THE HARTFORD CONVENTION.
The war became intensely unpopular in New England. Its shipping suffered severely, and the demands for peace grew more clamorous. On the 15th of December, 1814, a convention of delegates, appointed by the Legislatures of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Vermont, met in Hartford and held secret sessions for three weeks. An address was agreed upon charging the national government with carrying on a policy injurious to New England. Amendments were proposed to the Constitution, and a committee was selected to confer with the government at Washington and to propose that the revenues of New England should be applied to her own defense. An agreement was made that if their proposed action failed, and peace was not soon made, the convention should meet again in the following June. There was open talk of a withdrawal from the Union, and doubtless grave results would have followed had the war gone on. The Hartford Convention and the "Blue Lights" of Connecticut gave the final death-blow to the Federal party.
A TREATY OF PEACE SIGNED.
Despite the progress of the war, peace negotiations had been going on for a long time. Russia, whose system of government has always been the exact opposite of ours, has shown us marked friendship in many instances. As early as 1813 she offered to mediate between Great Britain and the United States. The President appointed five commissioners, John Quincy Adams, James A. Bayard, Henry Clay, Jonathan Russell, and Albert Gallatin, who were sent to Ghent, Belgium, where they were met by Lord Gambier, Henry Goulburn, and William Adams, the commissioners for Great Britain. After long negotiations, the commissioners reached an agreement on the 24th of December, 1814. The treaty did not contain a word about the search of American vessels for alleged deserters, which was the real cause of the war, nor was any reference made to the wrongs done our commerce, and the rights of neutral nations were not defined. The Orders of Council, however, died of themselves, Great Britain never again attempting to enforce them. It was agreed that all places captured by either side during the progress of the war or afterward should be surrendered, and provisions were made for fixing the boundary between the United States and Canada.
In those days, when the ocean telegraph was not thought of and there were no swift-going steamers, news traveled slowly, and it did not reach Washington until February 4, 1815. Meanwhile, the most important battle of the war had taken place and several captures were made on the ocean.
The Creek Indians had been so crushed by General Jackson that they ceded a large part of their lands to the Americans. They were sullen, and when a British squadron entered the Gulf of Mexico they eagerly did all they could to help the enemy. The squadron, by permission of the Spanish authorities took possession of the forts of Pensacola, and fitted out an expedition against Fort Bower at the entrance to Mobile Bay. They attacked the fort, September 15th, by sea and land, but were repulsed. Among the land assailants were several hundred Creek warriors, who thus received another lesson of the bravery of American soldiers.
General Jackson, in command of the southern military district, was enraged by the course of the Spanish authorities. He marched from Mobile at the head of 2,000 Tennessee militia and a number of Choctaws, stormed Pensacola, November 7th, drove the British from the harbor, and compelled the Spanish governor to surrender the town.
GENERAL JACKSON'S GREAT VICTORY AT NEW ORLEANS.
Having completed his work in this summary fashion, he returned to Mobile, where he found an urgent call for him to go to the defense of New Orleans, which was threatened by a powerful force of the enemy. The invasion, to which we have referred in another place, was a formidable one and had been arranged a long time before. General Jackson reached New Orleans, December 2d, and began vigorous preparations. He enlisted almost everybody capable of bearing arms, including negroes and convicts. One of the most famous freebooters that ever ravaged the Gulf of Mexico was Lafitte, to whom the British made an extravagant offer for his help, but he refused, and gave his services to Jackson.
Jackson's vigor filled the city with confidence, but he was so strict that dissatisfaction was expressed, whereupon he declared martial law; in other words, he took the city government into his own hands and ruled as he thought best. He neglected no precaution. Fort St. Philip, guarding the passage of the Mississippi at Detour la Plaquemine, was made stronger by new works, and a line of fortifications was built four miles below the city, on the left of the river, and extended eastward to an impassable cypress swamp. It was a disputed question for a time whether Jackson used cotton bales in the defenses of New Orleans, but it is established that he placed them on the tops of the intrenchments. Cannon were also mounted at different points. The militia under General Morgan, and the crews and guns of a part of the squadron of Commodore Patterson, held the west bank of the river. These precautions enabled the defenders to enfilade the approaching enemy. A detachment guarded the pass of Bayou St. John, above the city, and a number of gunboats awaited to dispute the passage of the river between Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne.