
 inimical to the republican party, he conceives gave his representations 
 more weight than those which the ministry are in the habit of re- 
 ceiving. He contrived that this interview should be sought by the min- 
 istry. Mr. A — — appeared to be convinced by his statements and 
 
 reasoning, and expressed a strong desire that he would see lord C 
 
 and make the same communication to him. For this purpose the letter, 
 previously mentioned, was written. This is the history which he has 
 given under circumstances which induce me to believe that he intended 
 it should reach me. In stating to a friend of his in this city that the 
 further prosecution of the war would unite all parties and call into activ- 
 ity all the talents of the country he suggested the probability of Colo. 
 Burr's employment in a military capacity. This suggestion naturally 
 presents to the mind the probability that he may yet be the infatuated 
 tool of that restless and unprincipled man. That he has had an interview 
 with Mr. R. KP I readily believe, that if the nature of the demands 
 which have been made in the negotiation were disclosed to him he re- 
 monstrated against them and endeavoured to convince the ministry that 
 they were defeating their ov/n views, may reasonably be admitted; but 
 it is highly improbable that he made any exertions to promote the in- 
 terests of the United States. This I can hardly believe. He expressed 
 a hope that he had done something for America and says that the 
 Xeptune has not been ordered to Brest as was intended. This he attrib- 
 utes to a change of views in the British Cabinet effected by his represen- 
 tations. Haec credeat Judaes appella sed non ego.-^ I cannot give 
 credit to this zinc and steam boat story. I cannot believe that this is 
 the reason that induces him to expose his person to the danger which 
 he would incur by venturing to Vienna unprotected by the British min- 
 istry. No — the thing is impossible. He is the minister of mischief to 
 the United States. H my conjectures are correct you will be kept in a 
 state of suspence or will be amused with various projects and devices 
 until the propositions with which he is charged shall have been decided. 
 Believing as I do that your exertions cannot be successful and that the 
 negotiation cannot be broken off upon propositions more favourable to 
 the interest of our country than upon their sine qua non I shall rejoice 
 to hear of your leaving Ghent. 
 
 With my best wishes for the success of your efforts accept those for 
 your individual happiness. 
 
 Wm. H. Crawford. 
 
 IX. Clay to Crawford.-^ 
 
 Ghent 17th Oct. 1814 
 
 I wish, my dear Crawford, it v/ere possible to pass over in silence, and 
 bury in oblivion, the distressing events which have occurred at home. 
 
 30 
 
 2" Probably meaning Mr. Charles Arbuthnot, as above. 
 
 28 Meaning " Haec credat Judaeus Apella ", etc. 
 
 29 Crawford Transcripts, Library of Congress. 
 
 30 The capture of Washington, August 24-25, and ensuing events. 
 
1 20 Documents 
 
 But it would be in vain to attempt to conceal that they have given me the 
 deepest affliction. The enemy it is true has lost much in character, at 
 least in the estimation of the impartial world. And the loss of public 
 property gives me comparatively no pain. What does wound me to the 
 very soul is, that a set of pirates and incendiaries should have been per- 
 mitted^ to pollute our soil, conflagrate our Capital, and return unpunished 
 to their ships! No consolatiun is afforded us by the late intelligence 
 from America. It appears that by the unfortunate failure of Chauncey 
 to co-operate with Brown, the campaign is lost, and we are compelled 
 every where to act upon the defensive.^^ Drummond, who I thought was 
 caught, will escape, if he does not take Gains; and consequently Chaun- 
 cey's whole flotilla is seriously endangered. I tremble indeed whenever 
 I take up a late newspaper. Hope alone sustains me ! 
 
