1914] Settlement of International Disputes 199 



This was a constant source of irritation and of negotiation wholly 

 fruitless. Britain was in death grips with Napoleon and must have men. 



Then in her war with France she closed the continent to all trade, 

 (including the American) by Orders-in-Council, ruining American com- 

 merce. 



The Americans — or some of them — believed, or pretended to believe, 

 that Britain was stirring up the Indians on the West and North-West 

 frontier, and the west was embittered against her accordingly. No one 

 now believes that Britain Avas guilty of any such conduct. The enmity 

 of the Indians was due to two causes: the one, inevitable, arising out of 

 the advance to the West and North-West of settlement, the other which 

 might have been, and by the British was avoided, that is the treatment 

 of the Indians as inferior creatures unworthy of consideration or decent 

 treatment; in short, treating them on the brutal principle laid down by 

 one of the most celebrated of American generals — "The only good Indian 

 is a dead Indian." 



Canada was a tempting morsal, and, as it was thought, could 

 be taken without difficulty. Which of these considerations were the 

 real cause of the war declared in 1812 I do not stop to discuss; they were 

 all talked of. 



The war lasted two years and a half and decided nothing; the parties 

 agreeing to the status qiw ante bellum. Some American writers claim 

 that impressment of American sailors was put an end to by the war. 

 This is absolutely without basis in fact. 



But the Treaty of Ghent, December 24th, 18 14, furnishes other 

 instances of arbitration, 



4. From the time of the Treaty of Peace there was a dispute as to the 

 Islands Moose, Dudley and Frederick in Passamaquoddy Bay. Nego- 

 tiations went on for some time, and during the war of 18 12 the British 

 took possession of Moose Island. By Article IV of the Treaty of Ghent, 

 it was left to two commissioners, one appointed by the King and one by 

 the President, to determine the ownership of all the Islands in Passama- 

 quoddy Bay. 



The British commissioner was Colonel Thomas Barclay, whom we 

 have already met; the American was John Holmes, afterwards a member 

 of Congress and a Senator. They made an award. New York, November 

 24 th, 181 7, giving the three named islands to the United States, and all 

 the others to Great Britain, and add: " In making this decision it became 

 necessary that each of the commissioners should yield a part of his 

 individual opinion." 



5. In the Treaty of Peace, 1783, the boundaries of the United States 

 were thus laid down: "From the northwest angle of Nova Scotia, viz., 

 that angle which is formed by a line drawn due north from the source 



