8954. WAR OF 1812, Hartford convention and.—
The negotiators at Ghent are
agreed now on every point save one, the demand
and cession of a portion of Maine. This,
it is well known, cannot be yielded by us, nor
deemed by them an object for continuing a war
so expensive, so injurious to their commerce
and manufactures, and so odious in the eyes of
the world. But it is a thread to hold by until
they can hear the result, not of the Congress
of Vienna, but of Hartford. When they shall
know as they will know, that nothing will be
done there, they will let go their hold, and
complete the peace of the world, by agreeing
to the
status ante bellum. Indemnity for the
past, and security for the future, which was
our motto at the beginning of this war, must be
adjourned to another, when, disarmed and bankrupt,
our enemy shall be less able to insult and
plunder the world with impunity.—
To M. Correa. Washington ed. vi, 407.
(M.
1814)
See Hartford Convention.
