NAVAL WAR OF 1812 



CHAPTER I 



INTRODUCTORY 



Causes of the War of 1812 Conflicting views of America 

 and Britain as regards neutral rights Those of the 

 former power right Impossibility of avoiding hostili 

 ties Declaration of war General features of the con 

 testRacial identity of the contestants The treaty of 

 peace nominally leaves the situation unchanged But 

 practically settles the dispute in our favor in respect to 

 maritime rights The British navy and its reputation 

 prior to 1812 Comparison with other European navies 

 British and American authorities consulted in the 

 present work 



THE view professed by Great Britain in 1812 

 respecting the rights of belligerents and neu 

 trals was diametrically opposite to that held by the 

 United States. "Between England and the United 

 States of America," writes a British author, "a 

 spirit of animosity, caused chiefly by the impress 

 ment of British seamen, or of seamen asserted to 

 be such, from on board of American merchant ves 

 sels, had unhappily subsisted for a long time" prior 

 to the war. "It is, we believe," he continues, "an 

 acknowledged maxim of public law, as well that no 

 nation but the one he belongs to can release a sub 

 ject from his natural allegiance, as that, provided 

 the jurisdiction of another independent state be not 

 infringed, every nation has a right to enforce the 

 services of her subjects wherever they may be found. 



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