years, I hope to be enabled to correct some errors and omissions that may be observed in this history. Such as it is, however, whether for good or for evil, with all its faults and deficiencies, I now present it to the American public, to sink or swim on its own merits.

THE AUTHOR.

Brooklyn, New York, May, 1856.

TREATY OF PEACE.

JAMES MADISON,

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

To all and singular to whom these presents shall come,

GREETING:

WHEREAS a treaty of peace and amity between the United States of America, and his Britannic Majesty was signed at Ghent, on the twenty-fourth day of December, one thousand eight hundred and fourteen, by the plenipotentiaries respectively appointed for that purpose; and the said treaty having been, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate of the United States, duly accepted, ratified, and confirmed, on the seventeenth day of February, one thousand eight hundred and fifteen; and ratified copies thereof having been exchanged agreeably to the tenor of the said treaty, which is in the words following, to wit:

TREATY OF PEACE AND AMITY BETWEEN HIS BRITANNIC MAJESTY AND THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, desirous of terminating the war which has unhappily subsisted between the two countries, and of restoring, upon principles of perfect reciprocity, peace, friendship, and good understanding between them, have, for that purpose, appointed their respective plenipotentiaries,

that is to say: his Britannic Majesty, on his part, has appointed the Right Honorable James, Lord Gambier, late Admiral of the white, now Admiral of the red squadron of his Majesty's fleet, Henry Goulburn, Esq., a member of the Imperial Parliament, and Under Secretary of State, and William Adams, Esq., doctor of civil laws-And the President of the United States, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate thereof, has appointed John Quincy Adams, James A. Bayard, Henry Clay, Jonathan Russell and Albert Gallatin, citizens of the United States, who after a reciprocal communication of their respective full powers, have agreed upon the following articles:

ARTICLE THE FIRST.

There shall be a firm and universal peace between his Britannic Majesty and the United States, and between their respective countries, territories, cities, towns, and people, of every degree, without exception of places or persons. All hostilities, both by sea and land, shall cease as soon as this treaty shall have been ratified by both parties, as hereinafter mentioned. All territory, places, and possessions whatsoever, taken from either party by the other, during the war, or which may be taken after the signing of this treaty, excepting only the Islands hereinafter mentioned, shall be restored without delay, and without causing any destruction, or carrying away any of the artillery or other public property originally captured in the said forts or places, and which shall remain therein upon the exchange of the ratifications of this treaty, or any slaves or other private property. And all archives, records, deeds, and papers, either of a public nature, or belonging to private persons,

which, in the course of the war, may have fallen into the hands of the officers of either party, shall be as far as may be practicable, forthwith restored and delivered to the proper authorities and persons to whom they respectively belong. Such of the Islands in the Bay of Passamaquoddy as are claimed by both parties, shall remain in the possession of the party in whose occupation they may be at the time of the exchange of the ratifications of this treaty, until the decision respecting the title to the said Islands shall have been made in conformity with the fourth article of this treaty. No disposition made by this treaty, as to such possession of the Islands and territories claimed by both parties, shall, in any manner whatever, be construed to affect the right of either.

ARTICLE THE SECOND.

Immediately after the ratifications of this treaty by both parties, as hereinafter mentioned, orders shall be sent to the armies, squadrons, officers, subjects and citizens, of the two powers to cease from all hostilities: And to prevent all causes of complaint which might arise on account of the prizes which might be taken at sea after the said ratifications of this treaty, it is reciprocally agreed, that all vessels and effects which may be taken after the space of twelve days from the said ratifications, upon all parts of the coast of North America, from the latitude of twenty-three degrees north, to the latitude of fifty degrees north, and as far eastward in the Atlantic Ocean, as the thirty-sixth degree of west longitude from the meridian of Greenwich, shall be restored to each side That the time shall be thirty days in all other parts of the Atlantic Ocean, north of the equinoctial line

or equator, and the same time for the British and Irish Channels, for the Gulf of Mexico and all parts of the West Indies forty days for the North Seas, for the Baltic, and for all parts of the Mediterranean: sixty days for the Atlantic Ocean, south of the equator as far as the latitude of the Cape of Good Hope: ninety days for every part of the world south of the equator: and one hundred and twenty days for all other parts of the world, without exception.

ARTICLE THE THIRD.

All prisoners of war taken on either side, as well by land as by sea, shall be restored as soon as practicable after the ratification of this treaty, as hereinafter mentioned, on their paying the debts which they may have contracted during their captivity. The two contracting parties respectively engage to discharge in specie, the advances which may have been made by the other for the sustenance and maintenance of such prisoners.

ARTICLE THE FOURTH.

Whereas it was stipulated by the second article in the treaty of peace, of one thousand seven hundred and eightythree, between his Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, that the boundary of the United States should comprehend all Islands within twenty leagues of any part of the shores of the United States, and lying between lines to be drawn due east from the points where the aforesaid boundaries, between Nova Scotia, on the one part, and East Florida on the other, shall respectively touch the Bay of Fundy, and the Atlantic Ocean, excepting such Islands as now are, or