” 15—The U. S. frigate President captured by four English vessels.
Feb. 18—Ft. Bowyer, near Pensacola, Fla., invested by the British fleet. It surrenders on the 21st.
” 17—The treaty of peace which arrived at New York on the 11th by the British sloop of war Favorite, ratified by the American government and Peace proclaimed.
” 24—Congress authorizes the loan of $18,400,000, and the issue of treasury notes to the amount of $25,000,000.
” 28—The naval war was continued some time longer. The U. S. frigate Constitution captures two British vessels of war, the frigate Cyane and the sloop Levant, off the island of Madeira. In March the U. S. frigate Hornet captured the British brig Penguin, on the coast of Brazil.
The British government, elated by their triumph over Bonaparte, their large army accustomed to conquer in Europe, and the fleets set free from the blockade of the Continent, thought to make an easy conquest of America. But all their attempts were defeated. Had peace been made a little later the Americans might have obtained much better terms.
This war had been waged under many difficulties by the American administration. The country and its institutions, were new, and there was no such reserved fund of wealth and credit, as is always found in an old and well organized state. They depended largely on commerce, which was almost destroyed by the great naval force of Great Britain, and the embargo policy. Our navy was gallant and successful; but the government lacked the means, and the unanimous support of the people, requisite to increase it to the necessary strength. The administration did not act with the vigor and efficiency calculated to bring all sections and classes to its support, and the people had not yet the experience and knowledge of the value and strength of their own institutions needful to inspire confidence, so that they were critical and difficult to please, and this spirit impaired the efficiency of nearly all government measures. What they undertook could be only imperfectly done. The old soldiers of the Revolution were dead or unfit by age for good service, and time was necessary to train others and ascertain who had the necessary military capacity for conducting operations with success. Yet, under all these great difficulties, the United States came out of the war with the respect of the world, such as it had never before enjoyed. It became formidable to Europe as a great and vigorous power with which it was not safe to trifle.
This was still more clear when the government declared war on the Dey of Algiers, one of the pirate princes of the North of Africa, which, for hundreds of years, had made war on the commerce of all nations almost with impunity. Having violated their treaty with us, the President sent out an adequate naval force
June 17-19—which captured two Algerine vessels of war, and threatened Algiers. The Dey, intimidated, immediately made peace, giving liberty to all prisoners without ransom, and full satisfaction for the injuries done to our commerce. No European nation had before so humbled these pirates, and it at once raised the credit of our government, and gained us respect and esteem.
June 30—The last hostile act at sea took place in the Straits of Sunda, in the East Indies, where the U. S. brig of war Peacock captured the Nautilus, a British sloop of war. Thus the three American vessels at sea when the war closed, each came home crowned with laurels. The British vessels captured during the war numbered 1,750—the American 1,683. The spirit and energy of the Americans, under all their embarrassments, gave an unmistakable indication of the future greatness and power of the United States.