THE BRITISH EMPIRE 



AND 



THE UNITED STATES 



CHAPTER I 

 READJUSTMENT AFTER WAR 



IN the late afternoon of December 24, 1814, 

 the commissioners who had agreed upon the 

 Treaty of Ghent signed their handiwork and 

 exchanged conventional expressions of satis 

 faction at the conclusion of their labors. John 

 Quincy Adams, as he tells us in his diary, as 

 sured Lord Gambier of his hope that it would 

 be the last treaty of peace between Great 

 Britain and the United States. Two weeks 

 later, at a banquet given by the citizens in 

 honor of the commissioners, Mr. Adams, pro 

 posing the culminating toast of the occasion, 

 worded it thus: &quot;Ghent, the city of Peace; 

 may the gates of the temple of Janus, here 

 closed, not be opened again for a century!&quot; 



