The Duke of Wellington, Head of the British Armed Forces, Officially Notifies the US Ambassador to France on Behalf of the British Government That a Peace Treaty Has Been Signed, Ending the War of 1812

“The Duke of Wellington presents his compliments to Mr. Crawford and has the pleasure to inform him that he has just received a dispatch from his Majesty’s Plenipotentiaries at Ghent in which they have informed the Duke that they had on the 24th latest signed a Treaty of Peace and Amity with the plenipotentiaries of the United States. The Duke of Wellington congratulates Mr. Crawford upon an Event which restores the relations of Amity between the States, which ought always to have been friends…”

 

With Crawford’s response to Wellington included

American trade was in a state of crisis by 1812. The British were seizing American ships on the high seas, and forcing seamen to join the Royal Navy or merchant navy. This impressment of seamen was deemed necessary because of the difficulty in obtaining enough recruits in Britain. Probably in the neighborhood of 6,000 Americans were impressed by the British leading up to the War of 1812. Americans considered this action as a violation of their sovereignty. In addition, Britain seized vessels bound for Europe that did not first call at a British port. France retaliated, confiscating vessels if they had first stopped in Britain. Together they seized nearly 1,500 American vessels between 1803 and 1812. This was a staggering number, and as many of the cargoes were sold as prizes, the loss to American merchants was enormous.

Pushing for war in 1812 were the War Hawks, a group of prominent Congressmen mainly from the west and south, led by House Speaker Henry Clay, and also including John C. Calhoun. On June 1, 1812, President James Madison, sufficiently persuaded by the pro-war position, sent the U.S. Congress a war message, and war was declared June 17. But the U.S. was unprepared for the War of 1812, and the fortunes of war proved vacillating. There were successes, such as William Henry Harrison’s victory in the northwest in the Battle of the Thames, in which Tecumseh was killed, and Oliver H. Perry’s victory on Lake Erie. But there were also failures, such as Gen. James Wilkinson’s expedition against Montreal; also, Fort Niagara was lost, Black Rock and Buffalo were burned, and great quantities of provisions and stores destroyed. The American hope of conquering Canada began to look like a dream, and the threat remained that the British and their Indian allies might yet gain a hold over territory in the American west in order to create an Indian buffer state between the U.S. and the Mississippi River. The British blockade of the U.S. eastern seaboard was constantly growing more rigid; not a single American man-of-war was on the open sea. The most ominous event was the downfall of Napoleon’s prospects, the likely conclusion of peace in Europe, and, in consequence, the liberation of the military, naval, and financial resources of Great Britain for a vigorous prosecution of the war in America. In 1813 the Americans agreed to mediation to end the war, but the British declined and instead in early 1814 offered direct peace talks to be held at Ghent in Belgium. The U.S. accepted that offer.

The head of the American negotiating team was John Quincy Adams, the U.S.’s most experienced diplomat. The four men who served with him were carefully selected by President Madison to reflect the varieties of political sentiment in the United States. Foremost among them was Henry Clay, the foremost War Hawk. Albert Gallatin had served as Secretary of the Treasury for both Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. James Bayard was a U.S. Senator belonging to the Federalist Party who had been an opponent of the war. However, once the war began he supported the war effort. Jonathan Russell was acting U.S. ambassador to Britain when war was declared. In addition to being a negotiator, he was also serving as ambassador to Sweden and Norway. The talks commenced in August 1814.

William H. Crawford was sent as U.S. ambassador to France in 1813, with orders to demand the repeal of the Berlin and Milan Decrees (put in place by Napoleon to attempt to strangle the British Islands, but in doing so interfering with U.S. commerce), to protest violations of American trading interests, and to attempt to negotiate a commercial treaty. During the Ghent peace negotiations, he was responsible for superintending the American consuls in Europe and keeping them (and the government in Washington) informed of important developments. More than that, he was an advisor to the President on the happenings on the Continent. As Ambassador to the Court of one of the two major adversaries in the conflicts in Europe, he was also actively involved in the Ghent negotiation process in 1814, advising the negotiators and responding to their confidential communiqués. He would later serve as Secretary of War and Secretary of the Treasury under Presidents Madison and Monroe.

