by Mark Zuehlke
Meeting of the commissioners*
In cases of disagreement of commissioners*
Reference to a friendly power.*
Commissioners to settle boundaries.*
Meeting and proceedings of commissioners.*
ARTICLE THE FIFTH.
Whereas neither that point of the high lands* 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 northwest 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 Cataraguy, 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 said commissioners shall meet at St Andrews, in the province of New-Brunswick,* and shall have power to adjourn to such other place or places as they shall think fit. The said commissioners shall have power to ascertain and determine the points abovementioned, in conformity with the provisions of the said treaty of peace of one thousand seven hundred and eighty three, and shall cause the boundary aforesaid, from the source of the river St. Croix to the river Iroquois or Cataraguy, to be surveyed and marked according to the said provisions. The said commissioners shall make a map of the said boundary, and annex to it a declaration under their hands and seals, certifying it to be the true map of the said boundary, and particularizing the latitude and longitude of the northwest angle of Nova-Scotia, of the northwesternmost head of Connecticut river, and of such other points of the said boundary as they may deem proper. And both parties agree to consider such map and declaration as finally and conclusively fixing the said boundary. And in the event of the said two commissioners differing,* or both, or either, of them, refusing, declining, or wilfully omitting to act, such reports, declarations, or statements, shall be made by them, or either of them, and such reference to a friendly sovereign or state, shall be made, in all respects, as in the latter part of the fourth article is contained, and in as full a manner as if the same was herein repeated.
In case of difference, to be referred to a friendly power.*
Doubts as to the boundary from a point in the forty-fifth degree of north latitude, to be referred to commissioners.*
Meeting and duties of the commissioners.*
ARTICLE THE SIXTH.
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 Cataraguy 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. The said commissioners shall meet, in the first instance,* at Albany, in the state of New-York, and shall have power to adjourn to such other place or places as they shall think fit: The said commissioners shall, by a report or declaration, under their hands and seals, designate the boundary through the said river, lakes, and water communications, and decide to which of the two contracting parties the several islands lying within the said rivers, lakes, and water communications, do respectively belong, in conformity with the true intent of the said treaty of one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three. And both parties agree to consider such designation and decision as final and conclusive. And in the event of the said two commissioners differing,* or both, or either of them, refusing, declining, or wilfully omitting to act, such reports, declarations or statements, shall be made by them, or either of them, and such reference to a friendly sovereign or state shall be made in all respects as in the latter part of the fourth article is contained, and in as full a manner as if the same was herein repeated.
In case of disagreement of the commissioners, reference to a friendly power.*
Commissioners to fix the boundary to the water communication between the lakes Huron and Superior, and the lake of the Woods.*
In case of disagreement of commissioners a reference.*
ARTICLE THE SEVENTH.
It is further agreed that the said two last-mentioned commissioners,* after they shall have executed the duties assigned to them in the preceding article, shall be, and they are hereby authorized, upon their oaths impartially to fix and determine, according to the true intent of the said treaty of peace, of one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three, that part of the boundary between the dominions of the two powers, which extends from the water communication between lake Huron, and lake Superior, to the most north-western point of the lake of the Woods, to decide to which of the two parties the several islands lying in the lakes, water communications, and rivers, forming the said boundary, do respectively belong, in conformity with the true intent of the said treaty of peace, of one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three; and to cause such parts of the said boundary, as require it, to be surveyed and marked. The said commissioners shall, by a report or declaration under their hands and seals, designate the boundary aforesaid, state their decision on the points thus referred to them, and particularize the latitude and longitude of the most north-western point of the lake of the Woods, and of such other parts of the said boundary as they may deem proper. And both parties agree to consider such designation and decision as final and conclusive. And, in the event of the said two commissioners differing, or both, or either of them refusing, declining, or wilfully omitting to act,* such reports, declarations, or statements, shall be made by them, or either of them and such reference to a friendly sovereign or state, shall be made in all respects, as in the latter part of the fourth article is contained, and in as full a manner as if the same was herein repeated.
The board of commissioners may appoint a secretary, and employ surveyors.*
Compensation of the commissioners.*
All grants of land prior to the commencement of the war, falling within the dominions of the other party, to be valid.*
ARTICLE THE EIGHTH.
