"What is it! Well, the news is the two countries have made peace; and you and me won't be the enemies of the Grahams no more."
"The captain was correct in his predictions," I replied, "when he said the war would not last much longer. We'll have a chance to go home now; and the first thing to look after is the liberation of the crew of the Marguerite. I'll go at once to the Grahams' and ascertain if the news is well founded, or only a rumor."
"Seems to me it has a good foundation," said Haines, "as they've got a big placard up in front of the post-office, saying there's peace between Great Britain and the United States! I heard a feller say it came down by semaphore from London. The semaphore was a-workin' at a lively rate; but, of course, I don't know nothin' more about it than a cat does about boxin' the compass!"
The lines above these stars were the last that I wrote in my lodgings at Southsea. It was really true that terms of peace had been agreed upon between the two countries and the war was at an end. Great Britain made overtures for peace as early as December, 1813, the British government sending them to the government of the United States by a schooner, the Bramble, bearing a flag of truce. She arrived at Annapolis, Maryland, Jan. 1, 1814; and as soon as the President received the communication he informed Congress, which immediately took action.
The United States met the overtures in a spirit of conciliation, and each of the two powers appointed three commissioners to negotiate a treaty. When the American commissioners reached England they remained unnoticed for some months, and then the ministry endeavored to avoid the question by proposing several places of meeting, one after the other, and so consumed more time. In this way half a year was used up, and the commissioners of the two governments did not come together until August, 1814, their meeting-place being at Ghent, in Belgium.
Four months later the treaty was signed, and it was speedily ratified by both governments. It stipulated for the mutual restoration of all places taken during the war, or which might be taken after the signing of the treaty, declared that all captures made at sea, on both sides, should be given up if made after the signing of the treaty, and required each party to put a stop to Indian hostilities and endeavor to suppress the slave-trade. It provided for the settlement of all disputes about boundaries; but it left untouched the question of impressment of seamen, which was the principal cause of the war.
But it is my opinion, in which Captain Graham agrees with me, and so does everybody else whose views are worth considering, that Great Britain has learned a lesson which will make her regard the rights of Americans in future, as she has not regarded them in the past. I venture to predict that never again will an American sailor be impressed into the British navy, and we shall not hear again of British officers exercising the "right of search" on the high seas. It is now more than a year since the war ended, and there has been no report of a single instance of search or impressment.
A few days after the arrival of the news of the treaty of peace I bade farewell to my friends at Portsmouth and went to Plymouth, in the hope of doing something towards the release of the crew of the Marguerite. But all my efforts, even when backed by the influence of Captain Graham and other officials, were of no avail. I was not allowed to see the prisoners, or even to communicate with them, and they did not know of the end of the war until fully three months after the signing of the treaty of peace. Even then the inmates of Dartmoor prison obtained the intelligence surreptitiously, and not officially, and from that time on they were in daily expectation of release.
The delay of the authorities in making arrangements for sending them home caused much impatience among the prisoners, and they became mutinous. On the 4th of April, 1815, they declined to receive the hard biscuit that was served to them, and demanded bread. Two days later many of them refused to retire to their quarters when ordered to do so; and they displayed such a spirit of rebellion that Captain Shortland ordered the soldiers to fire upon them. Five prisoners were killed, and thirty wounded. The Americans regarded the affair as a wanton massacre, while the British claim that it was justifiable under the circumstances.