As confirmatory of the Liverpool apprehension it may be mentioned that the London Times, December 31, 1814 (see British Museum), said that the ratification by Madison depended upon the outcome of the expedition against New Orleans. The London Times was unfriendly to the Liverpool government, and was also very hostile to the United States. In the circumstances it may fairly be presumed that to allay criticism of the treaty the press was informed of the expected New Orleans coup.
In view of the unanimous action of the American Commissioners in agreeing to the Treaty, it becomes very evident that the British Government anticipated that something would transpire before the Treaty reached Washington that might cause the President to withhold his approval. In the light of present knowledge, that something was the expected British capture of New Orleans. We may well ask the question, as to why the British Government was so anxious for the ratification of the Treaty as to plan to “frighten Madison” and threaten separate peace with New England, thus disrupting the Union, if that Government expected to turn back Louisiana after its anticipated conquest. That question carries its own obvious answer.
Happily for us, and for England as consequences have proved, and for the world, the dilemma in which the English statesmen thought President Madison would be placed, was averted.
While Carroll, with the American copy of the Treaty, and Baker, with the English copy, also having authority to exchange ratification, ploughed the seas, an event was in the making of destiny, which, when brought forth, utterly confounded the carefully laid plans of the Liverpool-Castlereagh Government, and in fact ushered in a new epoch, a new and greater era for the young American Republic—never again to be pointed to as an experiment.
CHAPTER IX.
Washington, the First of 1815.
One of the most thrilling incidents in our history is the reception by the country of the news of the Battle of New Orleans. It was theatrically acclaimed, with almost delirious joy, sharply contrasting with the condition of deep discouragement and gloom it suddenly dissipated. Seldom has a victory had more dramatic setting. It is well for us who enjoy the rich blessings of the present, occasionally to read of the trials and tribulations through which our forebears struggled, that they might hand these blessings down to us. “If an old man of perfect memory,” says James Parton, in Chapter 20 of the second volume of the Life of Andrew Jackson, published in 1860, “were asked to name the time when the prospects of this republic were shrouded in deepest gloom, and the largest number of the people despaired of its future, his answer, I think, would be, ‘the first thirty-seven days of the year 1815.’” (Parton makes an error of two days, for the news of the battle of New Orleans reached Washington February 4th.)
“The Capital,” says Parton, “was in ruins” (as a result of its burning by the British the preceding August).
Parton further referred to the Hartford Convention, which on January 5th had closed several weeks of session. This anti-war convention was denounced as treasonable by administrative papers. It had aroused gravest apprehensions of disunion unless peace should at once be made.
In order to convey an idea of the antagonistic spirit prevailing, quotation is here given from the Boston Gazette, of that period: “Is there a Federalist, a patriot in America, who conceives it his duty to shed his blood for Bonaparte, for Madison and Jefferson, and that host of ruffians in Congress, who have set their faces against us for years, and spirited up the brutal part of the populace to destroy us? Not one! Shall we, then, any longer be held in slavery, and driven to desperate poverty by such a graceless faction?”
Parton further quotes many New England editors as saying: “No more taxes from New England, till the administration makes peace.”