The several boards of two commissioners mentioned in the four preceding articles,* shall respectively have power to appoint a secretary, and to employ such surveyors or other persons as they shall judge necessary. Duplicates of all their respective reports, declarations, statements and decisions, and of their accounts, and of the journal of their proceedings, shall be delivered by them to the agents of his Britannic majesty, and to the agents of the United States, who may be respectively appointed and authorized to manage the business on behalf of their respective governments. The said commissioners shall be respectively paid in such manner* as shall be agreed between the two contracting parties, such agreement being to be settled at the time of the exchange of the ratifications of this treaty. And all other expenses attending the said commissions shall be defrayed equally
by the two parties. And in the case of death, sickness, resignation, or necessary absence, the place of every such commissioner, respectively, shall be supplied in the same manner as such commissioner was first appointed, and the new commissioner shall take the same oath or affirmation, and do the same duties. It is further agreed between the two contracting parties, that in case any of the islands mentioned* in any of the preceding articles, which were in the possession of one of the parties prior to the commencement of the present war between the two countries, should, by the decision of any of the boards of commissioners aforesaid, or of the sovereign or state so referred to, as in the four next preceding articles contained, fall within the dominions of the other party, all grants of land made previous to the commencement of the war, by the party having had such possession, shall be as valid as if such island or islands had, by such decision or decisions, been adjudged to be within the dominions of the party having had such possession.
ARTICLE THE NINTH.
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 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.
Ratification of the Indian treaty.*
ARTICLE THE TENTH.*
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 endeavors to accomplish so desirable an object.
Contracting parties shall use their best en deavors to promote the entire abolition of the slave trade.*
Post. p. 572.
This treaty to be binding when ratifications exchanged.*
ARTICLE THE ELEVENTH.*
This treaty, when the same shall have been ratified on both sides, without alteration by either of the contracting parties, and the ratifications mutually exchanged, shall be binding on both parties, and the ratifications shall be exchanged at Washington, in the space of four months from this day, or sooner, if practicable.
IN FAITH WHEREOF, we, the respective plenipotentiaries, have signed this treaty, and have thereunto affixed our seals.
Done, in triplicate, at Ghent, the twenty-fourth day of December, one thousand eight hundred and fourteen.
GAMBIER, (L. S.)
HENRY GOULBURN, (L. S.)
WILLIAM ADAMS, (L. S.)
JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, (L. S.)
J. A. BAYARD, (L. S.)
H. CLAY, (L. S.)
JONA. RUSSELL, (L. S.)
ALBERT GALLATIN. (L. S.)
NOTES
INTRODUCTION
1. Charles William Vane, ed., Correspondence, Despatches and Other Papers of Viscount Castlereagh, Second Marquess of Londonderry (London: John Murray, 1853), 67–68.
2. State Papers, on the Negotiation and Peace with America, 1814 (London: Sherwood, Neely and Jones, 1815), 22–23.
ONE: A REPUBLICAN OF THE FIRST FIRE
1. Bernard Mayo, Henry Clay: Spokesman of the New West (Boston: Archon Books, 1966), 403.
2. Ibid., 150–51.
3. Robert V. Remini, Henry Clay: Statesman for the Union (New York: W.W. Norton, 1991), 158–68.
4. Mayo, 40–42.
5. James F. Hopkins, ed., The Papers of Henry Clay: Volume 1—The Rising Statesman, 1797–1814 (Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1959), 256.
6. Ibid., 498.
7. Mayo, 270–71.
8. Elizabeth Donnan, ed., “Papers of James A. Bayard, 1796–1815,” Annual Report of the American Historical Association for the Year 1913. 1915: 6.
9. Ibid., 6–7.
10. Ibid., 110–11.
11. Mayo, 275.
12. Epes Sargent, The Life and Public Services of Henry Clay, Down to 1848, ed. Horace Greeley (Philadelphia: Portland Coates, 1852), 29.
13. Hopkins, 396–97.
14. Mayo, 340.
15. Robert Allen Rutland, The Presidency of James Madison (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1990), 10.