 My last letter apprized you that we had rejected the proposition, 
 made a sine qua non, to include the Indians in the peace, as the allies 
 of G. Britain, and expressed the expectation that a rupture of the nego- 
 tiation, or an abandonment of the principle by the other party must 
 probably ensue. Neither alternative has occurred. Still coming down, 
 they have changed again their ground, and sent in an article of which 
 the enclosed is a Copy, which they declared to be their ultimatum.^^ and 
 that upon our acceptance of it depended their remaining in Ghent. As 
 this article strips their principle of some of its most exceptionable fea- 
 tures, and as we did not like a rupture upon such ground, especially as it 
 was highly probable that ihe article itself would be inoperative by a 
 previous pacification of the Indians, we concluded to accept it, with 
 the full knowledge by the other party that our Government, having given 
 no instructions on the subject, was free to adopt or reject it. We wished 
 at the same time the presentation to us, of a projet of a treaty, offering 
 immediately after to furnish a counter-projet. Our answer to this re- 
 port was delivered on friday last,^'^ and we have since been informally 
 told that it has been sent to London, and that no reply will be given un- 
 til the return of the messenger, which will be about the first of next 
 week. 
 
 There is much reason to believe that the other party has aimed to pro- 
 tract the negotiation here so as to make it subservient to his views at 
 Vienna. Under this persuasion I urged the propriety of placing the true 
 state and prospects of the whole business in possession of the French 
 and Russian Governments ; and had actually prepared a letter which was 
 agreed to be sent to you from the mission. But the complexion of the 
 last note seems to render this course somewhat questionable, especially at 
 this late period, and when there is so little reason to hope for co-opera- 
 tion from any part of Europe. 
 
 \\'e have however deemed it eligible, in consonance with views en- 
 tertained by the Govt, when I left America, m relation to a Congress 
 which it was supposed would be held upon the Rhine, to send Mr. 
 
 31 Clay accepts Brown's view of the matter, as expressed in his letter of July 
 13 to Chauncey; but see Henry Adams, History, VIII. 46, Si. The allusions 
 which follow are, of course, to the disappointing termination of the Niagara 
 campaign. 
 
 32 The article enclosed in the note of the British commissioners of October 
 8. Am. St. P., For. Re!., III. 723. 
 
 ^3 Ibid. The American note is there dated as of October 13 (Thursday), but 
 was in fact sent the next day. Adams, Memoirs. III. 53. 
 
Negotiatiojis at Ghent, 1S14 i 2 1 
 
 Shaler^* to Vienna to collect what information he can. He will go in no 
 official character, and will observe all practicable secrecy. If you can 
 furnish him any letters calculated to promote the object of his mission 
 or can facilitate, after arriving at Vienna, his correspondence with us, 
 you will oblige us. Perhaps this latter aid may be obtained through the 
 French couriers. 
 
 You have been apprized of the 25th inst being fixed for the sailing 
 of the Chauncey. I think it probable that it may be a day or two later. 
 
 I hope my omitting to communicate heretofore to you my decision as 
 to the mission which you fill^^ has subjected you to no inconvenience; 
 indeed I cannot suppose that any such effect could happen. When you 
 first mentioned your kind offer to me I expected very soon to be with you 
 in Paris, and hence delayed making it. I find, by a letter which Mr. 
 Boyd36 brought me, that the District I formerly represented m Congress 
 has a^ain returned me. I cannot therefore accept of any situation 
 which would disable me from fulfilling the expectations of those who 
 have so honorably noticed me. Had not that event occurred Europe 
 has no attractions for me sufficient to detain me here beyond the termina- 
 tion of my present duties or to bring me back again, when I shall be so 
 happy as once more to see our native land.^^ 
 P. S. Since \^Titing the preceding, 
 we have abandoned the intention of 
 
 sending Mr. Shaler.s^ 
 
 rl. C 
 
 By his Excy. Leave I have 
 
 the honour to add the assurances 
 
 of my most sincere and friendly regard. 
 