The talks commenced August 8, 1814. At the start the U.S. negotiators had their instructions: the impressment of seamen and illegal blockades were the principal cause of the war,” which would “cease as soon as these rights are respected.” British cruisers must not be allowed to stop and search U.S. vessels, which practice “withholds the respect due our flag…It is expected that all American seamen who have been impressed will be discharged.” Another major object of the negotiations was to end the British blockades. “We also need to be assured that no further interference with our commerce” will take place. Next the instructions took up the question of the British arming and supplying the Indians. The article in the Treaty of 1794 “allowing “British traders from Canada and the North to trade with the Indian Tribes in the U.S., must not be renewed.” Nor must Britain continue to use native forces against “our Western States and Territories.” Thus, the U.S. negotiators must insist on an end to impressment, and ship seizures, and a stop to aiding the Indians in the American west.

As for the British, they initially demanded that the country now occupied by the states of Michigan, Illinois, and Wisconsin, the larger part of Indiana, and about one third of Ohio, should be set apart for the Indians. They also demanded that the United States should relinquish the right of keeping any armed vessels on the Great Lakes; and, in addition to all this, they asked for the right of navigating the Mississippi River. The Americans rejected these demands out of hand, and actively considered going home at the end of August. They ended up staying, and over the coming weeks and months there were negotiations.

As November 1814 opened there was still no comprehensive draft treaty covering all the war’s issues. The Americans sought each party to make a draft, and then exchange drafts. But the British saw a competitive advantage in forcing the Americans to act first; they refused to prepare a draft. The Americans decided to make the draft themselves. On November 10 the American draft for a comprehensive treaty was provided to the British. This was the first draft treaty of Ghent, and it contained 15 points. The British approved most of the articles in the draft, but disputes remained with regard to the British right to the navigation of the Mississippi, the American right to fish in British waters off Canada, and the text relating to Indian lands. Since British support for the Indians was a main reason U.S. War Hawks wanted the conflict, the Americans were adamant on conceding nothing to the Indians. And now that peace was in the offing and the government in London (and the Duke of Wellington, head of the British armed forces internationally) wanted it sooner rather than later, the British were prepared to abandon their promises to the Indians of not agreeing to a treaty without taking their interests into account.

At last, after long discussions, and after repeated references of the disputed points by the British commissioners to their Foreign Office, the British government declared that it was willing to accept American language relating to the Indians, and a treaty silent on both other subjects to be dealt with later – the fisheries as well as the navigation of the Mississippi. This declaration reached the American commissioners December 22, 1814, and with it the last obstacle to a final agreement was removed.

The treaty was signed December 24, 1814, and the British negotiators sent word of this to the Duke of Wellington in Paris, in his capacity of head of British armed forces. Britain quickly ratified the treaty on December 27. That very day, Wellington wrote Crawford officially notifying him that the Treaty of Ghent had been signed and the war was over. Crawford would likely have been the first American official notified by Wellington, as Wellington and Crawford were both on the ground in Paris.

Autograph letter signed, Paris, December 27, 1814. “The Duke of Wellington presents his compliments to Mr. Crawford and has the pleasure to inform him that he has just received a dispatch from his Majesty’s Plenipotentiaries at Ghent in which they have informed the Duke that they had on the 24th latest signed a Treaty of Peace and Amity with the plenipotentiaries of the United States. The Duke of Wellington congratulates Mr. Crawford upon an Event which restores the relations of Amity between the States, which ought always to have been friends, and the Duke takes this occasion of assuring Mr. Crawford of his high consideration.” It is remarkable and fascinating that in addition to the notification, Wellington states that the war should never have even taken place. Crawford’s retained copy of his reply to Wellington, dated the same day, is included. It reciprocates the congratulations and is written in the same tone of friendship as Wellington’s letter to him.

The fundamental basis of the Treaty of Ghent: stop the war with few preconditions, and leave the other issues between the two nations to further negotiations in peacetime in the future. But in addition to the written provisions of the treaty, there were unwritten understandings of enormous significance. This made the Treaty of Ghent one of the most important ever signed by the United States. The United States gave up its designs on Canada, which left Britain free to cease looking over its shoulder at North America. It could concentrate its efforts elsewhere. In return, Britain stopped supporting the Indians in the “buffer state” in their fight against the encroaching Americans. Their withdrawal was the death knell to the Indian’s efforts; and they were the true losers in the war. The way to the American west was now open, the great impediment removed. The United States gained in another way – domestically – as the turning away from old enemies and issues led to the molding of a separate American future. The war’s end unified the country and led to the Era of Good Feeling. As Albert Gallatin said,“They are more Americans; they feel and act more as a nation”. It let loose a burst of energy in emigration, commerce and invention that changed the face of the country.

We obtained this from a descendant of Crawford. We are the first to offer it for sale.