The American Commissioners were prepared and authorized to forego the questions of impressment and orders in council, which caused the war, and conclude a peace pact on the basis of the status before the war. For a month they had been waiting the coming of the British Commissioners. It is evident there was a purpose on the part of the British Government to delay.
The second group consisted of three suave English Commissioners, who appeared at Ghent, as before stated, August 4th.
These English Commissioners began by making, on behalf of their Government, demands objectionable and humiliating, the discussion of which, often at long distance with the London Government officials, consumed time. Finally the American Commissioners were forced to write to Washington for further instructions.
From “The Diplomacy of the War of 1812,” by Frank A. Updyke, which is a most valuable account of the Peace conference, quotation is given from pages 220 and 221. “It was the unanimous opinion of the American ministers that Great Britain’s policy was to consume as much time as possible before the termination of negotiations, in order that some decided victory might be gained in the war which would make it easier for her to insist upon her demands.”
This quotation is given to show that our ministers recognized the British tactics as sparring for time; but the record does not show that any one of them thought of New Orleans as the objective point of British design.
The records in connection with the negotiations are voluminous, and make very interesting reading. But viewed in the after revealed facts, the truth stands out so clearly that the proceedings of the Peace Conference in English consideration and the secret expedition to capture New Orleans were so closely inter-related that in arriving at the material verity, much material in that conference should be disregarded as intended by the English to delay and becloud, and so matters coming before the Conference referring to Louisiana should only be considered in connection with our mission.
Frank A. Updyke, Ph.D. of Dartmouth College, in his “The Diplomacy of the War of 1812,” quoted from above, has given a condensed, fully annotated, account of the proceedings of the Peace Conference. It is a work, published in 1915, which deserves place as a supplementary textbook in every college and high school. I have made liberal use of Dr. Updyke’s volume, which merits high place for research effort and reference.
The Joint Commission had been in session a little over two months when the first note was struck significant of the British underlying purpose. It was in the communication of the English Government through their ministers to the American Commissioners. The document was dated October 8, 1814. (See American State papers.)
“The first paragraph,” says Updyke (page 269), “attempted to show the illegality of the purchase of Louisiana and the spirit of territorial aggrandisement on the part of the United States which this act manifested.”
It might have been inferred that this attack upon the legality of the title to Louisiana would be followed by a demand of some sort; but no such demand was made. In fact, the treaty as finally adopted, contained no mention of Louisiana.