 I wish to God, I was in Paris with 
 
 Yr. Excellency. C. Hughes Jr.^^ 
 
 X. Adams to Crawford.*" 
 
 W. H. Crawford Esqr.; Paris, „ ^ , o 
 
 Ghent 18 October 1814 
 
 Dear Sir, . , . , 
 
 I had the pleasure of writing to you on the 5th mst. since which 
 Mr. Gallatin has received your favour of the 6th, forwarded frojn Lille 
 by Mr. Baker,*! ^,ho was detained there by illness. Mr. Boyd will be the 
 
 bearer of this. 
 
 Since I wrote you last, the Negotiation here has apparently taken a 
 turn, which induces a postponement of the joint communication which 
 I then gave you reason to expect. I am convinced with you that Great 
 
 34 William Shaler, afterward U. S. consul-general at Algiers and at Havana, 
 
 was an attache of the mission. r i ■ r> • 
 
 35 Crawford wished to return to the United States, and in fact left his Fans 
 
 mission at the end of April, 1815. . 
 
 36 George Boyd. Adams's brother-in-law. The letter was from Mrs. Clay. 
 
 Adams, Memoirs, III. 43- 
 
 37 Clay's signature has been cut from the letter. 
 
 38 See Adams, Memoirs, III. 55. 
 
 39 Christopher Hughes of Baltimore was the secretary of the mission. 
 
 40 Crawford Transcripts, Library of Congress. 
 
 41 Presumably Anthony St. John Baker, secretary of the British mission. 
 
I 2 2 Documents 
 
 Britain keeps this negotiation open, to further views of policy, which she 
 is promoting at Vienna, but I think she has the further object of avail- 
 ing herself of the impression she expects to make in America during 
 the present campaign, and of the terrors she is holding out for the next. 
 As our remaining here must have a tendency to countenance weakness 
 and indecision on the other side of the atlantic, I sincerely regret that 
 the negotiation has not yet been brought to a close. But to close it has 
 not been in our power. That is to say, there has never been a moment, 
 when we should have been justified in breaking it off, or could have 
 shewn to the world the real policy of Great Britain. By referring every 
 communication from us to their government before they replied to it the 
 British Plenipotentiaries have done their part to consume time ; and by 
 varying their propositions upon every answer from us, their Government 
 have done the same. We have at length accepted their article, and asked 
 them for their Projet of a Treaty. We expect their reply on Monday 
 or Tuesday next. The present aspect is of a continuance of the Nego- 
 tiation, and we are not warranted in saying to France or Russia, that we 
 believe nothing will come of it. We are all ready enough to indulge 
 hopes, but I see no reason for changing the belief that we have con- 
 stantly entertained. My only apprehension from delay is that the firm- 
 ness of our own Councils at home, may not be kept up to the tone which 
 has characterised them heretofore. If they stand the test, we shall have 
 no Peace now, but a very good one hereafter. 
 I am, Dear Sir, very respectfully yours*- 
 
 XI. Bayard to Andrew Bayard. *3 
 
 Ghent 26 Octr. 1814. 
 My dear Andrew 
 
 I had the pleasure to receive your letter by Mr. Bollman dated in 
 July. That and one from Caroline are the only letters I have received 
 since Feby from home. 
 
 I expected when I wrote to you by the John Adams to have been at 
 this time near the coast of America. 
 
 Not one of us then expected that the negotiation would have con- 
 tinued ten days, and at present not one of us can tell at what time or in 
 what wa}^ it will end. 
 
 It has clearly been the policy of the British Government to avoid a 
 rupture and to protract for that purpose .the discussions. With the same 
 views she created the delays which attended the opening the negotiation. 
 
 She was influenced by two motives, ist. To see the effect of the 
 armaments she had sent to the U. States. 2d. To ascertain the probable 
 result of the proceedings at Vienna. 
 
 They certainly did expect that the force sent to America would in 
 the course of the campaign strike a blow which would prostrate the 
 nation at her feet. Whether in that event she would have been satisfied 
 with dictating the terms of an ignominious peace I think very doubtful, 
 it is more likely that she would have been encouraged to aim at complete 
 subjugation. The Capture of Washington was a source of great triumph 
 and exultation and inspired a belief that their troops could not be re- 
 sisted. This error has been sadly corrected by the repulse in the attack 
 
 42 Signature missing. 
 
 43 Bayard Papers. 
 
Negotiations at Ghent, 1814 123 
 
 upon Baltimore, by the destruction of their fleet on lake Champlain. and 
 by the retreat of Prevost from Plattsburg. 
 
 No people are more easily elated or depressed by events than the 
 English, We have nothing to hope for but from vigorous and successful 
 measures, so far as the war depends upon ourselves alone. The British 
 force in America must be over come and repelled or the war must end 
 in national disgrace. 
 
 Something however is to be expected from the proceedings of the 
 Congress at Vienna. 
 
 The french Minister Prince Talleyrand (a new title )^* has delivered 
 in a strong note which contains a protest on the part of France against 
 the aggrandizement of the other Powers of Europe, while France is 
 confined to her limits of 1792. 
 
 It is stated also that it requires that all material questions regarding 
 maritime rights, should be settled by the Congress as equally essential to 
 the peace of Europe as the regulation of territorial pretensions. _ This 
 note is said to have produced a strong sensation at Vienna and will not 
 fail to excite a corresponding one at London. 
 
 If Great Britain thinks it likely that she will in any form be involved 
 in a continental war, she will hasten to make peace with us. 
 
 Thus in a great measure does our destiny depend upon operations not 
 under our controle, nor within our view. 
 
 There is no probability of an immediate rupture of the negotiations. 
 However disposed the British Government may be to prosecute the War, 
 They will not abandon the means of making peace, if the course of 
 European affairs should render it expedient. 
 
 Knowing her policy our conduct has been regulated accordingly. But 
 it is quite possible for her, with no intention finally to make peace, to 
 protract the negotiation for months to come. 
 
 I have given up all hopes of returning to the United States this 
 winter. Our ship, the Neptune, is ordered to Brest, as it was not safe to 
 allow her to winter at Antwerp which is commanded by a British force. 
 I paid a visit a few days ago to Bergen op Zoom which is about 55 
 miles from this place. It is strongly fortified but was weakly garrisoned 
 when assaulted in March last by the British.^^ The garrison consisted 
 of 2300 young troops, and the town was entered by 2800 British soldiers, 
 the greater part of whom were killed or made prisoners. Many marks 
 of the battle remain upon the trees and houses. 
 
 It is quite possible that I may spend some weeks in Paris before the 
 season arrives at which we should be willing to undertake our voyage 
 home, Tho I assure you my taste is so bad that I would infinitely rather 
 find myself in Wilmington than Paris. 
 
 I beg to be remembered to all my Cousins who compose your family 
 and also to my relatives in Arch Street to whom I wish all manner of 
 prosperity and happiness. 
 
 Adieu and believe me sincerely 
 
 yours 
 P. S. Do not commit me J- A. B. 
 
 in any use of this letter. 
 
 44 Talleyrand had been Prince of Benevento since 1806; but Louis XVIII. 
 had lately made him Prince de Talleyrand. 
 
 45 Sir Thomas Graham attempted to capture the place by a coup de main. 
 but was disastrously repulsed by the French. Bayard, Gallatin and his son, and 
 Hughes, went on this journey together. Adams, Memoirs, III. 56. 
 
124 Docume?its 
 
 XII. Crawford to Adams.*" 
 
 Paris 26th Oct 1814. 
 My dear Sir, 
 
 Mr Boyd arrived on Friday evening and delivered me the letters 
 and packages which you and the other members of the Mission confided 
 to him. 
 
 I have in some of my letters said, that if any reliance could be placed 
 upon the sincerity of the British ministry, that a peace is not imprac- 
 ticable. The declaration was made before I knew their last ultimatum. 
 That paper strengthens this conjectural opinion, but still I agree with you 
 that peace is an improbable result. I have no confidence in their sin- 
 cerity. If they make peace upon the basis now proposed it will be be- 
 cause they have been wholly disappointed in the result of the campaign. 
 It has afforded me the most heartfelt satisfaction to find myself mistaken. 
 The campaign has been much more successful than I had anticipated. 
 
