Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. I.djvu/280

228 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS latin and Bayard to St. Petersburg to act as com missioners with Mr. Adams. The British govern ment refused to accept the mediation of Russia, but proposed instead an independent negotiation, to which the United States agreed, and the commis sioners were directed to meet at Ghent. Much time was consumed in these arguments, while we were defeating England again and again on the sea, and suffering in return some humiliating re verses on land, until at last the commissioners met at Ghent, in August, 1814. Henry Clay and Jona than Russell were added to the American commis sion, while England was represented by Lord Gambier, Dr. Adams, and Mr. Goulburn. After four months of bitter wrangling, from which no good result could have been expected, terms of peace were suddenly agreed upon in December. In warding off the British attempts to limit our rights in the fisheries Mr. Adams played an impor tant part, as his father had done in 1782. The war had been a drawn game, neither side was decisively victorious, and the treaty apparently left things much as before. Nothing was explicitly done to end the pretensions of England to the right of search and the impressment of seamen, yet the naval victories of the United States had taught the British a lesson, and these pretensions were never renewed. The treaty was a great disappointment to the British people, who had hoped to obtain