8 READJUSTMENT AFTER WAR 



The announcement of these terms by the British 

 commissioners at Ghent suspended negotiation 

 abruptly. Peace on any terms involving ces 

 sion of territory by the United States was 

 promptly shown by the attitude of the Amer 

 icans to be impossible; the Britons at the same 

 time were unyielding as to search and impress 

 ment. Accordingly, peace pure and simple was 

 agreed to. The Treaty of Ghent embodied, 

 in addition to the articles necessary to end the 

 war, only certain provisions for determining the 

 northern boundary of the United States as fixed 

 by the treaty of 1783, and an agreement to pro 

 mote the abolition of the slave trade. Matters 

 of grave and pressing importance, the right of 

 search, the navigation of the Mississippi and 

 the Saint Lawrence Rivers, the rights of inshore 

 fishing on the Atlantic coast all were broached, 

 but were dropped from consideration in order 

 to insure the one great end of peace. 



In the United States peace was greeted with 

 universal rejoicing. The chagrin of those in 

 authority at the failure of a far-reaching settle 

 ment found no place in popular feeling. In the 

 dazzling glamour of McDonough s victory on 

 Lake Champlain and Jackson s final achieve 

 ment at New Orleans, the humiliation of De- 