 The aspect of affairs now is highly consolatory and encouraging. 
 I hope that Drummond has been Burgoyned in the course of the last 
 month. If this has been done, the campaign will have a brilliant con- 
 clusion. The superiority which this event will give to our arms will 
 overbalance the temporary loss of the naval superiority during the last 
 month of the campaign. This superiority however may not be lost. I 
 hope it will not be. 
 
 The spirit which the destruction of Washington has excited is gener- 
 ally what it ought to be. Boston will defend itself. Massachusetts will 
 assist her sister states, tho with an air somewhat ungracious. The demon 
 of disunion, and of separation, upon which the enemy have constantly cal- 
 culated, is about to hide its execrable form. The delusive dreams of 
 conquest, and of separating the States, which have had more or less in- 
 fluence upon the councils of the Prince Regent, will now be entirely 
 broken. The war will shortly become a mere question of interest, of cold 
 calculation. This will give form and consistency to the opposition, if 
 not in the approaching, at least in the Spring, session of Parliament. 
 The nation will then discover that the war taxes must be continued, and 
 that loans must be made, or the surplus of the sinking fund must be 
 diverted from its legitimate object, to meet the current expenses of the 
 year. This will be an unpleasant discovery for Johnny Bull, and cannot 
 fail to produce much dissatisfaction. Admitting that the objects for 
 which the war is to be prosecuted may embrace concessions which will 
 be gratifying to the national pride, and beneficial to their naval superior- 
 ity, yet it cannot fail to occur to the thinking part of the nation, that 
 these concessions, if obtained, must be tt-n'porary in their enjoyment. 
 They must be sensible, that the moment is rapidly approaching when the 
 shackles which force may have imposed, will by force be broken. That 
 it is indeed possible that this period may arrive, even before they have 
 derived any benefit from it. For it is only when she is Belligerent, that 
 these concessions will be useful to her. Should she therefore remain 
 twenty years at peace, she will have prosecuted this war for the attain- 
 ment of objects, which the greatest possible success could alone give her, 
 and eventually derive no benefit from them. In that time we shall be 
 able, in conjunction with her adversary, to shake off the unequal and 
 hard conditions, which she may have imposed upon us. For myself, I 
 
 46 Adams Papers. 
 
Negotiations at Ghent, 1S14 125 
 
 agree entirely with you, that we shall have a good peace, if the war is 
 prosecuted a year or two longer, 
 
 I have never looked forward to the ultimate issue of the war, with 
 despondency. The spirit which has burst forth in every part of the nation 
 would be sufficient to dispel every doubt if any has heretofore existed 
 upon the subject. 
 
 With sentiments of the highest esteem I am dear Sir your most 
 obedient 
 
 and very humble servant 
 
 Wm. H. Crav/ford, 
 His Excellency John Q. Adams. 
 
 XIII. Crawford to Adams.*'' 
 
 Paris loth Nov 1814 
 Dear Sir 
 
 Your favor of the 6th inst has been this moment reed. Mr Storer 
 who will deliver you this, will be able to give you the news of this place. 
 