16. Ibid.
17. Raymond Walters, Jr., Albert Gallatin: Jeffersonian Financier and Diplomat (New York: Macmillan, 1957), 198.
18. Ibid., 200–201.
19. James Fulton Zimmerman, Impressment of American Seamen (Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, 1966), 157.
20. Bradford Perkins, Prologue to War: England and the United States, 1805–1812 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1961), 26–27.
21. Ibid., 27.
22. Mayo, 228.
23. Perkins, 55–57.
24. Ibid., 53.
25. Ibid., 54.
26. Ibid., 29.
27. Walters, 146.
28. Perkins, 71.
TWO: INSULT TO THE FLAG
1. James F. Hopkins, ed., The Papers of Henry Clay: Volume 1—The Rising Statesman, 1797–1814 (Lexington: University of Kentucky Press, 1959), 449.
2. Michael Lewis, A Social History of the Navy, 1793–1815 (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1960), 98–104.
3. James Fulton Zimmerman, Impressment of American Seamen (Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, 1966), 13–15.
4. Lewis, 128.
5. Ibid., 434–35.
6. Zimmerman, 30.
7. Hopkins, 449.
8. A. T. Mahan, Sea Power in its Relation to the War of 1812, vol. 1 (Boston: Little, Brown, 1905), 155.
9. Pierre Berton, The Invasion of Canada: 1812–1813 (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1980), 35.
10. Henry Adams, “The Chesapeake and the Orders-in-Council of November 1807,” in The Causes of the War of 1812: National Honor or National Interest? ed. Bradford Perkins (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1962), 23.
11. Berton, 35.
12. Bradford Perkins, Prologue to War: England and the United States, 1805–1812 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1961), 140–41.
13. Adams, 23–24.
14. J. Mackay Hitsman, The Incredible War of 1812: A Military History (Toronto: Robin Brass Studio, 1999), 16.
15. Perkins, 140.
16. Adams, 24.
17. Ibid., 25.
18. Ibid.
19. Ibid., 26–27.
20. Mahan, 156.
THREE: THE SEARCH FOR SATISFACTION
1. Bradford Perkins, Prologue to War: England and the United States, 1805–1812 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1961), 142–43.
2. Robert Allen Rutland, The Presidency of James Madison (Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1990), 8–18.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid.
5. Patrick C. T. White, A Nation on Trial: America and the War of 1812 (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1965), 41.
6. Perkins, 144.
7. White, 41.
8. Frank A. Updyke, The Diplomacy of the War of 1812 (Glouce
ster, MA: Peter Smith, 1965), 43–44.
9. John Austen Stevens, Albert Gallatin (Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1972), 10.
10. Raymond Walters, Jr., Albert Gallatin: Jeffersonian Financier and Diplomat (New York: Macmillan, 1957), 53–54.
11. Ibid., 195.
12. Henry Adams, ed., The Writings of Albert Gallatin (New York: Antiquarian Press, 1960), 339.
13. Stevens, 289.
14. Adams, 345–52.
15. Perkins, 145.
16. A. T. Mahan, Sea Power in its Relation to the War of 1812, vol. 1 (Boston: Little, Brown, 1905), 164.
17. Ibid., 161.
18. Adams, 338.
19. Perkins, 145–46.
20. Updyke, 44.
21. Ibid., 45.
22. James Fulton Zimmerman, Impressment of American Seamen (Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, 1966), 137.
23. Updyke, 47.
FOUR: IMPERIOUS NECESSITIES
1. Louis M. Hacker, “The Desire for Canadian Land,” in The Causes of the War of 1812: National Honor or National Interest? ed. Bradford Perkins (New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1962), 46–47.
2. R. David Edmunds, Tecumseh and the Quest for Indian Leadership (Toronto: Little, Brown, 1984), 17–29.
3. John Sugden, Tecumseh: A Life (New York: Henry Holt, 1997), 6–22.
4. Benjamin Drake, Life of Tecumseh (Cincinnati: n.p., 1841), n.p.
5. Mary Beacock Fryer and Christopher Dracott, John Graves Simcoe, 1752–1806: A Biography (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1998), 169.