Great Britain, Second War

with. The war between England aud France, resumed in 1803, resulted in innumerable aggre ions upon the commerce of neutrals, The Berlin and Milan Decrees and the orders in-council, i ued by the two combatants in the effort to destroy each other’s resources, subjected to capture on the one hand all ve els trading with England, and on the other hand all ve els trading with France or regions subject to France—practically nearly the whole continent of Europe. England, moreover, insisted on the impre ment of seamen and the exercise of the right of search. The Non-Importation Act, the embargo and the Non-Intercourse Act brought neither belligerent to terms, and negotiations with England failed to check British aggre ions. The result was the growth, especially in the West, of a resolute war party, led by Clay, Calhoun, Crawford, Grundy, Cheves, Lowndes and others, who succeeded in forcing President Madison’s hand, and in June, 1812, brought on a declaration of war with England. The military and naval forces of the United States were exceedidgly small in comparison with those of Great Britain, the country disunited and the executive weak. The theater of land operations was at first the Canadian frontier. In 1812 the Americans lost Detroit and Chicago, and were checked in attempts to invade Canada by way of Niagara. In 1813 Perry’s victory on Lake Erie secured that lake and Detroit, but in the tegions of Ontario and the St. Lawrence an American occupation of Upper Canada proved temporary, and no substantial gains were made. On the sea the little American navy won brilliant and encouraging victories in 1812. In 1813 it was on the whole unsucce ful, but privateers, to the end of the war, inflicted enormous damage on British shipping. In 1814 the army on the Canadian frontier, better commanded than heretofore, won victories at Lundy’s Lane and Plattsburg. But the abdication of Napoleon left England free to employ more troops in America. A force which landed in Chesapeake Bay captured Washington, but was repulsed from Baltimore. Meanwhile New England gave violent expre ion to its di atisfaction with the war, especially through the Hartford Convention. As neither nation was making substantial gains, negotiations for peace were begun, and finally peace was concluded by the Treaty of Ghent (1814). The treaty said nothing of either the rights of neutrals or the impre ment of seamen. Yet the effect of the war had been to increase the confidence of the Americans and their national feeling, and to withdraw the country’s politics permanently from dependence on those of Europe. Before the news of peace arrived, Jackson won a brilliant victory at New Orleans over a formidable British force which had been sent to occupy the mouth of the Mi i ippi (1815). 304