 I have uniformly believed that the transactions at Vienna, would 
 ultimately decide the result of your efforts. The B.*s ministry no doubt 
 expected that the events of the Campaign would come in aid of their 
 demands, but their ultimate decision was intended from the first to be 
 regulated by the transactions at Vienna. Common report says that the 
 Congress is likely to arrange nothing. The fall in the funds during the 
 last days is attributed to this impression. I confess I place no confidence 
 in these rumors. The affairs of the Continent will be arranged, if not 
 satisfactorily, at least in such manner as to avoid hostilities. If so. I 
 think our struggle must be continued for several campaigns to come. 
 We cannot fail to obtain an honorable peace, if we are true to ourselves. 
 I have never looked forward with dismay to the ultimate issue of the 
 contest. It appears to me that the capture of Drummond has been 
 effected, unless there has been misconduct in the field, by want of fore- 
 sight and decision in the Cabinet. The moment that our superiority 
 was established upon Lake Ontario, the capture of Drummond and his 
 army became practicable. It ought to have been attempted, even at the 
 hazard of loosing Sackett's harbor. If Izzard has been sent against 
 Kingston instead of being sent to the other end of the lake, it is probable 
 that the enterprise will fail, and Drummond will escape. Kingston must 
 be fortified so as to require a regular siege. Prevost can bring a 
 superior force to its relief, before regular approaches can be made, and 
 the enterprise must prove abortive. It is hardly possible that this view 
 of the subject should not have presented itself to the Cabinet. 
 
 If your negotiation continues until the government puts an end to it, 
 you will remain at Ghent until next May. The President will be in- 
 duced to believe, from the complexion of your first dispatches, that the 
 negotiation is long since at an end. 
 
 The. dispatches which you will receive in reply, if you receive any, will 
 hardly contain instructions to do what the government will suppose to 
 have been long since accomplished. 
 
 4'^ Adams Papers. 
 
 48 British. The generals mentioned below are, of course, Lieutenant-General 
 Gordon Drummond, Major-General George Izard, and Sir George Prevost, 
 governor-general of Canada. 
 
126 Documents 
 
 It is possible that the reply to your dispatches sent by the Chauncey, 
 may produce some such instructions. At present I see no other obstacle 
 to peace, but what arises from a conviction, that what has already been 
 done, has not been done with good faith. The express consent given to 
 wave the question of impressment, and the abandonment of Indian bar- 
 rier, and the military possession of the lakes, appears to me to remove 
 the principle obstacles to peace. It is not likely that they will break off 
 the negotiation by adhering to the basis of the uti possidetis. If they do, 
 they have less understanding, than I have hitherto supposed they 
 possess. 
 
 In my letter to Mr Russell this morning, which I sent by mail, 
 without knowing of the departure of Mr Storer, I have possibly ex- 
 pressed myself too strongly, and unguardedly, upon the equivalent which 
 he appeared to think would be offered for the fisheries. I may not un- 
 derstand the question, or I may have overlooked the reasons which have 
 weighed with you. However this may be, I assure you that my con- 
 fidence in the intelligence and correctness of the views of every mem- 
 ber of the Commission is so great, that I shall distrust the correctness 
 of my own judgement if it happens to be different from theirs. 
 
 I am dear Sir with sentiments of respect, your most ob't and very 
 
 humble 
 
 Serv't 
 
 Wm. H. Crawford. 
 
 His Ex'y John Q. Adams. 
 
 XIV. Russell to Crawford.*^ 
 
 Ghent 23d December 1814. 
 
 My dear Sir, 
 
 I have had the pleasure of receiving your letter and note of the I2t 
 and the dispatches for the united states which accompanied them and 
 which shall be forwarded in the manner you suggest. 
 
 In noticing the diversity of opinion which may occasionally occur, 
 on particular points, between the members of the mission to which I be- 
 long, and v/hich undoubtedly arises from the difference of the impression 
 which the same circumstances make on different men however sincerely 
 united in the pursuit of the same ultimate object, I by no means set up 
 for infallibility or am over-confident that the course of which I may be 
 the advocate, is the best. I am still farther from intending to insinuate 
 any reproach against the patriotism, or integrity or intelligence of my 
 colleagues because I happen to be so unfortunate as not to accord with 
 them in my view of all the subjects, which, in the course of this nego- 
 tiation, are presented for discussion. My only object in communicating 
 to you these things is to make you better acquainted with the char- 
 acter of our proceedings, to show you that both sides of a question have 
 been examined, and to profit of your information and advice, if to be 
 obtained in season to influence the final decision. 
 
 There are so many agents in forming the opinions and producing 
 the convictions of a man, besides his reason, that his argument, however 
 sincere and plausible, may hold only a subordinate rank, and be but the 
 instrument of constitutional infirmity, prepossession or prejudice. 
 
 The texture of the nerves is a great thing even with great men and 
 49 Crawford Transcripts, Library of Congress. See note 3, above. 
 
Negotiations at Ghent^ i8i^ 127 
 
 the fear or the firmness that results from it may have more concern in 
 giving a direction to the policy of an able statesman than his under- 
 standing. 
 
 Great irritability of fibre is still more dangerous. It sports with the 
 judgment and sometimes with the character of its victim. It betrays 
 him into inconsistency and extravagance and, after raising him into 
 flights of eccentricity and perhaps of eloquence, leaves him a prey to ^^ 
 
 error and absurdity. If this unfortunate man should, at the same time, 
 be tainted with family pride or infected with the conceit of literary ac- 
 quirement or of local importance, his reasoning faculties and his patriot- 
 ism are necessarily circumscribed within very narrow limits and he is 
 liable to mistake the tasteless ostentation of pedantry for science, and 
 his little personal pretensions and the notions of his vicinage for the 
 great interests of his country.^° 
 
 The influence of habit and of education is also unsafe and the wisest 
 and best of men may in vain believe themselves free from the prejudices 
 it necessarily engenders. A long cooperation with a party or a sect 
 imbues the very soul with their colour and whatever purity we may 
 aflfect, or sincerely endeavour to attain, we still give the same tinge to 
 every thing which we touch. A professional education is, likewise, apt 
 to impose fetters on the mind and to give a mechanical and artificial 
 character even to our reasoning. The tanner believed that leather was 
 the best material for fortifications and the common-lawyer will cite, 
 authoritatively, a black-letter maxim as a clincher on a point of public 
 right. 
 
 Aware of these and other frailties of human nature, if I am disposed, 
 perhaps, to distrust too much the opinions of others, I am taught a 
 salutary diffidence in my own. When, however, I encounter a man, in 
 whose heart all the nobler passions have found their home, and whose 
 head is unobscured by the fogs [of] a false education, whose great 
 object is the welfare of his country and who pursues this object with an 
 instinctive good sense that never deceives, I listen to him with unsus- 
 pecting confidence, and promptly accord to ingenuosness that implicit 
 faith which I am apt to deny to mere ingenuity. 
 
 I pray you to excuse this sentimental excursion and I will now en- 
 deavour to make you amends by stating the sober details of business, 
 which I am sure will be more interesting to you. 
 
 After my last letter to you of the 2nd we heard nothing from the 
 British Plenips. until the 9th when Mr. Baker, their secretary, called on 
 us to ask a conference for the next day. At this conference they in- 
 formed us that their amendment to the first article could not be entirely 
 withdrawn but they were willing so to modify it that it should apply 
 only to the islands in Passamaquoddy bay. They gave us also to un- 
 derstand that all our propositions, as a substitute for their additional 
 clause to the 8th article, were inadmissable. On their part however, 
 they presented one (marked A) which you will find enclosed. They 
 at the same time submitted to us for consideration two articles, one 
 
 50 The above paragraph, it is hardly necessary to say, refers to Adams. The 
 next refers to Bayard, Federalist and lawyer ;' the paragraph of compliment then 
 ensuing, to Clay, apparently. 
 
12 8 Documents 
 
 (marked B) relative to courts of law in the two countries, and the other 
 (marked C) concerning the slave trade.^^ 
 
 On the I2th we had another conference at which much conversation 
 took place, particularly concerning the amendments and propositions in 
 relation to the first and eighth articles of our projet. 
 
 We contended that the principle of status ante bellum required the 
 restitution of the Passamaquoddy islands and that to retain a posses- 
 sion acquired by force of arms was setting up a title from conquest. 
 That to leave them in possession of those islands on their claim of 
 previous right would be to make a special exception in favour of that 
 right that might influence the tribunal to which its final decision was 
 referred. 
 
 They asserted that the honour of Great Britain was concerned in this 
 retention but were not very intelligible in the reasons they assigned for 
 this assertion. They also mentioned, in a desultory way, some facts 
 as evidence of their previous right. 
 
 With regard to the navigation of the Mississippi, and the liberty of 
 taking and drying fish we were willing to leave them with the treaty of 
 1783, our construction considering the stipulations of that treaty, with 
 respect to these points, to be unimpaired, and theirs considering them 
 to be abrogated by the war. Both parties appeared willing to consent 
 to a general provision to treat hereafter on these subjects, if conceived 
 in terms that should neither recognize or prejudice their respective pre- 
 tensions. Several essays at such a provision were made but not being 
 mutually satisfactory in their results the conference ended without the 
 adjustment of a single point. 
 
 We found the British Ministers were without authority even to ex- 
 pound the propositions which they made to fls much less to modify them. 
 Their office appears to be of a telegraphic character and they are not 
 even allowed to understand the communications which they transmit. 
 
 On the 14th we presented a note of which (D) a copy is enclosed. 
 The paper marked E is the clause therein referred to. This note of 
 course was sent to London for an answer. This answer was received 
 last evening. Our clause respecting the Passamaquoddy islands has 
 been substantially agreed to, excepting the limitation of the present 
 possession to years in case the right shall not within that time be 
 
 decided, which has been expunged. The whole of the eighth article 
 is to be omitted; and the free navigation of the Mississippi and the lib- 
 erty of taking and curing fish, are left without any specific stipulation, 
 depending on the respective declarations of the parties. 
 
 We shall receive the British Ministers at a conference, this day, to 
 fill up the blanks, particularly those with respect to the limitation of cap- 
 ture at sea, and to arrange some of the formalities of the treaty. This 
 done and fair copies of the treaty drawn up, it will be signed. 
 
 You have now before you the result of our labours. I will make no 
 
 51 A, B, and C will all be found in the protocol of the conference of December 
 10. Am. St. P., For. Rcl., III. 743. The conference of that date is fully reported 
 by Adams, Memoirs, III. 93-99, and that of December 12, ibid., pp. 104-112. The 
 note D and the paper E, mentioned below, and the answer to them, December 22, 
 are in Am. St. P., For. Rel., III. 743-745. 
 
Negotiations at Ghent, 1814 129 
 
 other comment that that I believe we have done the best, or nearly the 
 best, which was practicable in existing circumstances. 
 I think I shall be at Paris in twelve or fifteen days. 
 
 very respectfully and faithfully 
 
 my dear sir 
 Your friend and obedient servant 
 
 JoNA. Russell. 
 
 I expect Mr. Todd^- would have taken this to Paris but his movements 
 are so uncertain that I have decided on sending it by mail under cover to 
 Hottinguer and Co. 
 
 XV. Wellington to Crav/ford.^^ 
 
 The Duke of Wellington presents his Compliments to Mr. Crauford 
 and has the pleasure to inform him that he has just received a Dispatch 
 from His Majesty's Plenipotentiaries at Ghent, in which they have in- 
 formed the Duke that they had on the 24th Instant signed a Treaty of 
 Peace and Amity with the plenipotentiaries of the United States 
 
 The Duke of Wellington congratulates Mr. Crauford upon an Event 
 which restores the relations of Amity between States, which ought 
 always to have been Friends, and the Duke takes this occasion of assur- 
 ing Mr. Craufurd of his high consideration 
 
 Paris ce Lundi 9 heures du Soir. 
 
 52 Payne Todd, Mrs. Madison's son, was attached to the mission. Hottinguer 
 and Company were Paris bankers. 
 
 53 Crawford Transcripts, Library of Congress. The date must be December 
 26, 1814. 
 
) w 
 
!^